The City of Winnemucca is celebrating Arbor Day in conjunction with the community garden to recognize the importance of healthy trees in the community and fulfill a final requirement to become a member of Tree City U.S.A.
Arbor Day falls on Friday, but the event will be held on May 2. The garden is hosting a tree identification walk. The walk, which will last from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., begins and ends at the community garden. There will be cookies and refreshments in the garden after the walks.
Teresa Howell, who is organizing the event, said the walk will be leisurely and do-able for anyone who is interested.
"It will be a pleasant evening stroll," she said.
Humboldt County Extension Coordinator Brad Schultz is leading the walk and will point out the various trees in the community and explain their features and discuss their adaptability. Howell said she thinks there will be quite a few people in the community interested in the topic.
"I thought it would be a good idea to do a tree identification (walk)," she said. "If it's something I will be interested in, maybe other people will be as well."
Howell said when the city approached the garden about partnering for Arbor Day, it seemed like a logical fit.
Mayor Di An Putnam said it's important that the city stay connected to organizations like Tree City U.S.A. because it has a "huge investment in trees and shrubs." Putnam said it also gives the city opportunities for grant funding to plant new trees and replace old ones.
"It's a benefit for us," she said.
Currently, there are more than 3,400 communities that are designated as a Tree City U.S.A.
The city also has plans to plant trees in honor of Arbor Day. On May 2, six trees will be planted in two locations in the community - near the Winnemucca Police Station by exit 178 and on Haskell Street as part of the city's already established landscaping.
The city isn't stopping there, though. City Manager/Engineer Steve West said 23 more trees will be planted in the weeks following the May 2 Arbor Day Event. The trees will mostly be Lindens and fruitless pear trees.
The Nevada Division of Forestry completed a survey of the city's trees in November and found there to be a total of 1,328 city-owned trees. Of those, 91 percent were deemed in "excellent" or "good" condition.
NDF's David Howlett said at the time there are few elements of city infrastructure that increase in value over time, but trees are one of them.
Earth Day is also this week (today, April 22). Earth Day was first created in 1970 as a way to force the issue of environmental protection onto the national agenda.
According to earthday.org, every year on April 22, over a billion people in 190 countries take action for Earth Day. From San Francisco to San Juan, Beijing to Brussels, Moscow to Marrakesh, people plant trees, clean up their communities, contact their elected officials, and more-all on behalf of the environment.
"Like Earth Days of the past, Earth Day 2014 will focus on the unique environmental challenges of our time. As the world's population migrates to cities, and as the bleak reality of climate change becomes increasingly clear, the need to create sustainable communities is more important than ever. Earth Day 2014 will seek to do just that through its global theme: Green Cities. With smart investments in sustainable technology, forward-thinking public policy, and an educated and active public, we can transform our cities and forge a sustainable future. Nothing is more powerful than the collective action of a billion people."[[In-content Ad]]
