ALLEN COUNTY, OH (WLIO) - The Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District teamed up with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to celebrate Arbor Day.
The two joined at the Ottawa Metro Park to plant a new hackberry tree. The tree commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and its long-standing history of preserving nature in Ohio. Members of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District helped dig the hole for the tree, replace the soil, and lay down the mulch.
Arbor Day marks the importance of investing in nature and keeping our parks and forests thriving for future generations.
"The Department of Natural Resources manages park lands, but we also manage even larger areas like our forest lands, so we're managing that for timber, for recreation, for wildlife, and water and soil. And also, in addition to that, our waterways and our great lakes, so all of us survive because of what those give to us and so when we take care of them, they take care of us," said Stephanie Miller, Western Ohio urban forestry coordinator from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
"Yeah, so we normally have an Arbor Day ceremony, and we usually try to honor somebody or dedicate it in honor of someone, but this year DNR reached out and thought, 'Hey, we're gonna do this in every county' and we thought, 'Well, what a great opportunity to show collaboration and partnership' and so we jumped on it right away, and you see the result behind it," commented Tyler Black, executive director of the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District.
The Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District also received a 2 million dollar grant from the state for wetland restoration and conservation and has a project underway at Kendrick Woods.
