The City of Atlantic Beach held its annual Arbor Day celebration Jan. 20 in front of the city’s police station.
A bald cypress tree was planted at Atlantic Beach Elementary School the day before the ceremony and a group students who are part of the school’s Going Green Club were on hand.
“Bald cypress is one of three trees that we recognize as potential heritage trees with live oaks and magnolias being the others,” said Mark Gabrynowicz, chair of the Atlantic Beach Environmental Stewardship Committee.
According to Gabrynowicz, having the students take part in the celebration is vital to making sure the city’s environmental culture is maintained moving forward into the next generations.
“We’re not just here today to plant seeds in the ground, but it’s also about planting seeds in these kids’ minds and hearts moving forward,” Gabrynowicz said.
Part of that culture includes the City of Atlantic Beach having the designation of a Tree City USA.
“One of our main missions is outreach,” Gabrynowicz said. “These kids are part of Beaches Go Green, which started a chapter at Atlantic Beach Elementary and we recommended that they expand to all the schools, because again outreach is about everybody.”
Although Arbor Day is observed nationally on the last Friday in April, each state’s start of the celebration can vary depending on the various growing seasons.
Because the growing season for Southern states begins earlier due to the warmer weather, Arbor Day therefore begins earlier than states farther north.
Atlantic Beach Mayor Curtis Ford stated in a proclamation that some of the many benefits communities receive from trees include cooler temperatures, cleaner air, higher property values and healthier residents as a whole.
“We’re a bridge to the community and are just trying to get everybody involved with the beautification and the pride and respect for our neighborhoods,” said Anastasia Houston, who helps handle outreach for the committee. “It’s what makes Atlantic Beach so unique.”
An example of that community pride is the fact that the city has a law stating that every residence must have a tree in its front yard.
To help with this the City of Atlantic Beach has an adopt-a-tree program where they will give residents a free tree to plant.
“It’s something that is very distinguishing for our neighborhood, and you can notice the difference when you enter our (tree) canopy, which is what we’re really trying to preserve,” Houston said.
Gabrynowicz explained to the students that the legend of Johnny Appleseed that they may read about growing up is based on a man who in real life was a horticulturalist and apple tree farmer.
According to Houston, one of the fun ways the students in the Going Green Club at Atlantic Beach Elementary got involved and learned about trees was by measuring the size of the trees in their front yards.
“We have Earth Day coming up, so we’re already starting to plan for that,” Gabrynowicz said. “There are a lot of people calling wanting to know what they can do and how they can get involved.”
Sometimes people want to get involved but they are not sure how to get started.
“We, as a committee, give them that entry point,” Houston said.
Any residents interested in getting a free tree for their front yard can go to coab.us/adoptatree.
