Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Press Release

Celebrate Rural And Urban Forests During Forest Appreciation Week

 

By - Apr 14th, 2025 09:02 am
Forest Appreciation Week runs from April 21 to Arbor Day (April 25). / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR

Forest Appreciation Week runs from April 21 to Arbor Day (April 25). / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is proud to join communities, organizations and individuals throughout the state in celebrating trees and forests during Forest Appreciation Week, which runs from April 21 to Arbor Day (April 25) and includes Earth Day (April 22).

Forest Appreciation Week is a time to reflect on the importance of urban and rural forests.

“Everyone has a role in ensuring that forests continue to serve a vital role in the ecological, cultural and economic health of our state, our local communities and our individual lives,” said Carmen Hardin, DNR Applied Forestry bureau director.

The 17 million acres of forests that cover nearly half of Wisconsin and the millions of urban trees provide many benefits, including:

  • Safeguarding water resources
  • Creating homes and food for wildlife
  • Supporting the forest industry
  • Offering a myriad of outdoor recreation opportunities
  • Reducing energy consumption and soil erosion
  • Providing natural beauty for stress relief
  • Supporting human health
  • Providing shade
  • Mitigating impacts of the changing climate by trapping and storing carbon dioxide

To maintain these many benefits, we need to be good stewards of the forest resources.

In 2021, the State of Wisconsin made a tree planting and forest conservation pledge focusing on the stewardship of forests and trees in both rural and urban areas, addressing the equitable distribution of the urban tree canopy and committing to protecting forest lands from development. In 2024, Gov. Tony Evers and the DNR increased the state’s Trillion Trees Pledge planting goal from planting 75 million trees by the end of 2030 to planting 100 million trees by the end of 2030.

Wisconsin residents can participate in the pledge by:

Wisconsin communities also recognize the benefits of urban forests, and Wisconsin has the third-highest number of Tree City USA communities in the nation. Learn which communities have earned this designation.

Students can also make a difference. This year, the DNR donated more than 54,000 tree seedlings to fourth-grade classrooms across Wisconsin to celebrate Arbor Day and help students learn about the importance of trees. The DNR also donated more than 500 seedlings to the Badgerland Council of the Girl Scouts of America to distribute at their Arbor Day event. Participants will receive credit toward badges by participating.

Additionally, the DNR’s reforestation program has supplied Wisconsin landowners with more than 1.6 billion seedlings since 1911.

These investments in tree planting and forest stewardship by communities, forest landowners and residents of all ages are key to ensuring that Wisconsin continues to have healthy and sustainable urban and rural forests that support strong and resilient communities.

Learn more about Wisconsin forestry programs.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Mentioned in This Press Release

Comments

  1. Marty wall says:

    Thank you Urban Milwaukee for the informative article.
    It is the height of irony that the Department of City Development supports the cutting of a 51 acre Urban Forest for a developer to put up 29 “typical apartment buildings” (architect’s words). The old Cudahy YMCA on Swan Boulevard is a tree covered piece of land with 42 identified species of birds,15 identified wetland, and rare tree species (Butternut Tree ?).
    Even more insulting to the citizenry, the city of Milwaukee will enlist the other taxing districts to forgo tax revenue to enable this destruction of “thousands and thousands of trees”(developers words) . MPS, MATC, THE COUNTY, and MMSD will each be asked to support, with foregone tax revenues, this poor development.
    As MPS works to “Green” their playgrounds; as the county works to protect the trees in the park; as MMSD works to save Green Space in the entire region, the City of Milwaukee is moving forward with the destruction of this Urban Forest. ( Even more incongruous is the fact that the city will soon have 50 developable acres available for development 3,000’feet from this Forest at the old Northridge site).
    But not just that. To add insult to this injury, this site is the only designated recreational site in the entire Granville area encompassing the NW corner of Milwaukee.
    This project, with all its short-sightedness, would not be allowed anywhere else in our city! Why here?

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