As part of a series of Arbor Day activities, volunteers will be planting 41 trees and shrubs around Lake Charleston on Friday.

Official Arbor Day events will kick off at 10:30 a.m. Thursday with a tree-planting ceremony at the circle drive on the east side of Old Main.

The ceremony will include guest speakers and the planting of a new bur oak tree that is a direct descendant of a bur oak that once stood in the circle drive. Along with the ceremony on Thursday, there will be 19 trees planted throughout campus to celebrate Arbor Day.

From 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, there will be a community tree planting project at Levee Trailhead in the southern part of Lake Charleston. The tree planting will include speakers, followed by the planting of the 41 trees and shrubs. Community members and Eastern students can register to plant trees at eiu.edu/volunteer, but registration is not required.

Those planning on volunteering should dress appropriately for whatever the weather may be since the tree planting will occur rain or shine, and volunteers should provide their own water, Grace Wilken, a graduate assistant in sustainable energy who is part of the committee planning the tree planting, said.
Eastern is currently in the process of being named a Tree Campus USA again after not having the title for a few years.

Wilken said these Arbor Day events are part of the process to receive the official distinction.

The distinction of Tree Campus USA recognizes universities that practice core standards of tree care and community engagement.

Eastern and Charleston are working together in an effort to receive the titles of Tree Campus USA and Tree City USA, respectively, Wilken said in an email.

To earn the titles of Tree Campus USA and Tree City USA, recipients must practice the five core standards such as establishing and maintaining a campus tree advisory committee, following a campus tree care plan, verifying dedicated annual expenditures for tree care, observing Arbor Day and instituting a service learning project with the student body or community.

“Our recent distinction demonstrates our university’s and community’s interest and support in the Arbor Day mission, which is to ‘plant, nurture and celebrate trees.’ Our campus has many beautiful and well-cared for trees, and we are pleased to share this with the community and celebrate this achievement,” said Ryan Hendrickson, the dean of the graduate school, who is part of the committee in charge of planning these events. 

For more information on the event those interested can email Wilken at [email protected].

Abbey Sowacke can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].