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Celebrate Georgia Arbor Day
Clark MacCallister
Dawson County will be celebrating the state Arbor Day on Friday, April 27. Arbor Day promotes awareness of trees and celebrates with mass plantings across the country. Nationwide, the most common day for state ceremonies is the last Friday in April. However, many state Arbor Days are held at various times to coincide with better tree planting weather, from January in the south to May in the northern US. The first official Georgia Arbor Day was proclaimed in 1890 by the Georgia General Assembly, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission. The first Arbor Day came about from the work of a Nebraska pioneer name J. Sterling Morton. Originally from Michigan, Morton moved to a homestead in the Nebraska Territory in 1854. He wasn’t happy with the lack of trees on his new property. Morton and his wife set about planting their homestead with trees, flowers, and shrubs, making their land somewhat of an oasis on the bleak Nebraska plain.