Coeur d'Alene marks Arbor Day with free seedlings, tree planting events

Free tree seedlings will be available Friday in front of the City Park Bandshell, and the supply is likely to move fast. Coeur d'Alene will hand them out from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., along with tree program brochures and a raffle for a few larger young trees in planters, as the city uses Arbor Day to push more residents toward planting early.

The city’s main Arbor Day celebration is set for Friday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to noon at City Park, 415 W. Fort Grounds Drive. Coeur d'Alene Parks Department staff and volunteers will plant 18 trees in self-watering, above-ground planting pots along the seawall, a move that adds shade, strengthens the waterfront landscape and gives the city a more polished public edge without the long wait of starting from bare ground.

Coffee and donuts will be available for planting volunteers, a small but practical detail for a morning of hands-on work at one of the city’s most visible public spaces. The event also gives residents a chance to take home seedlings before they are gone, whether they want to improve curb appeal, build out a yard with trees that can eventually cut down on replacement landscaping costs or add more shade to a property that can feel hotter and more exposed during North Idaho summers.

The Arbor Day push carries added weight in Coeur d'Alene, which is marking its 42nd consecutive year as a Tree City USA community. The Arbor Day Foundation says Tree City USA began in 1976 as a way to encourage communities to prioritize planting and caring for trees, and the designation has long been a point of civic pride for cities that want to show steady investment in public green space.

The celebration will continue Saturday, April 25, when the Coeur d'Alene Urban Forestry Office assists North Idaho College with a separate seedling giveaway at the Molstead Library on NIC’s campus from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. That event will include vendor booths and snacks, and it ties into NIC’s Tree Campus USA recognition, extending the tree-planting focus beyond City Park and into another corner of Kootenai County’s civic landscape.