Proclamation 5961—National Arbor Day, 1989

When Arbor Day was first observed in Nebraska 117 years ago, it demonstrated the important role that trees play in our daily lives. The occasion called Americans' attention to the fact that our heavy use of wood for fuel, lumber, and other products was depleting our Nation's trees at an alarming rate.

Arbor Day inspired many Americans to join efforts to protect this precious resource -- and all areas of our environment -- for the sake of future generations. Today, Americans continue to cultivate trees with the same sense of stewardship. During the past 8 years, we have planted increasing numbers of them, culminating in last year's record acreage of trees planted in a single year.

National Arbor Day reminds us of the importance of planting and caring for the trees in our neighborhoods and countryside, but it also serves a larger purpose. Arbor Day provides an opportunity for all Americans to learn more about the vital function that trees -- everywhere from our national forests to tropical mangrove swamps -- have in the global ecosystem. It invites us to study how we can best protect them from desertification and overdevelopment in many areas of the world. National Arbor Day is also a time for us to recognize the many volunteers across the United States who participate in reforestation and habitat restoration projects. These volunteers have helped to transform hundreds of acres of reduced forest into thriving woodlands.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 28, 1989, as National Arbor Day and call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

GEORGE BUSH