Atchison marks Arbor Day, honors 40-plus years as Tree City USA

At Monday’s City Commission meeting, Mayor La Rochelle Young read an Arbor Day proclamation that did more than mark a spring observance. It highlighted more than four decades of Atchison’s status as a Tree City USA community, a designation that speaks to shade on hot streets, help with stormwater control, neighborhood appearance and the work of keeping a mature canopy healthy.

That recognition is not symbolic alone. Tree City USA communities have to meet four standards: they must have a tree board or department, a tree ordinance, a community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance with a proclamation. The program began in 1976 through a partnership involving the Arbor Day Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, starting with 42 communities and growing to all 50 states. Kansas now has 88 Tree City USA communities, underscoring how widely urban forestry has become part of local government practice.

The Arbor Day observance itself reaches back to 1872, when J. Sterling Morton first proposed the holiday. The first Arbor Day was set for April 10, 1872, and more than 1 million trees were estimated to have been planted in Nebraska that year. Nebraska’s governor, Robert W. Furnas, officially proclaimed it in 1874, and Arbor Day became a national holiday in 1972. In Atchison, that national history met a local message about why trees remain part of civic infrastructure, not just decoration.

Atchison’s city website describes the community, incorporated in 1858, as a place known for its Missouri River vistas and tree-lined brick streets. That setting helps explain why the city keeps returning to Arbor Day as a civic marker. A healthy tree canopy matters in older neighborhoods and public spaces, where trees can soften streetscapes, support walkability and reduce the cost of managing heat and runoff over time. The proclamation also served as a reminder that planting and maintenance decisions made now shape how the city looks and functions for years.

The city has kept that tradition visible before. In 2019, Mayor Shawn Rizza proclaimed April 26 as Arbor Day in Atchison, and the City of Atchison Park & Forestry Board planned a tree planting at Jackson Park. A local report that year also noted Atchison had earned Tree City USA recognition for the 31st consecutive year. This year’s proclamation showed the same pattern: a public reminder that trees are part of Atchison’s identity and part of the work of maintaining it.