I think it’s like how conservationists will pick a “flagship” species. Nobody cares if this one species of beetle is endangered, but a tiger? That will get donations to protect it’s habitat. So they promote it as saving the tiger, but it’s also about everything else in the area. Maybe trees are the same concept. Everybody knows what a tree is, and it’s large and visible. So they plant the trees and when they grow they also provide habitat for the understory vegetation that otherwise wouldn’t bring in the cash. I’ve read about the animal part, though I just made up that example. I think the same could apply to the plants too, though Arbor Day seems to be missing the whole point.
1 Like
They claim to be.
“The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization of nearly one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, celebrate and nurture trees.”
16 Likes
Not to mention that tree planting in the prairies was one of the things that enabled Barred Owls to colonise the west, endanger the Spotted Owl, and part of the reason for the terrible dilemma now facing those concerned about owl conservation.
6 Likes
That is my perception exactly. I trash any mailings I get from them.
1 Like
They don’t do anything but sell trees. I don’t consider them a conservation organization.
1 Like
Thanks for the link to that interesting blog. I was actually not thinking so much of the ecological damage done by planting trees in the prairie, but more of the motivation for promoting the planting of trees as part of a goal of claiming and shaping the land in accordance with a particular ideal. The blog author has a useful discussion of these aspects in another post: https://prairieecologist.com/2021/04/26/the-darker-side-of-tree-planting-in-the-great-plains/
During the period of westward expansion, the prairies were seen as empty and (mostly) useless space. Planting trees was seen as an essential part of making the land productive, connected with the idea that “rain follows the plow”. Even though farmers spent a considerable amount of time removing tree stumps when preparing farmland in the East, in the West homesteaders were rewarded for planting trees.
I couldn’t have consciously articulated how this ties in to e.g., the idea of Manifest Destiny as the blog writer does, and I wasn’t aware of the explicit connection between Arbor Day and the settlement of the West, but like some other posters in this thread, it would not have occurred to me to think of the Arbor Day Foundation as a conservation organization.
Today, living in Germany where (managed) forests are a major part of the landscape and forest dieback is a real concern, I find it interesting that a number of the nature conservation areas in my region use grazing (sheep/ponies) specifically as a way of preventing tree growth and maintaining the open landscape. So even in places where wooded landscapes occur naturally, planting trees isn’t necessarily a solution to all ills.
5 Likes
That Manifest Destiny (altho we don’t use that term) is an undercurrent here too.
On Table Mountain is a monument to a forester - if you seek his monument look around you. Then it was a pine plantation or oaks (‘disappointingly’ the wood grew too fast and was unsuitable) for timber. Now we pick pine (seedlings for me) out of our fynbos.
2 Likes
Adding to bouteloua’s post, Nebraska is home to the only completely manmade National Forest. The Wikipedia article states,
The Nebraska National Forests & Grasslands began in 1902 as an experiment. University of Nebraska botany professor Charles Edwin Bessey, with the assistance of Gifford Pinchot, first Forest Service Chief, convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside two treeless tracts of Nebraska sandhills as “forest reserves."
iNaturalist currently has 1,852 observations of 546 species from the Nebraska National Forest.
3 Likes
Lots of nonprofits use “surveys” as fundraising solicitations. This is nothing new.
Of course, but that wasn’t the concern. It was about them recommending non native stuff to plant, and then justifying it in their email back to me.
2 Likes
Last time I checked, Arbor Day Foundation purposely plants Invasive species (don’t sugar coat it with “non-native!”) and brags about their fast growth rate.
I have a conspiracy that they’re purposely damaging the environment so they’ll always be needed. If you need a tree planting place, I’d look into Ecosia or their partners or just the United Nations for climate action in general
5 Likes
It’s a terrible idea as some of their offerings are invasive like Norway maples and kousa dogwood.
If you want to support a foundation donate to your local conservancy many times they host tree giveaways and/or native plant sales.
4 Likes
Greenwashing, plain and simple!!
A better idea
If you want native plants, check out Prairie Moon Nursery. They are pretty much the only company who actually care about native/non-native for purposes other than profit, as far as I can tell. I have no affiliation whatsoever with them. Just a suggestion.
2 Likes
There’s plenty of others that do something similar to Prairie Moon Nursery, though most are quite local and few have quite the selection of species they do.
1 Like
There is One Tree Planted, too.
1 Like
If you want to look at a really special way to approach the need for trees, look into the Armenia Tree Project. You can see photos of exactly what they do, and where the money is going. Fabulous; the way it should be done. https://www.armeniatree.org/tree-propagation
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.