Rhode Island’s 137th Arbor Day, April 26, 2024
PRESS RELEASE
2024 Rhode Island Arbor Day- Come Join Us In Honoring Trees!
Rhode Island Arbor Day will be celebrated on Friday, April 26, 2024, at the Joseph Ventetuolo Recreational Complex, Brayton Avenue, Cranston, RI (aka: Brayton Avenue Park). The celebration will start at 11AM with welcoming remarks by Cranston’s Mayor Ken Hopkins and The Honorable Jack Reed, United States Senator. The official Rhode Island Arbor Day Proclamation will be read by the Honorable Dan McKee, Governor of Rhode Island.
Other activities will follow. They include poem readings, tree plantings, and an awards ceremony. The poems will highlight the benefits of trees and will be performed by students from Oakland Elementary School. Also, thirteen Rhode Island municipalities and two colleges will be honored by the National Arbor Day Foundation for their commitment to urban forestry. Presenting the awards will be by Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director, Terry Gray. Capping the day’s event, will be the traditional Tree Planting Ceremony. A total of seven saplings-sugar maple, red maple, and Western arborvitae- will be planted to beautify the park.
Arbor Day is the ‘tree holiday’ celebrated in the United States to recognize the importance of trees. Rhode Island has a long and proud tradition of commemorating Arbor Day dating back to 1887. This year’s event will mark the 137th Anniversary of Rhode Island Arbor Day. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.
The Rhode Island Tree Council has had a leading role in organizing the Rhode Island Arbor Day Program since 1998. The Tree Council has had the help of several key partners without which this annual endeavor would not have been possible. We appreciate and acknowledge their generous support. They are the United States Forest Service, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and the Rhode Island Energy Company (formerly National Grid Co).
Address for directions: Brayton Park, 18 Brayton Ave, Cranston, RI 02920
CONTACT: Robin Enos, Volunteer Coordinator, RI Tree Council e-mail: ritree@ritree.org, Telephone: 401-764-5885
The History of Arbor Day
Arbor Day is about celebrating and appreciating trees. The day has grown from a small celebration in Nebraska in the 1800s, through ratification by the Nixon Administration, to now being celebrated all over the world. Today, it’s the most extensive effort of its kind on Earth. Trees clean our air, protect our drinking water, create healthy communities, and feed the human soul, says the Arbor Day Foundation.
Arbor Day is America’s official tree holiday. The country has celebrated it since the end of the 19th century to recognize the importance of trees. The first Arbor Day occurred in Nebraska in 1871. Former Nebraskan Agriculture Commissioner Sterling Morton, a well-respected philanthropist who had earlier founded the Morton Salt Company, organized the event.
Rhode Island has had a long history with Arbor Day. According to the Rhode Island Department of Education records, the first event held in Rhode Island to honor trees occurred on April 29, 1886. The Barrington Rural Improvement Society and took place on public land near the railroad station in West Barrington sponsored the event.
Rhode Island State Tree: Red Maple
Rhode Island State Tree: Red Maple
Red Maple wood is somewhat soft. It is commonly used in products like clothespins, veneer, interior moldings, and inexpensive furniture. The tree produces high quality sugar, but its yield pales in comparison to the Sugar Maple and Black Maple due primarily to the fact that it begins growth much earlier in the season resulting in a shorter sugar collection period. In past times, tannin was extracted from Red Maple trees for clothing dye and ink production.
Common names
Red maple is also known as scarlet maple, swamp maple, soft maple, Carolina red maple, Drummond red maple, and water maple.
Identification of the Red Maple Rhode Island State Tree: Red Maple
Many foresters consider the tree inferior and undesirable because it is often poorly formed and defective, especially on poor sites. On good sites, however, it may grow fast with good form and quality for saw logs. Red maple is a subclimax species that can occupy over story space but is usually replaced by other species. It is classed as shade tolerant and as a prolific sprouter. It has great ecological amplitude from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft) and grows over a wide range of microhabitat sites. It ranks high as a shade tree for landscapes.
Leaf: Opposite, 3 to 5 palmate lobes with serrate margins, sinuses relatively shallow (but variable), 2 to 4 inches long; light green above, whitened and sometimes glaucous or hairy beneath.
Flower: Appear March to May, usually before leaves; usually bright red but occasionally yellow.
Fruit: Clusters of 1/2 to 3/4 inch long fruit with slighly divergent wings, appear May to June, on long slender stems. Light brown and often reddish.
Twig: Reddish and lustrous with small lenticels, buds usually blunt, green or reddish (fall and winter) with several scales usually present, leaf scars V-shaped, 3 bundle scars, lateral buds slightly stalked, may be collateral buds present.
Bark: On young trees, smooth and light gray, with age becomes darker and breaks up into long scaly plates.
Form: Medium-sized tree. In forest, trunk usually clear for some distance, in the open the trunk is shorter and the crown rounded.
State of Rhode Island General Laws
TITLE 42
State Affairs and Government
CHAPTER 42-4
State Emblems
SECTION 42-4-8
§ 42-4-8 State tree. – The tree commonly known as the “red maple” (acer rubrum) is hereby designated as the state tree.
History of Section.
(G.L. 1956, § 42-4-8; P.L. 1964, ch. 13, § 1.)
Taxonomic Hierarchy of the Red Maple
| Kingdom | Plantae — Plants |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta — Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | Spermatophyta –Seed plants |
| Division | Magnoliophyta –Flowering plants |
| Class | Magnoliopsida –Dicotyledons |
| Subclass | Rosidae — |
| Order | Sapindales — |
| Family | Aceraceae –Maple family |
| Genus | Acer L. –maple |
| Species | Acer rubrum L. –red maple |
Source:
Dendrology at Virginia Tech
US Department of Agriculture
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Arbor Day is an annual observance that celebrates the role of trees in our lives and promotes tree planting and care.
In 1962, the General Assembly decreed the last Friday in April the official date for Rhode Island Arbor Day.
This year RI Arbor Day will be celebrated on Friday, April 30. It will be hosted by the Town of East Providence at North Hull Street Park, East Providence (see directions below). The event starts at 10:30am and will feature speakers, awards and the planting of shade trees.
Event sponsors are the non-profit RI Tree Council, RI Department of Environmental Management and Nationalgrid.
The 2021 RI Arbor Day Celebration is free and open to the public. We invite all to come and join us on this very special occasion, the 134th observance of RI Arbor Day.
DIRECTIONS
- RT- 95 South or North to RT-195 East;
- Take Exit1B-C onto RT-44E/Taunton Avenue- 0.3 miles;
- Bear slight right onto Grosvenor Avenue-0.5 miles;
- Take right onto North Hull Street. Proceed on NHS for 1 mile. Destination is on the left
- Arbor Day festivities will take place at the basketball court inside the park.
