Miami Dade County’s Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department celebrated the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day with a special tree planting and giveaway event. Miami-Dade Parks director Maria Nardi was joined by Miami-Dade County District 5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins. Along with volunteers, the department distributed 200 trees to the community and planted approximately 150 trees at Amelia Earhart Park.
In the month of April alone, Miami-Dade Parks has planted a total of 1,299 trees at Amelia Earhart Park.
“Increasing our tree canopy is one of the most natural and cost-effective ways to protect our communities from extreme heat and climate change,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “I am proud of our Miami-Dade Parks Department and our entire County family for taking advantage of events and holidays to bring us closer to our goal of expanding Miami-Dade’s tree canopy to 30 percent by 2030.”
“Trees are such important infrastructure for our County. They decrease heat, prevent flooding, reduce stress and increase health – plus they are beautiful to look at,” said Commissioner Higgins. “When we released the latest Urban Tree Canopy Assessment last year, I was disturbed to see how many trees we’ve lost in low-income areas. The work we are seeing here today in Amelia Earhart Park is in response to these numbers.”
Arbor Day is celebrated each year on the last Friday in April. This national holiday is aimed at celebrating nature and encouraging the community to plant trees, which are vital for our ecosystem. Trees help to support biodiversity and even counter climate change by absorbing carbon.
“Miami-Dade Parks, through our Neat Streets Million Trees Miami initiative, plants trees across our County throughout the entire year,” said Miami-Dade Parks director Maria Nardi. “We know the true value of conservation and the importance a single tree has to making a positive impact on our community. Trees help us breathe clean air and help to reduce the heat index. This Arbor Day, we hope that everyone who took home a tree during our giveaway at Amelia Earhart Park will not only plant it but spread awareness and continue to celebrate nature – and our beautiful parks – all year round.”
The tree planting this morning was sponsored by One Tree Planted, with volunteers from Millicom installing the trees; and the community tree giveaway was made possible by the support of Hunton Andrews Kurth. Additional sponsors and partners who have supported April’s tree-planting efforts at Amelia Earhart Park include: Miami-Dade County, Transportation Planning Organization, Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Juneau Construction Company, Serendipity Foundation, Arbor Day Foundation, Milicom, and One Tree Planted.
This morning’s tree planting and giveaway was led by Neat Streets Miami-Dade County’s Million Trees Miami initiative, which is a community-wide effort to achieve a 30 percent tree canopy cover for Miami-Dade County.
