Lavonia to Observe Arbor Day Today With Ceremony, Tree Planting

The City of Lavonia celebrates Arbor Day today, weather permitting.

This year’s National Arbor Day theme is Celebrate Oaks and Lavonia with the help of the Boy Scouts will be planting an oak seedling at the Lavonia Ball Fields on Bear Creek Road this afternoon at 2p.

In the event of rain, the Arbor Day presentation will be held inside Lavonia City Hall.

Sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation, National Arbor Day is always celebrated on the last Friday in April, but many states and communities observe Arbor Day on different dates throughout the year based on the best tree-planting times in their area.

In Georgia, Arbor Day is celebrated on the third Thursday in February.

Both Lavonia and Royston are designated as Tree City USA communities by the Arbor Day Foundation.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation Web site, to qualify as a Tree City USA community, a municipality must meet four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.

The standards ensure that every qualifying community has a viable tree management program and that no community would be excluded because of size.

Those standards include having a Tree Board or Department, a Tree ordinance, a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

Royston will celebrate Arbor Day with a tree planting in March at a date and time to be announced later.