Arbor Day Renaissance

There have been many outstanding conservationists in the past hundred years who have contributed to the development of Arbor Day. Probably the best know of these early leaders is J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day in the United States. However, there were other notable conservationists of this same period who also strongly advocated the conservation of our nation’s trees. Such men as B.G. Northrup, George P. Marsh, A.S. Draper, were alarmed by the destruction of huge forest areas by the lumbering interests, the railroads and the land speculators. These men urged immediate protective legislation as well as voluntary curbs by the public on the decimation of our tree population. Certainly their concern for trees gave added impetus to Morton’s urging to establish an Arbor Day. Eventually, this excessive tree destruction was slowed but the rising population growth as well as the growing expansion of roads and highways in the early 1900s soon began to reduce our tree population once again.

There can be no doubt that the giant among the leaders of the Arbor Day movement was J. Sterling Morton. His resolution before the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture to establish the 10th of April, 1872 as Arbor Day is generally accepted as the beginning of Arbor Day in America. More than one million trees were planted on that first Arbor Day. Although not a conservationist person, Luther Burbank must be considered a factor in the early history of Arbor Day. His work in plant breeding and propagation during the late 1800s gained him world-wide recognition in his field. His experiments encompassed a wide portion of the plant world. However, it was his propagating work with a variety of fruit trees that brought his work and interest in trees to the attention of arborists throughout the country. A transplanted easterner from Massachusetts, he soon became a beloved and honored Californian, so much so that his adopted state legislated his birthday, March 7th, as their official Arbor Day date.

The ushering in of the 20th century was marked by the work of a new group of arboriculturists, conservationists and naturalists. These new leaders in the field called for an even greater effort by the public and the government to save our nation’s trees. They were unanimous in advocating a wider observance of Arbor Day as an effective educational tool for this purpose.

Early in the 1900s, the government, at the urging of such famous conservationists as Pennsylvania’s Governor Gifford Pinchot, cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling, the world-famous author and naturalist John Muir, as well as geologist and educator Charles R. Van Hise, finally developed stricter laws and new agencies for the conservation and protection of our nation’s trees.

In 1905, Governor Pinchot was appointed the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and later became President of the National Conservation Commission. At about the same time, President Theodore Roosevelt, and ardent outdoorsman and supporter of forest conservation, called a Governors Conference at the White House in 1908 to discuss conservation problems. As a result of the Conference, some 27 states established conservation commissions.

Quite a number of years later, another Roosevelt, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also a strong supporter of tree and forest conservation, established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. This corps of young men during the depression years did much to revitalize many of our state and national forests. This large manpower pool of apprenticed as well as trained arborists proved to be a valuable source of new employees for many municipal shade tree departments and commercial tree expert organizations in later years.

During his administration, President Roosevelt also initiated the Dutch Elm Disease Control program. This program made a valiant but unsuccessful effort to curb the spread of this rampant disease which had killed thousands of fine, old American Elms. This strong effort by the government certainly made the entire country more aware of the value of trees.

Early in the 1940s, a number of professional arborists throughout the country sparked an even greater interest in Arbor Day observances and projects. Such men as author, publisher and shade tree authority, Edward H. Scanlon of Ohio, along with Dewhurst W. Wade, a well known New York state arborist and magazine publisher, and California’s advocate of an international Arbor Day movement, George Hood, Jr., were certainly in the foreground of the Renaissance of Arbor Day.

As a long-time member of the Western Shade Tree Conference — later to become the Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, Hood was the most vibrant exponent of Arbor Day activities on the West Coast. His efforts were known from California to Alaska and on to Hawaii. Many of the western states bordering California were recipients of Hood’s many letters and personal appearances urging more Arbor Day activities.

This author joined the National Arbor Day movement in 1948 as New Jersey State Chairman of the Committee for a National Arbor Day and was successful in securing passage of A404 making the last Friday in April Arbor Day in New Jersey. In 1954, he was appointed executive secretary of the National Arbor Day Committee by the late Edward H. Scanlon, then National Chairman. With the passing of national chairman Edward H. Scanlon on March 8, 1976, the members of the National Arbor Day Committee, at the request of June Scanlon, Ed Scanlon’s widow, attending a memorial tree planting in Toledo, Ohio, appointed this writer National Chairman of the Committee for a National Arbor Day, a post I still cherish.

Even private citizens who were vitally interested in the Arbor Day movement, such as Walter Piser of New York, wrote many articles for publication in newspapers and magazines, urging a wider observance of Arbor Day and tree preservation during this period.

Probably the most notable of the leaders in this Renaissance of Arbor Day was Edward H. Scanlon of Ohio. In the late 30s and early 40s, he established the Committee for a National Arbor Day, whose goal it was to secure government recognition of his committee’s efforts to establish the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day. This committee was successful in securing the passage of either state legislation or governor proclamation in 22 states between 1940 and 1978, which established the last Friday in April as Arbor Day in those states to coincide with the National Arbor Day date advocated by the National Arbor Day Committee.

In 1970 and 1972, Congress passed legislation (for those two years only) which authorized the President to proclaim the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.

In the last 25 years, there were a number of other professional, arboricultural and horticultural organizations that aided in this revival of Arbor Day observances. Certainly, one of the more prominent is the International Society of Arboriculture. This organization, through its Arbor Day and Beautification Committee (chaired by this writer) developed an Arbor Day kit which is used by many municipalities, organizations and individuals from coast to coast. The kit containing much helpful tree-oriented literature and posters, etc., is an excellent aid in preparing Arbor Day observances by municipalities, schools and other organizations. The “Society’s” prestigious Gold Leaf Award for outstanding Arbor Day activities is also a much sought after honor and an impetus to furthering Arbor Day observances.

The last twenty years have seen a rise of Arbor Day spectaculars. These have taken various forms. They have ranged from the 24-hour Plantathons where an entire municipal park has been planted with trees, shrubs and sod to Jogathons on Arbor Day to raise funds for various needed environmental projects. Another spectacular to be noted involved a major department store distributing a million seedlings to the school system of the entire county, as well as to the area’s civic and service organizations, etc. One major New Jersey city, as part of its Arbor Day ceremony, dedicated the planting of nearly 600 street trees as its spectacular of the decade.

Other national organizations who became important factors in urging a more widespread observance of Arbor Day are the American Association of Nurserymen, American Forestry Association and the Arbor Day Foundation.

Many of the official publications directly or Indirectly affiliated with these national organizations have published excellent articles on the need for tree preservation and Arbor Day observances. They also have urged the passage of National Arbor Day legislation. Publications such as Tree Magazine of Cleveland, Ohio, the Journal of Arboriculture of Urbana, Illinois, the American Nurseryman of Chicago, Illinois, and Forests Magazine of Washington, D.C. are but a few of these more notable publications.

However, despite the dedication and heroic efforts of all these outstanding leaders and organizations in the fields of arboriculture and conservation, etc., the substantial gains that have been made to protect and preserve our nation’s trees in our state and national forests and along our highways, roadways and streets of our cities and towns, will decline unless there is a continued vigilance and dedication to strengthening the Arbor Day movement.

Today, we in the field of professional arboriculture must be in the forefront of a wider use of Arbor Day observances as well as ceaselessly strive to secure the passage of our National Arbor Day legislation that will authorize the President of the United States to proclaim the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.

There can be no doubt that with the establishment of this permanent unified National Arbor Day date, we will have the most effective educational tool available to show and tell all America of the need and importance of trees to our way of life.

• © 1982, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.