We love trees; we’ve always loved trees. Interestingly, we live on the High Plains now, where trees are few and far between. This makes us appreciate them all the more, and we often journey great distances to get a hug from one. When I was a young boy back on Walnut Street in Humptown, we had two big cherry trees in the backyard. They both had the bark worn smooth in the crotches of their branches, where we would climb high into their uppermost limbs to harvest fruit or to be close to the birds.
“Trees are just like us. They are born. They breathe. They grow up. They long for harmony and balance. They grow to their full potential. They die.” ~ Vincent Karche
The symbiotic relationship between humans and trees likely lies at the heart of our deep love and appreciation for them. Trees are the royalty of the plant kingdom, which provides for all our needs through their unique sunlight-capturing mechanism – photosynthesis. They use sunlight to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and combine it with water to create sugars, which form roots, stalks, leaves, flowers, and seeds, containing starch, fat, and protein. The by-product of this process is oxygen.
Oxygen is the most vital element that plants and trees provide for us. It’s not just the oxygen, though; all our food comes from plants directly or indirectly, making us completely dependent on them for our existence. That’s why we try to find a big, beautiful tree as often as possible, hug it, and say thank you.
“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.” ― Herman Hesse
We lost one of our trees at the cottage in a big windstorm this Spring. We were in Texas when it happened and didn’t get to say goodbye. It was a large, stately Spruce that probably shouldn’t have been planted there. Spruce trees are forest trees and are not indigenous to the High Plains. They don’t have a deep tap root, their root system is shallow and horizontal. God designed them to grow fast and tall, providing shade for other forest-dwelling trees like Fir.
We will miss the big Spruce. I could sit in my living room recliner and watch birds and squirrels living large on its massive lower limbs. We’d prune the lower branches every few years so there was plenty of room to walk beneath them when we mowed the yard. One year, I took a saw and climbed up thirty feet above the ground, cutting out all the dead branches. R.I.P., Big Spruce, old friend.
Today is Arbor Day, which translates to “Tree Day,” a holiday that celebrates the planting, upkeep, and preservation of trees. Arbor Day isn’t celebrated like Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day, but it has a history with strong roots and has branched out to numerous nations over its short history. It is typically celebrated on the last Friday in April.
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”― Chinese proverb
Arbor Day got its start on the High Plains in Nebraska. On January 7, 1872, Julius Sterling Morton proposed a day to encourage all Nebraskans to plant trees in their community, and “Arbor Day” was born. The tradition spread, and in 1882, schools across the country began to participate. Arbor Day became an official state holiday in Nebraska in 1885. On April 15, 1907, President and Conservationist Theodore Roosevelt issued the Arbor Day Proclamation:
“It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetimes the Nation’s need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood, you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed.”
It was another 63 years until Arbor Day became recognized nationwide during President Richard Nixon’s administration. Nixon also passed the Clean Air, Clean Water, Endangered Species, and National Environmental Protection Acts. I often wonder why it took so long for the government to do something about the destruction industries had unleashed on our environment. 90% of American forests were cut down in the name of progress even before the Industrial Revolution was in full bloom.
The global trend started to change after Nixon, and tree numbers have risen about 0.03% per year for the last few decades, but we still only have half as many trees as we did 4 centuries ago. There are hundreds of reasons to plant trees, they make the world a better place in many ways. Solar panels, windmills, Electric Vehicles, and carbon credits are not the answer to healing our planet; planting more trees is the medicine our world needs.
Hey Mike – love the post! Is that B/W tree photo one of yours? It is stunningly beautiful. I downloaded it – it might become a screensaver for me.
Thank You Janita! The image is from a backpack trip with Patrick a half dozen years ago. There’s a post about the hike called “Boulder Lake.” The mountain peak between the two trees is San Luis Peak, 14022′. I climbed it about 40 years ago.
I just realized you’re talking about the oak tree photo at the bottom. That is in a mott in South Texas that contains one of the largest trees in the state – In 1966 this former National Champion live oak measured 421-1/4 inches in circumference, was 44 feet high and had a crown spread of 89 feet. Its age has never been accurately determined, but estimates place it as much as 1,100 years old. The “Big Tree” is located at Goose Island State Park near Rockport.