Everett Taylor: Taylor's Yarns

By EVERETT TAYLOR

Arbor Day once was a pretty big deal in Texas and most of the rest of the country, but the 2008 observance Friday seemed to be hardly noticed.

That's quite a comedown for an event once the subject of a movement to make it an official holiday in Texas.

The effort to gain holiday status for Arbor Day failed, but it did succeed in getting a lot of attention for the event, which usually featured tree planting ceremonies and encourages people to plant more trees.

Texas Gov. Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross was one of the first advocates of a Texas Arbor Day. He envisioned it as a day of tree planting and paying homage to nature in a speech made at the Abilene fair on Oct. 6, 1888.

Several cities followed the governor's lead and established Arbor Day celebrations. Most cities conducted celebrations during different times of the year.

Some years ago, the Arbor Day observance was scheduled in January, and invariably it seemed to fall on the coldest day of the year. That made tree-planting activities a little difficult, even ceremonial ones, as the icy ground was hard to spade and shivering participants were eager to get back to the fire.

It was 1949 when the Texas Legislature gave Arbor Day its own calendar date, the third Friday in January. Before that the celebration usually was held in conjunction with Washington's birthday.

Somewhere along the way, a decision was made to officially switch Arbor Day to a month that might be more accommodating for tree planting activities. The national date of the last Friday in April now is the official Arbor Day observance date for Texas, too.

Nebraska is the state credited as being the first to conceive the event.

Pioneers moving into the Nebraska Territory missed the trees so prevalent in their previous home territory. Trees also were needed as windbreaks to keep the soil in place, for fuel and building materials and for shade from the hot sun.

J. Sterling Morton, a journalist who became editor of Nebraska's first newspaper, advocated tree planting by individuals in his articles and editorials and encouraged civic organizations to join in. He became secretary of the Nebraska Territory and in 1872 first proposed a tree-planting holiday to be called "Arbor Day."

The observance was officially proclaimed by the state in 1974 and it became a legal holiday. April 22, Morton's birthday, was selected as the date for the state's permanent observance.

It could be that Arbor Day has lost some of its appeal as Earth Day observances have become more common. Earth Day has managed to get more national attention even though some might wonder whether it really has contributed as much to boosting the environment as Arbor Day.

There is simply no way to guess how many trees have been planted because of the Arbor Day influence since the day was first conceived and observed. Our guess is that the total would be staggering, indeed.

Consider this: more than a million trees were planted in communities and on farms that first Arbor Day in Nebraska in 1872.

For those who might have missed planting a tree or trees on Arbor Day, don't fret. There is still time to get the 2008 crop started.

Everett Taylor
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