Date:

April 16, 2008

For More Information Contact:

Diane Gonzolas, Citizen Information Center, 441-7831

Steve Schwab, City Arborist, 441-7306

Mayor Chris Beutler invites the public to join him, Belmont Elementary School students and the City’s Parks and Recreation Department in celebrating Arbor Day 2008. A public celebration is set for 9 a.m. Friday, April 25 at Belmont Park, 12th and Judson streets.

Mayor Beutler will read an Arbor Day Proclamation, and the Belmont Elementary School students will provide entertainment for the 30-minute program. Weather permitting, the students and others attending will help plant a new tree at Belmont Park in observance of Arbor Day’s 136th anniversary and in recognition of the “Re Tree Nebraska” program. The Re Tree Nebraska program is a campaign to plant one million trees in Nebraska in the next 10 years. In case of inclement weather, the celebration will be held in the Belmont Recreation Center gymnasium just east of the park.

Pinnacle Bank and Campbell’s Nurseries are corporate sponsors for this year’s Arbor Day event. The firms also are sponsoring the planting of 19 additional trees at Belmont Park in early May. The trees will be planted by employees of the Arbor Day Foundation as a Re Tree Nebraska event on May 2.

Re Tree Nebraska is being led by the Nebraska Forest Service, the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative and several UNL entities – the Extension Service, the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. To date, 656 trees have been planted for the Re Tree initiative.

Arbor Day was founded in Nebraska in 1872, by J. Sterling Morton, a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. The official observance in 2008 is also April 25. State offices will be closed that day, but City offices will be open.