Dardanelle's Arbor Day celebration marks final step to become Tree City

By Elizabeth Sharp

LITTLE ROCK — In April 1820, acting Arkansas Gov. Robert Crittenden and Black Fox of the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty under an oak tree in Dardanelle, bringing peace between the white man and the Osage, Cherokee and Quapaw tribes, said Wayne Shewmake, a member of the Dardanelle Tree Advisory Board.

The historic tree, now known as The Council Oak, still stands in the eponymous park on North Front Street.

It's one of many notable trees in Dardanelle that prompted residents to apply for Tree City status through the National Arbor Day Foundation's Tree City USA program. And tomorrow, the city will fulfill its final requirement for the designation with an Arbor Day celebration.

"Dardanelle is all about trees," said Mayor Carolyn McGee, who will be delivering a proclamation as part of the day's activities.

The Dardanelle Tree Advisory Board will assist Dardanelle Elementary School students in planting a small oak tree in front of their school at 1 p.m., and at 2 p.m. at Council Oaks City Park board members will help Dardanelle High School Environmental and Spatial Technology Lab students plant two dogwoods.

"We've got to work on our kids to understand the importance of the green out there so they will have a future for themselves," Shewmake said. He and the other 11 members of the tree board pushed for the designation of Tree City.

Shewmake said Dardanelle has one nationally recognized record tree and six state-recognized record trees - more than any other city in Arkansas.

"[The Tree City designation] would help people to realize that we have all these trees that are state records, and we have more than anybody else," Shewmake said.

The Tree City USA program "provides direction, technical assistance, public attention and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns and cities that more than 120 million Americans call home," according to the National Arbor Day Foundation Web site (www.arborday.org). The benefits of being named a Tree City "include creating a framework for action, education, a positive public image and citizen pride."

To become a Tree City, Shewmake said a city has to fulfill a set of requirements set by the National Arbor Foundation, which sponsors the Tree City USA program in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.

The requirements for each city include a tree advisory board, a community tree ordinance and a community forestry program, all of which Dardanelle already has. Observing Arbor Day is the only requirement left to fulfill for Dardanelle to become the 48th Tree City in Arkansas.

Shewmake said the application process to become a Tree City began about five years ago, but it had fallen to the way side until a month ago.

"I contacted Mayor McGee and said, 'We need to do this,'" Shewmake said.

The Dardanelle Tree Advisory Board as well as the Dardanelle Garden Club, the Yell County Wildlife Federation and other organizations were all instrumental in the process, Shewmake added.

In addition to Mayor McGee's proclamation at the both the elementary school's and high school's event, members of the Dardanelle High School EAST lab will beleading Arbor Day activities at the elementary school, including discussions, coloring and giving each student a seedling to take home.

Sandy Williams, who has been the EAST lab facilitator at Dardanelle High School for eight years, said that both observing Arbor Day and becoming a Tree City are important for Dardanelle.

"Honestly, I just think that if our children can appreciate our Earth, can appreciate our environment that extends from understanding Arbor Day, we have done something wonderful for them," Williams said.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 65, 69 on 04/23/2009