TONASKET – The Tonasket City Council set the date for their Arbor Day celebration as Wednesday, April 13 during their meeting on Tuesday, March 22.

The celebration will begin at 6 p.m. in Tonasket Founders Park by the Tonasket Visitors and Business Resource Center and will then move to Chief Tonasket Park, where members of the council will plant trees.

The date was set after Mayor Patrick Plumb read the Arbor Day Proclamation, which proclaims:

“In 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees and the holiday, called Arbor day, was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, lower our heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires and countless other wood products and trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community and trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal.”

Also during this meeting, the council discussed possibly beginning to write a column in the local newspaper as a forum to educate the residents of Tonasket of little-known ordinances and to educate them about problems in the community. No definite plans were made during this meeting (the council also discussed including this letter in water bills) but each of the council members expressed interest in the idea.

The next Tonasket City Council meeting will be on Tuesday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in Tonasket City Hall.