Arbor Day

From Sunday Chicago Tribune Magazine - April 24, 2005

Arbor Day, the last Friday in April, had its start in a relatively treeless place: Nebraska. Prominent Nebraskan Julius Sterling Morton proposed a day dedicated to planting trees in 1872, and the first Arbor Day was a big success. Morton had a son named Joy, who made his fortune in Chicago with a salt business you may have heard of. Joy Morton also loved trees, and on Arbor Day in 1922 he planted 17 of them on his estate in Lisle, Illinois along with 130,000 other plantings that spring and the Morton Arboretum was born.
Some tree trivia:

- Number of trees planted in Nebraska the first Arbor Day: 1 million.
- Most common tree in Chicago: Cottonwood.
- Estimated number of trees in Chicago: 4.1 million.
- Number of young, healthy trees whose net cooling effect is equal to ten room-sized air conditioners operating 20 hours a day: 1
- Percentage of Illinois land that was forested in 1820: 39%.
- Percentage of Illinois land forested today: 12%.

The Morton Arboretum is close to where we live and we have visited it many times. One of my college roommates is the Director of Property and Grounds and at one time lived on the grounds of the Arboretum. It's a beautiful place to visit if you are ever in the area.

Happy Arbor Day!