Client News: Idaho and nation celebrate Arbor Day, April 30
Each year on the last Friday in April every state in the nation celebrates Arbor Day. This one special day has been set aside to learn about all the many benefits and resources provided by trees. The Idaho Forest Products Commission will be distributing 25,000 free seedlings on Arbor Day. You can get yours at any Home Depot or FedEx Kinkos throughout Idaho, or at the Boise Co-Op or Flicks Theatre in downtown Boise. They also will be holding the annual state celebration, proclamation reading, and tree planting at Capital Park across the street from the Statehouse the morning of April 30. Everyone is welcome to join the celebration and learn more about the benefits of Idaho’s forests. Please go to www.idahoforests.org for more information.
Consider this:
1. Arbor Day is a great time to think about trees and Idaho’s forests.
2. Idaho’s forests contribute to our state and our way of life.
3. Forests cover 21 million acres of Idaho, over 40% of the state.
4. Forests are renewable. When trees die or are harvested, others can be grown for the future.
5. Forests are sustainable. They can be managed to meet our needs today and not diminish future generations’ opportunities to use forest resources.
6. Working forests are where trees are continuously grown, harvested and re-grown for the future.
7. We all benefit from the clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and protection from catastrophic wildfires that working forests provide.
8. Working forests fuel Idaho’s economy with wages, taxes and purchases from employees and businesses. Forest businesses directly provided 10,800 jobs in Idaho in 2009 and supported thousands of other related jobs in service businesses.
9. Idaho’s working forests provide wood and paper products that are marketed and used throughout the world. In 2009, around $1.4 billion of Idaho wood and paper products were sold.
10. Working forests hold great promise for Idaho’s future – clean energy, new products and jobs, carbon storage and a healthy environment for our children and their children.