My friend (and noted author), Kathryn Galbraith, explained the importance of trees to community in her beautiful new picture book for children, Arbor Day Square. I am fortunate to be surrounded by woodland here in Heath, but as a new member of the Bridge of Flowers committee I have been more and more aware of how healthy street trees, some of them quite new, add to the quality of life in a small town like Shelburne Falls, but they also support the economic life of the town. When visitors come to tour the Bridge of Flowers they see that the Bridge is not an isolated element in the town, it is just a symbol of the care the community takes of its resources, of its residents, and of the natural world. Visitors find pleasure in walking through the town, and stopping to shop and snack, and even dine. Not to be crass, but greening a town can lead to putting a little green in townspeople’s pockets.
Does your town have street trees? What do they mean to you?
Celebrate trees and Arbor Day. There is lots of information about Arbor Day in Massachusetts here.