Please Check Our April Events Calendar for Date
The committee began its tradition of providing various Arbor Day programs in 1987. These programs are designed to encourage interest in tree planting and to offset the disappearing tree cover in Montgomery. Each year the Shade Tree Committee introduces a different species of tree. Past years featured: American Elm, Douglas Fir, Norway Spruce, White Pine, Red Oak, Honey Locust, Yellowwood, Shadblow, Pin Oak, Willow Oak, Sugar Maple, Sweetbay Magnolia, Tupelo, and American Hornbeam.
3rd Grade workshops and free trees
All 3rd graders in the Village Elementary School have workshops with Shade Tree Committee members and other volunteers, including local tree surgeons. The workshops focus on the importance of trees and the proper way to plant and care for trees. Each child receives a tree seedling with easy to understand planting instructions, and an illustrated description of the tree.
Arbor Day planting project
Each Arbor Day is commemorated with the planting of a new tree on township land. Past planting sites have included the Municipal Building property, Montgomery Veterans Park, Harlingen Green, and Van Horne Park.
Seed Contest and live exhibit
The Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill hosts a seed contest for children ‘Can You Tell the Tree? Can You Count the Seeds?’ The young readers are asked to try to identify the species of a tree by its seeds with the help of a tree identification book, and, to guess the number of tree seeds in a large jar. Each year the committee presents a different mystery tree, whose seed are later offered for planting. In the past the contest featured: red oak, buttonwood, Canadian hemlock, red spruce, white pine, sweetgum, American beech, black walnut, honey locust, sugar maple, Kentucky coffee tree, shagbark hickory, redbud, and scarlet oak. The winner gets a book about trees from the Eyewitness series.
Call for volunteers
If you would like to be a part of the Arbor Day program, or apply to serve on the committee, please apply using our Online Volunteer Application.