Proclamation 5804 --
National Arbor Day, 1988
By
the President of the
A
Proclamation
``He
who plants a tree / Plants a hope,'' wrote Lucy Larcom
years ago in her poem, ``Plant a Tree''; that thought has surely motivated
every American who has ever celebrated Arbor Day, given his neighborhood and
Nation the lovely and lasting gift of trees, or sought to conserve our natural
forest heritage. In this spirit we can all join in observing an Arbor Day in
which we resolve to renew and expand our knowledge of and appreciation for
trees and our understanding of the importance of trees and forests to our
country and to the entire world.
In
the last century, Americans began to realize the wisdom and the necessity of
replenishing our supply of trees for their many natural benefits and so that
our use of wood for fuel, lumber, and other products would not impoverish
future generations. The idea of Arbor Day caught the imagination of many
people; for example, on the first Arbor Day, in
This
tradition continues, on Arbor Day and every day; we Americans have planted more
trees each year for the last 6 years, and last year's total acreage of trees
planted was a record. Arbor Day remains a time for planting and caring for
trees in our cities, towns, and countryside, and it should also remind us to
learn more about trees and forests and how to protect them at home and guard
against desertification and destruction abroad.
Our
celebration of Arbor Day should always be tinged with the spirit that the
19th-century poet Henry Cuyler Bunner
captured so well in ``The Heart of the Tree'':
What
does he plant who plants a tree?
He
plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In
love of home and loyalty
And
far-cast thought of civic good --
His
blessings on the neighborhood
Who
in the hollow of His hand
Holds
all the growth of all our land --
A
nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
The
Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 247, has recognized the last Friday of
April 1988 as ``National Arbor Day'' and has authorized and requested the
President to issue a proclamation in observance of this day.
Now,
Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the
In
Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of April, in
the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the
Ronald
Reagan
[Filed with the Office
of the Federal Register,