Tree Awareness Days

On April 10, 1872, in Nebraska, the first Arbor Day in the United States was observed, and more than 1,000,000 trees were planted all over that state on that day. During the next sixteen years more than 350,000,000 trees were planted in Nebraska where before there had been miles of treeless prairies.

J. Sterling Morton, a member of Nebraska's State Board of Agriculture, had promoted the first Arbor Day and had helped with it through the years, and because of him Nebraska has become known as the Tree Planters' State.

Within ten years of Nebraska's first Arbor Day, Ohio and North Dakota held their own Arbor Days, and Connecticut soon joined. On Ohio's first Arbor Day, school children in Cincinnati planted an Author's Grove, naming each tree for a famous person including authors and statesmen.

Conservation Day and Bird Day often are combined with Arbor Day.

The Jewish holiday of "Tu BiShvat", celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Shevat, is a day dedicated to the celebration of trees, also known as the "New Year for Trees".

Although Tu BiShvat is considered a minor religious holiday in Judaism, it is widely celebrated as an ecological awareness day in contemporary Israel, where school children, families, and government leaders plant new trees and eat fruits, nuts, and fresh produce as a reminder that trees provide us with nutritious food.