Bloomington to celebrate Arbor Day with tree planting

Arbor Day will be celebrated this year by the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. A ceremony will take place at Banneker Community Center, 930 W. 7th Street, and will add yet another tree to Bloomington’s collection of 18,000 publicly-owned trees at 4 p.m. Friday. \nArbor Day, which is recognized worldwide, is celebrated annually in Bloomington on the last Friday of April. Its purpose is not only to celebrate trees’ aesthetic beauty, but also all of the resources trees offer people, Julie Ranui, media representative for Bloomington Parks and Recreation department, said. \n“It’s a great opportunity for us to show the community we plant far more trees than there are removed,” Ranui said.\nThis year’s ceremony bears more significance because a tree has been removed due to health problems. It is being replaced with a new Shingle Oak more suited for an urban environment, Lee Huss, urban forester, said.\nThe ceremony will begin with the planting of the 10-to 12-foot tree followed by comments from the Bloomington Tree Commission, which promotes “public education on the proper selection, planting, and care of trees” among other tasks, according to the city of Bloomington Web site. Banneker Community Center Advisory Council and possibly a representative from the Bloomington City Council will be among the guests, according to a press release. \nParticipants of Banneker’s After School Adventure program will read several poems in honor of the tree planting and aid in the planting. \nThe annual ceremony is held in a different location each year. For Huss, the decision to have the Banneker Community Center host the event this year was obvious, he said. \n“We knew the tree was coming down,” Huss said. “The Banneker Community Center was an important landmark and they have an after school program, and we want to involve young people. It was really a no-brainer.” \nThe Indiana Urban Forest Council requires each city which earns the status of “Tree City, USA,” to hold an Arbor Day ceremony. This is the 22nd consecutive year Bloomington has earned this title, Ranui said. \nBloomington was the first Tree City, USA, in Indiana, appointed by the National Arbor Day Association, Ranui said. She encourages Bloomington residents to discover the benefits of planting a tree. \n“We’d like to remind the community that anyone who has a little patch of ground can plant a tree and get all of the things that it provides,” she said.\nThe event is expected to last a half-hour and attract roughly 30 people, depending on weather conditions, Ranui said. \nFunding for the event came from the Matchstick Initiative, which encourages agencies that support them to build permanent endowment funds, according to the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County’s Web site.\nThrough the Arbor Day celebration, Ranui hopes to give people a deeper appreciation for trees.\n“They’re not just something you have to mow around,” she said. “They are an important part of people’s quality of life.”