Louisiana’s Arbor Day is coming up with tree seedlings to be given away at Chicot State Park Arboretum. Arbor Day is a nationally celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care. Though usually observed in the spring, the date varies, depending on climate and suitable planting season. Louisiana designates the third Friday in January as Arbor Day. This year it will be Friday the 17th, but the Arboretum will be celebrating on the Saturday.
Why are trees so important? For starters, planting the right trees in the right places conserves energy and reduces your energy bills. They also provide food and shelter for wildlife.
Trees are also important because they act as sponges for rain water. Without the benefit of trees, waterways become polluted as heavy metal particles, oils, and other harmful substances are washed away, harming fish and wildlife and even our drinking water. As more buildings and infrastructure go up, trees are cut down for the sake of progress, but in the end, our living environment is degraded.
Trees also help to stop climate change by taking carbon dioxide from the air, storing carbon in the trees and soil, and releasing fresh oxygen, purifying our air. According to the U.S. Forest Service, global forests removed about one-third of fossil fuel emissions annually from 1990 to 2007.
According to conservation.org, one in four people depend directly on forests for their livelihoods. Deforestation accounts for 11 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. As many as 120 prescription drugs worldwide derive directly from plants found in forests.
As important as trees are, the world has lost nearly half its forests due to human interference for development, extraction of resources, and agriculture. Yet the value of the benefits that standing forests provide is immense: Tropical forests alone account for at least 30 percent of the global mitigation action needed to halt climate change.
In Louisiana, a drive through the north central part of the state shows decimated woodland, a barren wasteland where once ancient trees stood as sentinels for local wildlife. Deforestation is not just happening in one part of the state. Bald Cypress trees along the Atchafalaya Basin have been cut and turned into millions of wood pellets that are shipped to Europe where they have replaced coal with wood-burning fuel for their plants. The culling of Louisiana’s forests and wetlands have contributed to massive coastal erosion.
According to Mongabay, a non-profit conservation news service, “in the mid-1800s, Louisiana boasted over two million acres of cypress-tupelo swamps; currently, fewer than half that number currently exist.” There is an uptick in tree conservation in the wetlands, but logging continues in other parts of the state.
Globally, there is a push to plant millions of trees and create a new generation of conservationists. Part of that initiative is to get young people excited about trees and the benefits of a healthy ecosystem.
The Chicot State Park Arboretum invites citizens to celebrate Louisiana’s Arbor Day with a day full of activities and free tree seedlings at the arboretum on Saturday, January 18 from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
The tree seedling give-a-way will begin after the opening ceremony at 10 am. Games, crafts, and tree care and planting information will be available throughout the day. Tree seedlings to be given away include Ashe’s Magnolia, Bald Cypress, Catalpa Tree, Fringe Tree, Overcup Oak, Pawpaw, Pecan, Sassafras, Shagbark Hickory, Wax Myrtle and Yaupon Holly. For more information call 888-677-6100 toll free or 363-6289 locally, or visit www.lastateparks.com.
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Nancy Duplechain
Associate Editor