Yorktown Commemorates Arbor Day

(May 4, 2021) - Yorktown officials celebrated Arbor Day on Saturday by planting a pin oak on the Hart library grounds.

“We take great pride in our green spaces and protecting our local environment,” said Supervisor Matt Slater, noting that the town’s commitment to environmentalism is not limited to planting one tree. “Willow Park will be home now to the Garden of Hope. It will also be home to one of our new butterfly sanctuaries.”

The tree planting also marked the tenth year that Yorktown has received a Tree City USA designation from The Arbor Day Foundation.

“Arbor Day celebrations in Yorktown do go back over 100 years,” said Bill Kellner, chair of Yorktown’s Tree Conservation Advisory Commission. “Around the time of the First World War, trees were traditionally planted on school ground by the town’s students.”

“Trees give so much to us,” said Councilman Tom Diana. “I want to thank the conservation people and the Arbor Day people.”

“Without trees Mother Nature cannot survive,” said Councilman Vishnu Patel. “We should all treat Mother Nature as if she were our own mother.”

The tree planting was one of many events last month commemorating Earth Day. The Battle of Yorktown was an Earth Day—related event that invited volunteers to don safety vests and grab garbage bags to collect roadside litter. Work crews from the Yorktown Refuse & Recycling Department also cleaned roadside litter at Wood and Hanover streets.

Yorktown recently joined the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayors Monarch Pledge. The program commits communities to creating habitat for the monarch butterfly, whose eastern U.S. population has declined by 90 percent in recent years.

Photo caption: Yorktown Supervisor Matt Slater, right, with members of the Town Board and the Tree Conservation Advisory Commission on May 1, 2021 at the Hart library in Yorktown.