Taking Place In The Trees

It’s that time of year again!  This Friday is Arbor Day across America, and for Massachusetts arborists it’s the Arbor Day of Service.  Arbor Day of Service is a program developed by the Mass. Arborists Association several years ago.  For it, the MAA “partners with local tree wardens, community leaders, and civic organizations to identify worthy projects in need of professional tree care”.  Tree companies and individual arborists pick the project they want to participate in, and donate their time to plant, prune, and care for trees on the selected sites.  It’s a great program; various organizations which otherwise might not be able to carry out the needed work at one time benefit from the Arbor Day of Service blitz approach, and the arborists team with one another to give back to their communities.   Last year the arborists donated over $250,000 in services in that one day to the communities and organizations they chose.

To read more about Arbor Day itself, check out the Arbor Day Foundation website.  To find out more about the MAA’s Arbor Day of Service, take a look at the MAA website, which also has a signup sheet if you’re a member and haven’t yet put your name in to work on one of this year’s projects.

The two projects I’m most aware of this year are at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA (worth visiting whether you’re there to do pruning or tree care or just to enjoy the site and gardens) and at Boston Common, one of the nation’s oldest common open spaces.

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I suspect this Boston Common pruning took place some time before the MAA started the Arbor Day of Service.   Still, it’s good to see the tradition circle back to the Common…

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