April 26, 2024, is Declared Arbor Day in Elkins, WV

Elkins W. Va., April 26, 2024: Today, the City of Elkins gathered to celebrate Arbor Day, a tradition dating back to 1872 aimed at honoring the importance of trees and promoting environmental stewardship.

During the ceremony, Iris Allen, a dedicated member of the Tree Board, shed light on the significant contributions of trees through statistical data. She stated that this year alone the Arbor Day Foundation gave out 10 million trees to be planted, which has created numerous benefits for the area. Some of them are obvious, such as shade and wildlife habitats. Some of them are not so obvious, such as carbon sequestration, air purification, and stormwater mitigation.

“The Forest Service has a cool suite of tools called i-Tree and they’re used to help tree planting, calculate benefits, and kind of give some numbers behind the trees that we plant, especially urban trees,” remarked Allen.

“The Dogwood and the Maple we are planting, in 20 years, together will have absorbed 140 pounds of carbon, prevented 66 gallons of runoff, which we know is very important in Elkins given how rainy it is, and will have removed over 1.5 pounds of air pollution,” continued Allen. “That’s just from these two trees, in a space that’s already pretty green, in 20 years. So think about those millions and millions of trees and how many benefits all of these trees have provided.”

Sam Adams, Urban Forester from the WV Division of Forestry, commended Elkins for its commitment to maintaining a healthy urban forest. “Congratulations on 16 years of being recognized as a Tree City USA,” Adams stated, presenting the city with a Tree City USA flag in recognition of its dedication to tree conservation.

In a proclamation read by Mike Kesecker, Operations Manager for the City of Elkins, on behalf of Mayor Jerry Marco, April 26, 2024, was officially declared Arbor Day in Elkins, West Virginia.

The event concluded with the ceremonial planting of trees, symbolizing the city’s commitment to a greener, more sustainable future.

Arbor Day serves as a reminder of our responsibility to protect and preserve the environment for future generations. The City of Elkins encourages all citizens to join in the observance of Arbor Day by participating in tree-planting initiatives and supporting efforts to conserve and appreciate our invaluable trees.

“Trees give us a lot,” said Allen. “In return, we can think about some of the things we can do to support trees, such as supporting our urban forest by planting native trees that are well suited to their location. One of the Tree Board’s principles is ‘The Right Tree in the Right Location’.”

For more information on the Forest Service’s i-Tree software visit:
www.fs.usda.gov/research/products/dataandtools/tools/i-tree

You can follow the Elkins Friends of Trees Facebook page here:
www.facebook.com/ElkinsFriendsOfTrees