Sedalia Celebrates Arbor Day at Liberty Park

Missouri officially celebrated Arbor Day on Friday, April 3.

Sedalia Parks & Rec Landscaping Supervisor Shawna Lynn Yager planted a “tulip poplar” tree at Liberty Park at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Mayor Andrew Dawson also delivered a Missouri Arbor Day proclamation.

In 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed a tree planting day, which became Arbor Day, be set aside in Nebraska for planting trees. More than a million trees were planted the first year.

In 1893, President Grover Cleveland chose Morton as Secretary of Agriculture in his cabinet. By this time Arbor Day was definitely established across the country as a day for planting trees. Each spring Morton himself planted a tree until his death in 1902.

As a state with a long history of observing this day in early April, many communities, schools and organizations across Missouri, including in cities like Sedalia, hold special tree-planting ceremonies.

Sedalia is also a Tree City USA, and has been for 17 years. Sedalia was also recently designated a Monarch City, according to Dr. Doug Kiburz.

“One tree will make enough oxygen for four people a day,” Kiburz commented. “Without trees, the human race could not exist.”

Yager has established a way station for monarchs at Vermont Park. A special event will take place there June 20. The Cole Camp Monarch Group will be heavily involved in that event, which will be the sixth annual. Vermont has plenty of nector plants and milkweed available for the traveling monarchs, Yager noted. The winners of a Boys & Girls Club coloring contest will be recognized on that day.

Dr. Kiburz went on to say that BRHC employees plant about 300 trees every year. They sent an oversized and signed thank you note to the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Mayor’s Tree Board for the trees that are supplied for planting.

MDC Forester David Mann brought 50  False Indigo Bush saplings to the event to give away.

“They grow about six to eight feet tall, with really pretty purple flowers. They’re good for pollinators like butterflies and monarchs,” Mann said, adding that creating more habitat for the monarch is critical.

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Sedalia established a Tree Board on Nov. 2, 2009, Mayor Dawson noted.

“Trees help moderate temperature, improve air quality, produce oxygen, provide habitat for wildlife reduce erosion, conserve water, and enhance the well-being of our community,” Dawson said during the reading of the proclamation. “It also increases the economic vitality, increases property values, and people love trees,” he said later. “It’s an important part of the environment.”

National Arbor Day is April 24. Different states and countries may celebrate on different dates based on their local climate and best planting seasons. Some regions hold celebrations earlier or later in the year to align with optimal tree-planting conditions.