Oregon Governor Proclaims April Arbor Month to Combat Tree Loss and Boost Community Health
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek issued a proclamation yesterday proclaiming April 2025 to be Oregon Arbor Month, making the whole month of April a time to observe the importance of trees to the state’s people.
Oregon Arbor Month Takes Place In April
The spring season in Oregon officially starts around March 20th, but there were a few false starts this year. In time for this beautiful season, Gov. Kotek recognized the importance of trees and urban trees in neighborhoods as cities add housing and rapidly densify.
The proclamation confirms that “Trees play an integral role in fostering healthy communities.”
The proclamation notes the loss of many trees in Oregon in recent years to wildfire, extreme heat and drought, development pressures, and new tree-killing pests, such as emerald ash borer. Last year, researchers noted that hundreds of trees are dying in a Douglas “Fir-Mageddon.”
Arbor Day, a one-day tree-planting campaign in Nebraska in 1872, grew into Oregon Arbor Month after the event spread nationwide and expanded in many states to a week-long celebration of all things tree-related.
A few years ago, the non-profit Oregon Community Trees lobbied to expand the time devoted to celebrating Oregon trees to the entire month.
Oregon Dept. of Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Program Manager Scott Altenhoff confirmed that there is growing recognition that the benefits of tree canopy have been unevenly distributed in the state.
He said, “Many low-income areas and those with large populations of people of color have fewer large shade trees than more affluent neighborhoods.”
Research also indicates that fewer large shade trees in lower-canopy neighborhoods are strongly associated with increased deaths from heart disease and poor health outcomes, and a lack of trees can affect everything from having more low-birthweight babies to increased rates of asthma and mental health issues, as well as higher rates of domestic violence and specific crimes.
Governor Kotek confirmed that Arbor Month is key to promoting the preservation and planting of trees across Oregon and said: “To protect Oregon’s natural and working lands in the face of the worsening climate crisis, we must build a more resilient future that forges connection across our landscapes, for both rural and urban communities alike.”