News Release
Appleton to Celebrate Florida’s Arbor Day with Presentation and Tour
The Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, will hold its annual Arbor Day observance with a presentation and tour on Thursday, Jan. 30, 11 a.m.
Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that promotes the benefits of trees in the urban environment and encourages tree planting and care. Most states observe Arbor Day on the last Friday in April, but some states differ to coincide with the best tree-planting weather — from January and February in the south, all the way to May in the far north. This year, Florida will celebrate Arbor Day on Jan. 17.
Arbor Day Presentation and Tour
Thursday, Jan. 30, 11 a.m.
From 11 a.m. to noon in the Appleton auditorium, Rachel Slocumb, City of Ocala Water Resources Conservation coordinator, will give a talk about the soon-to-open Ocala Wetland Recharge Park and how the existing oak hammocks have been influential to the park’s ecosystem. A docent-led tour of flora-themed works in the collection will be available after. Free for Appleton members; included with museum admission fee for nonmembers.
This presentation is organized by Steve MacKenzie, professor of Environmental Sciences at the College of Central Florida. For the past nine years, the College of Central Florida has earned Tree Campus USA recognition for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship. Tree Campus USA is a national program of the Arbor Day Foundation that honors colleges, universities and their leaders for promoting healthy management of their campus forests and for engaging the community in environmental stewardship.
“The Arbor Day Foundation requires we have a tree-care plan,” said MacKenzie. “We also report on the service activities we do with trees to qualify as a tree campus.”
Owned and operated by the College of Central Florida, the Appleton Museum of Art is located at 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, east of downtown on SR 40 (exit 352 east off I-75 or exit 268 west off I-95). Parking is free. For more information, call 352-291-4455 or visit AppletonMuseum.org.