Arborists, public officials, students and members of the public came out for tree planting activities around the state last month in observance of Arbor Day 2026.
Buffalo
About 40 arborists volunteered their time to Buffalo's Arbor Day project in the city's Cazenovia Park on Saturday, April 25. This year, the work was primarily focused on cleaning up storm thrown trees and removing hazardous trees along highly frequented pathways. In addition, many healthy trees were pruned and a few new trees were planted into the landscape.
"I was thrilled to see some of the public still make their way out to engage with the local organizations and learn more about the industry," reports Michael Sawyer, Forestry Manager for the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. "I hope for a drier, sunnier event next year so that we may hopefully engage many more people."
Toward the end of the event, New York State Arborists presented Jared Webber, owner/operator of Bradley Tree & Landscape, with the Richard Nelson Distinguished Arborist Award in recognition of his many years of dedication and service to NYSA, the local community, and the tree care industry as a whole.
WRGZ television covered the program; you can view the video HERE.
Photos: Kelly Kazmierczak Photography
Schenectady
The Electric City celebrated Arbor Day on Friday, April 24, with a tulip tree planting in Vale Cemetery and Park supported by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“In Schenectady, particularly in these neighborhoods, there's not a lot of room for planting street trees because there's a lot of gray infrastructure, and the parks — Vale Park and Vale Cemetery — are a very valuable green space for neighborhoods and residents and because they're maintained in a natural state and because there's a lot of diversity, it attracts a lot of insects and birds, which really enhances the ecosystem,” City Treasurer Betsy Henry told WRGB Television.
Photo: cbs6albany.com
Saranac Lake
This year's edition of the Franklin County Soil & Water District's Arbor Day tree planting event brought together high-schoolers from the BOCES Adirondack Educational Center and third-graders from Petrova Elementary School to plant trees on the grounds of the Adirondack Alliance Church on April 24.
In addition to helping the older students with the planting, the third-graders received lessons from Soil & Water Conservation District Manager Kristin Ballou and her staff about trees and how to plant and care for them.
In all, 37 trees — consisting of white birch and crabapple — were planted, The Daily Gazette reported. With such a prominent location driving into Saranac Lake from the west, these varieties were selected with aesthetics in mind, along with flowers that were planted alongside the trees.
Read more about the event HERE.
Photo: Chris Gaige, The Daily Gazette
Bath
Elementary students in the Bath Central School planted a tree on campus with help from the DEC.
The district has been holding an Arbor Day celebration for 25 years. Students at this year's event told a reporter from WETM Television that they learned a lot about trees and their importance to the environment. Some of them shared what they had learned in presentations to their parents and classmates.
The first Arbor Day in the U.S. was the brainchild of newspaper editor and politician J. Stewart Morton. On that first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872, an estimated 1 million trees were planted. By the 1920s, every state had an Arbor Day.
Arbor Day is observed on the last Friday in April in 24 U.S. states, including New York. Other states time their Arbor Day observances to suit their climates and planting seasons, with South Carolina marking the day on the first Friday in December, and Alaska waiting until the third Friday in May.
