Arbor Day is April 24: Celebrate the Trees Near You!

Via an April 24 e-newsletter from Minneapolis Park & Rec Board

* * Celebrate Arbor Day on April 24 * * 

How do we love trees? Let us count the ways...

We wish we could invite everyone to this year's Arbor Day festival, which would have celebrated urban street trees.

Instead, due to the ongoing response to COVID-19, we're opting to share some tree-mendous ways that everyone can enjoy, celebrate and help the trees all around us. 

Scroll down for more - and a look at the new trees just added to a new Minneapolis neighborhood.

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Tree I.D.: Get to know the trees in your neighborhood Can you tell a sugar maple from a silver or red maple? Learning a little something about the trees living near you can be rewarding all around (same goes for your human neighbors!).  Anyone can become a whiz at identifying trees, using these tools from our research and outreach partners at the University of Minnesota’s UFore Nursery & Lab: Tree Identification Cards - Download or print cards with photos and general characteristics for 51 trees, from amur maackia to willows.   Beginners Guide to Tree I.D. - Coniferous or deciduous? That’s first step to figuring out what you’re looking at with this 20-page guide to 35 trees commonly to Minnesota.

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Adopt a tree No housebreaking or litterbox training. No obedience classes. All an adopted street tree asks of you is water - once a week through the current growing season. Brewing a Better Forest has thousands of public trees available for adoption: Select yours today.    Join the family! Beyond adoption, consider joining the Family of Trees, a new project based in North Minneapolis. Their dual mission is to grow both the urban tree canopy and environmental engagement to help address climate change. They have many ways for everyone to help.  Get a new, green-leaved pen pal Strike up a virtual correspondence with a new friend at Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in south Minneapolis. Get details from the Kingfield CommuniTree Forest, or take a virtual visit to the park to select a tree right now.

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Room to spare? Plant a tree there! The Minneapolis City Trees Program offers trees for $25 to Minneapolis property owners, until May 1 or whenever all trees are sold. You can also consider other local or online sources, including the Arbor Day Foundation. Get help in selecting, planting and caring for your new tree with a visit to the Arbor Month page at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Earth Day All Month: Give trees a cleaner, greener home  Join in this year's Do-It-Yourself version of MPRB's Minneapolis Earth Day Clean-up, taking place through the end of April. Volunteers are collecting trash in their neighborhoods and nearby parks, and sharing photos of their cleanup on the @MPLSEarthDay Facebook page. Get details there or at www.minneapolisparks.org/earthday.

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Arbor Day prequel: Welcome some of Minneapolis’ newest residents

Last week, MPRB forestry crews planted more than 100 trees in downtown's North Loop neighborhood, along North Third Street between Fifth and Tenth avenues - the site originally planned to host the Arbor Day festival. The trees are one of the finishing touches on a project that reconstructed the street to better serve people walking, biking, using transit or driving.

Downtown streets may be the toughest place for a young tree to grow. But the reconstructed stretch of North Third Street has a boulevard with extra space for water to infiltrate and tree roots to grow. This "continuous open boulevard" feature allows trees to grow healthier and live longer.

The rendering below shows North Third Street in a few years, with trees well on their way to providing a lush canopy. Good street trees make great neighborhoods!

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More new trees are coming to streets and parks near you

You're bound to find newcomers in your neighborhood and the local park: We're planting more than 9,400 trees across the city this year! Later this spring, we'll send an update with tree profiles on some of your new neighbors.