Tennessee residents are invited to reserve native trees to plant at their homes, farms and in their communities during the 10th annual Tennessee Tree Day event, taking place on March 16, 2024. Online tree reservations are open to the public now through March 4, 2024, and residents are encouraged to reserve trees as soon as possible to get the best selection. Supplies are limited and trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last. Participants may choose from among 150 locations across Tennessee to pick up their trees on the weekend of March 16.
Participants must register online in order to reserve trees, and will choose their pick-up location, dates and times when they register. A small donation is requested for every tree reserved. There are more than a dozen native trees available, including flowering dogwood, eastern redbud, wild plum, black cherry, persimmon, pecan, white oak and more. All trees must be reserved online, and must be picked up on the dates published on the website.
“Planting trees is one of the best activities Tennesseans can do to conserve, protect, and enhance our natural resources,” said Tennessee State Forester David Arnold. “The Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry is pleased to be part of this event that has become an annual tradition statewide, and to provide thousands of high-quality native seedlings from our East Tennessee Nursery.”
“We are pleased that UT Extension offices across Tennessee are serving as local pick-up sites where community participants can conveniently take possession of the trees that they reserve for this important and beneficial event,” says Dr. David Mercker, Extension Forester with UT Extension. “Further, UT Extension employees are available to provide expert advice to the public on how to select the ‘right tree for the right place’ and answer other questions about the trees.”
Every year this event involves thousands of volunteers who plant their trees at their own homes, farms, businesses, neighborhoods and other locations of their choosing. Since 2007, more than 100,000 volunteers have planted over 922,000 trees across Tennessee, fulfilling Tennessee Environmental Council’s mission to help people and communities improve our environment. The overall goal of this effort is to plant one million trees, which organizers project will happen in 2024.
“This year, our goal is to involve the people of Tennessee in planting 125,000 native trees statewide,” says Cynthia Hernandez, Tree Program Manager at Tennessee Environmental Council. “And we can only achieve this goal if people across our state reserve their trees and plant them on Tree Day, March 16th,” says Hernandez.
Tennessee Tree Day is organized each year by Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC), a nonprofit organization. The statewide tree-planting event is made possible by support from numerous partners and sponsors, including Tennessee Division of Forestry, Atmos Energy, National Wildlife Federation, UT Extension, Tractor Supply Company Foundation, LKQ Foundation, Nissan, Bridgestone Americas, and many others.
For more information and to reserve trees visit the event website, tectn.org/TennesseeTreeDay.
