Deadline extended to order free Arbor Day tree seedlings for fourth graders

Metro Wire Staff

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has extended the deadline to order free tree seedlings for fourth-grade students as part of the department’s annual Arbor Day tree planting program.

Wisconsin fourth-grade principals, teachers, and homeschoolers can place seedling orders by April 1 by completing the 2024 Arbor Day application.

Applications can be submitted online or via fax to the Griffith State Nursery in Wisconsin Rapids.

Through its fourth-grade Arbor Day tree planting program, the DNR provides interactive education to Wisconsin students about the importance of trees within our environment. The DNR provides about  50,000 free tree seedlings to fourth-grade students through the program.

Seedlings come protected to keep backpacks clean and shipments include educational information on how to best plant and care for seedlings and trees.

In 2021, Gov. Tony Evers signed an Executive Order pledging to protect and restore Wisconsin’s forestland by planting 75 million trees by 2030 as part of the U.S. Chapter of the Global Trillion Trees Initiative.

Arbor Day is a holiday during which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. The holiday originated in Nebraska in 1872 and is now celebrated nationally. Wisconsin’s Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April and is usually linked with Earth Day.