SIDNEY -- The community packed the Shelter House in Legion Park Saturday for Sidney's Arbor Day program and tree giveaway.

Saturday's event started with Sidney Parks & Cemetery Supervisor Chase Frerichs introducing the Sidney Tree Board and community supporters of the Arbor Day celebration.The Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts assisted in the giveaway part of the event. Frerichs also thanked his predecessors Tom Von Seggern and Kent Tallich.

About 150 years ago, residents and pioneers of Nebraska began taking the lack of trees seriously. 

Not only did the new residents miss the trees they left behind, they were also left without the trees they needed as windbreaks to keep soil in place, for fuel and building materials, and for shade from the hot sun.

"The date was set for April 10, 1872. It was such a sweeping success that many prairie states followed the Nebraska tradition. The Arbor Day Foundation was created soon after, and his headquartered in Nebraska City, NE. During the last 52 years, more than 250 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted," Frerichs said.

The trees are planted in neighborhoods, cities, and forests throughout the world.

SPNRD General Manager Galen Wittrock explained proper choice and placement of a tree in the Sidney area. 

"When they grow these at the nursery, they'll plant them so thick together they're about 4 or 5 inches together in row. Then they lift them, and when they lift them, all the soil falls off. This is a Prairie Expedition Elm, and you'll see the root system. For a tree this size, if you see a tree out in your garden, you're going to see 70 percent of the root system. This is a very small portion of the tree," Wittrock said.

Nebraska newspaper editor and resident of Nebraska City J. Sterling Morton had an enthusiasm for trees and advocated strongly for individuals and civic groups to plant them. Once he became secretary of the Nebraska Territory, he further spread his message of the value of trees. On Jan. 4, 1872, Morton first proposed a tree planting holiday to be called “Arbor Day” at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture.

Some information in this story came from Arbor Day Foundation, History of Arbor Day.