Alabama Forestry Commission, Garden Clubs celebrate Arbor Day

The Alabama Forestry Commission and the Garden Clubs of Alabama met at the Boy Scout Camp on County Road 156 to plant a tree in honor of Arbor Day. The Forestry Commission was represented by Adam Bowers, Forestry Management Specialist and the Garden Club of Alabama was represented by Jean Wilks, State Arbor Day Chair.

The tree planting was a joint effort to bring attention to the importance of trees to our environment. Trees provide us with food, building materials, paper, protection, medicine, and hundreds of other products that we depend on for everyday living.

Trees provide other important functions such as oxygen and water released into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere, controlling soil erosion and helping to prevent flooding, absorbing sound and decreasing noise pollution, providing natural beauty and creating natural habitats for wildlife by providing them with food, water, shelter and places to raise their young. Trees are so important to the environment that life could not exist without them.

Arbor Day is celebrated to recognize the importance of trees environmentally, economically, and socially. In honor of Arbor Day, the Arbor Day Proclamation was read dedicating the Red Oak Tree which was purchased for planting. The Oak Tree has been named as the National Tree.

The Forestry Commission personnel met with the Boy Scout camp keeper to pick the perfect spot for the young tree to be planted on the Boy Scout property. They also prepared the tree for planting and provided a watering system to protect the newly planted tree.

The Garden Clubs of Alabama and the Coffee County Forestry Advisory Committee challenges everyone to plant at least one tree this year.