CASEBOOK OF DR. SLATER – No. 20 - Celebrating an Arbor Day

Why Celebrate an Arbor Day??

Myerscough College held its 3rd Arbor Day on the 10th of February 2022, with a celebration of the tree and woodland planting achieved over the planting season – and a host of great industry-based speakers to inform and entertain our c. 290 arboriculture students.?

As the title of this article suggests, there are some obvious questions to ask: “What is an Arbor Day?” being one amongst many. In this short article, I will explain the motivations behind hosting an Arbor Day – and discuss what we have found, at Myerscough, in terms of student experience and planting achievements.?

For many years, the UK has had a designated “National Tree Planting Week”, often marking the start of our ever-shortening planting season, due to Climate Change. However, where is the day for a celebration of the achievements, at the end of the tree planting season, in the UK? The fact is, there is none, whereas many other countries do have such a day.?

Here are some key reasons why holding an Arbor Day is a good idea:?

Recognition Of An Important Industry?

“Arboriculture” is not a term that most British people recognise, which can be very frustrating for all those in the industry and this also means that many potential students do not find that studying arboriculture is an option; quite a few find out about arboriculture later in life, in my experience, which is a shame. This is particularly frustrating because if you were to ask the average citizen what a ‘horticulturist’ was, they would probably say it was something to do with gardening at the very least; but asking them what an ‘arboriculturist’ is would almost certainly draw a blank. Having an Arbor Day really highlights the root word – ‘arbor’ – and will bring better recognition for the arboricultural industry in the UK. There’s no doubt about that.?

My interest in holding Arbor Days in the UK started in 2017, when I went to a conference in New Zealand and came across Paul Johnson (soon to become the President of the ISA in the US), who gave a very engaging talk about using social media to promote tree planting and tree care. I asked Mr. Johnson whether having an Arbor Day in the United States brought more people to understand what ‘arboriculture’ was – and what an ‘arborist’ was – and he confirmed that it did really help. The next year, at our annual Careers Fair, I “asked the audience” when our arboriculture students were gathered in the Lecture Theatre: were they interested in holding an Arbor Day? Every student’s hand, pretty much, shot up. Our students often get fed up with their friends, family and contacts not knowing what ‘arboriculture’ is – a poor state of affairs for a career in an industry which they love.?

Replace, Enhance and Train?

In the landscape and in our towns and cities, we benefit from many mature trees. Most of these trees are a result of considerable forethought by previous generations, who planted them, or allowed them to naturally generate where they are now situated. Although we benefit from these mature trees, it is important to continue, planting new trees. For example, in my local landscape, there are many mature oaks in farmers’ fields and in hedges: however, there are almost no new oaks being planted on farms, nor along most roadways. We cannot be the generation that just enjoys our inherited trees as they decline in numbers, neglecting our “duty” to plant more trees and provide a greener landscape for future generations.?

Replacing trees and enhancing the landscape is also especially important where I work – as we teach several qualifications where students are required to plant a tree. Figure 2 shows a field maple (Acer campestre) kindly donated by Tracy Clarke Tree Consultancy and planted by a class of FE arboriculture students. These students benefitted from this donation, planting three new parkland trees in 2019-2020, learning the techniques they will need should they be involved with tree planting in the future. Arboricultural companies supporting the training of our arboriculture students is a great link to make, and we are incredibly grateful to our many sponsors.?

An Arbor Day Brings People Together?

We should be celebrating achievements at the end of the tree planting season: an Arbor Day is all about that and can bring many people together (Fig. 2). Our patron for Arbor Day UK is Dan Snow MBE, who is not only a brilliant TV historian and presenter but also a strong advocate for the planting of trees for the benefit of the environment.?

As many other countries have an Arbor Day, it’s a matter of being able to “join in” – and share a culture of tree care and engraining respect for trees in all generations. Before celebrating our first Arbor Day at Myerscough College, I contacted the Arbor Day Foundation in the US – a vastly important tree planting charity that acts worldwide. This year, The Arbor Day Foundation is celebrating 150 years of a US-based Arbor Day, and in the last fifty years it has supported the planting of 500 million trees. When I contacted them, they gave us great support and advice on how an Arbor Day could work here in the UK. Who can forget Mr. Beast’s efforts to get 20 million trees planted? Arbor Days have a fantastic reach to younger generations abroad: and the UK is really missing out by not having one.?

I Want A Holiday!?

In the US and Canada, Arbor Day is a holiday! A day off, to celebrate trees and plant trees. We are never going to get our National Tree Planting Week to be a holiday in the UK – as it is nine days long, and at the wrong end of the planting season. However, I have an ambition to have a holiday for the care and planting of trees firmly placed in the UK’s calendar – as trees are so important to the quality of all our lives. Besides which, I do feel that I need another day off work, at times (!) More seriously, if such a holiday were to happen, it would bring great recognition to our important?arboriculture industry, which provides tree care and keeps urban trees and people in harmony.?

Education, Education, Education?

We all know the importance of Nature, of biodiversity, of living, growing trees – surely!?! Actually, this is becoming less certain, as over 85% of people in the UK now live in cities and towns which are becoming more densely packed with grey infrastructure and limited green spaces. This year, one overseas student included a short section in their coursework about how, in his city, children were discouraged from touching the bark of a tree – and if they did, they would be told to wash their hands. This is the opposite of where we should be heading in my view: a deep appreciation (and tolerance) of Nature is needed, in these times of both a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis. Contributing by planting trees is a simple act – and yet a truly valuable one that can engage the young with the natural environment. For our Arbor Days, we always look to work with outside groups – schools, other colleges, to share the joys of tree planting (Fig. 3). For this year’s efforts, I was lucky to have a Foundation degree student, Charlotte Bancroft, undertake tree planting at ten local schools as part of her ‘Work Project’ module, and she took each of these ten opportunities to deliver some learning to the school pupils, as to what arboriculture is, what an Arbor Day is all about, and how to correctly plant a tree.?

For our first Arbor Day, I had the great privilege to facilitate the planting of an elm (Ulmus ‘Lobel’) with a Foundation Learning class (Fig. 5). These students greatly enjoyed the experience and they worked so well together, as a group – it was truly inspiring to see these learners gaining so much from the activity. Sponsored by Michal Mixa of MM Arboriculture, this tree is now growing well in its chosen spot.?

After our first Arbor Day, I have started to plan ahead, well in advance of next year’s planting season. This has allowed better generation of funding for our tree planting efforts – and I have involved my own children – both in the planting of new woodland areas at college, but also with the gathering of local seeds to grow our own seedlings. This little lad (Fig. 5) grew 230 oak trees from seed, which are now growing in three new woodland areas at Lodge Farm and at Myerscough’s playing fields. So far, we have planted 149 standard trees, 277 metres of new hedgerow and 2.23 hectares of new woodland at Myerscough.?

An Arbor Day can reach all generations – but seeing the response in the youngest is most enheartening. It is they that will have to carry the burden of an increasingly turbulent climate, for which tree planting can be part of the mitigation. “Start Them Young”, as they say – but it has never been more important.?

Not Sitting On The Fence?

Planting trees with over thirty groups – and on my own – has continued to teach me many lessons – as to what works – and what could be better. There’s always more to learn – and it is so important to go back to the plantings conducted in previous years.?

This year, our Arbor Day efforts joined in with the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative – a phenomenally successful campaign to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee across the whole of the UK, which achieved the planting of over a million trees. We were more than happy to play our part in this initiative. One of our plantings was to the north of a balancing pond on the College’s sports fields, and I needed to separate out this vulnerable and young tree planting from the flying footballs, so I created a living fence (Fig. 6). Made from cuttings of biomass willows, this living fence, unlike a wooden fence, will grow to become stronger and to store more carbon each year. What other type of fence can do that? It also makes for an interesting feature to time-lapse – another of my many tree-based hobbies.?

Lesson Learnt?

Celebrating an Arbor Day is a great experience – it pulls on the heart strings – it brings people together – and, ultimately, for us, it gives a big “mood boost” in February, which is otherwise quite a hard month to get through in Lancashire, with all the rain, mud, and sleet that one must put up with.?

Arbor Day UK will become a registered charity this year – and we will be asking other institutions and individuals to get involved with tree planting and tree care for the above given reasons. Starting with only a three-figure budget to plant trees at College each year, I am now working with a five-figure budget, which has really helped with the College’s sustainability goals. I encourage anyone reading this article in the UK to consider celebrating an Arbor Day, and you are welcome, also, to contribute to ours. To complete the answer to the question “Why celebrate an Arbor Day?” – despite all the rational reasons given in this article, I would have to say that the pure joy of the experience surmounts any other reason: after all, it is in giving that we receive the most.

References?

Arbor Day Foundation (2022) Arbor Day Foundation Website; (At: https://www.arborday.org/) [Last accessed 22.04.2022].?

About the Author?

Dr. Duncan Slater is a senior lecturer in arboriculture at Myerscough College, Lancashire. He is also a co-ordinator of Arbor Day UK (#ArborDayUK) – an action group that seeks to put new trees and woodlands back into the landscape.

*** This Article First Appeared in ProArb Magazine in the Summer of 2022 ***