City of Zanesville Celebrates Arbor Day by Planting New Tree at Riverside Park

ZANESVILLE, OH – Today is Arbor Day and for many that means helping out Mother Earth by planting trees.

Here locally, the Zanesville Shade Tree Commission planted a Cherry Kwanzan tree at Riverside Park to celebrate the day.

The newly planted tree is located at the end of the line of trees right next to the pickleball courts at Riverside.

Dane Miller, the Associate Planner for Community Development, says Zanesville has been considered a Shade Tree City for 27 years.

“Shade Tree City is a part of the International Society of Arboriculture and it’s a program where they recognize cities that commit to taking care of their trees.” Miller said. “You’re required to spend [a certain amount of] money on them every year, you’re required to record all the work you do, and report that to the ISA.”

Miller said while trees may be a nuisance to some, they provide many benefits to our everyday lives.

He says trees are able to help cut energy costs, provide shelter to your home from the elements, and they make a nice, shaded place to sit under on a nice day.

Miller also talked about why they chose the tree that was planted today.

“There’s a couple of parts to [it].” Miller said. “One, you can’t see it now, but they have pretty pink flowers that come in the Spring and it makes it an accent tree. There’s no tree along this line of trees, this line of trees was planted a long time ago, and it was just a good spot for an accent tree. The other part to that story is actually, [The] Noon Rotary helped with a City Clean Up and this was a tree that they donated to us for Arbor Day.”

Some other fun ways to celebrate Arbor Day could include an oldest or tallest tree scavenger hunt with your family, cleaning up a local park, or reading a book about trees.