For Immediate Release
April 24, 2017
Contact: Nancy O’Connor, 805-658-4736
Andy Torrez, 805-207-8533
Public invited to celebrate Arbor Day with the City of Ventura, tree planting April 26
In celebration of National Arbor Day, the City of Ventura Parks Division invites the public to a
tree planting event Wednesday, April 26, 2:30pm – 3:30pm at the Westpark Community
Center, 450 W. Harrison Avenue.
Students from PEAK (Program Enrichment for After-school Kids) will assist the City’s Urban
Forestry staff in planting three different species of trees. Each year, more than 500
elementary and middle school children participate in PEAK activities where they receive safe
and supervised after-school homework assistance, nutritional snacks, art, music, computer
science, fitness and sports programs. PEAK is a partnership between the City of Ventura,
the Ventura Unified School District and the Police Activities League (PAL).
The City of Ventura’s Urban Forestry Division is responsible for approximately 30,000 City
trees, and regulates all planting, pruning and removal of trees in the public right-of-way. City
trees are an important part of our community – they produce oxygen, help reduce air
pollution, cool our streets by lowering temperatures in the shade, provide sound dampening
and wind buffers, provide a habitat for animals and improve the aesthetic quality of life.
According to the National Arbor Day Foundation, Arbor Day started in April 1872 when more
than one million trees were planted in Nebraska at the urging of J. Sterling Morton who first
proposed the tree-planting holiday at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture.
For more information about the City of Ventura’s Urban Forestry Division, visit
www.cityofventura.net/urbanforestry or call the Tree Hotline at 805-667-6519.--###--