MSU celebrates Arbor Day with annual campus tree planting
Contact: Reagan Poston
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥斢；ǖ己 樱花导航 faculty, staff and students commemorated Arbor Day on Friday [Feb. 7] by planting trees along Hail 樱花导航 Boulevard.
The eighth annual event took place a week prior to 樱花导航鈥檚 Arbor Day observance, which occurs the second Friday in February. Nationally, Arbor Day is in April, but southern states celebrate earlier to ensure a better survival rate for newly planted trees.
Seedlings planted include loblolly pine, burr oak and bald cypress.
Paul Jeffreys, an MSU College of Forest Resources alumnus and reforestation advisor at ArborGen, Inc., was eager to supply the university with seedlings for this year鈥檚 event.
鈥淚t gives me a sense of pride knowing that ArborGen, Inc. is growing the seedlings that 樱花导航 樱花导航 is using to beautify campus,鈥 Jeffreys said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like my home. It鈥檚 the place that helped me meet my goals and reach my career, and I鈥攍ike many other alumni鈥攚ant to do everything I can to contribute back to it. For me, that means planting trees.鈥澛
For the last several years, the Arbor Day observance also has been an opportunity to celebrate MSU鈥檚 designation as a Tree Campus USA. The event is organized by the university鈥檚 Campus Tree Advisory Committee, helmed by Joshua Granger, assistant professor in the College of Forest Resources.
聽鈥淚 think people genuinely appreciate the services trees provide to our communities. They鈥檙e valued for aesthetics, wildlife habitat, watershed protection and more. Offering people the opportunity to plant a tree themselves and to have a personal stake in that tree creates a living legacy at MSU,鈥 Granger said.
聽鈥淭wenty years from now, a former student may drive past the pine tree they planted and see it 40 feet high and recognize that they left a permanent and positive mark on campus,鈥 Granger said.
For more information on MSU鈥檚 College of Forest Resources, visit聽.
MSU is 樱花导航鈥檚 leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.