Trees are something you may not notice every day as you rush to work and school, but just think if they were gone… what a barren place Colorado would be and the majestic Rockies would be a rock wasteland. Home to 95 cities and towns that are considered Tree City USA communities, in Colorado love our trees.
Friday, April 16, 2016, is Arbor Day, and a chance to take a day to not only celebrate our trees but be reminded that protecting this beautiful resource is up to all of us.
Volunteers play an important role in tree planting all over Colorado and it’s easy to get involved. Visit www.arborday.org to learn how you can organize a tree planting project in your community or be on a team that transforms landscapes with trees.
Arbor Day 2016: Getting Involved
Getting involved, however, takes more than planting trees one day out of the year. Taking action and being mindful every day will make sure our beautiful trees are around in Colorado for many generations to come. You can decrease your carbon footprint by conserving energy in your home. Turn off the lights in the room you’re not in, shut down your computer when you’re not using it, and walking to the grocery store if possible instead of hopping in the car for every errand.
If you want to take action on Arbor Day and ‘go green’, here are three easy ways to do it:
- Save a tree by asking for paperless billing whenever possible. It will be easier to keep track of your expenses if it’s done online and you’ll be able to look at the tree in your backyard and realize you just saved it.
- Use both sides of a piece of paper. By yourself, you’ll save 175 pounds of paper and means a few more trees will sway in the wind this summer.
- Recycle your newspaper because just recycling the Sunday paper will save 500,000 trees per week.
If each of us plays a small part in saving our trees, our beautiful Colorado landscape will be preserved for many years to come and that’s a reason to smile every day!