Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton City Arborist Joe Reinke had some help from preschool students from Jefferson DeFrees Family Center planting this year’s Arbor Day tree, a sugar maple planted at DeFrees Park,

Warren’s Arbor Day celebration is set for April 26 at noon at DeFrees Park.

The Arbor Day Tree this year is a sugar maple.

And City Arborist Joe Reinke had some help planting that tree with four- and five-year-olds that are part of the Jefferson DeFrees Family Center’s preschool program.

Reinke walked the students through the parts of a tree and let them help plant the tree at the park; though the worms in the hole may have been more popular than the tree.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, a Nebraska editor and secretary of the Nebraska Territory J. Sterling Morton, who was passionate about planting trees, proposed a tree planting holiday to the State Board of Agriculture in 1872.

“The celebration date was set for April 10, 1872,” according to the Foundation. “Prizes were offered to counties and individuals for the largest number of properly planted trees on that day. It was estimated that more than 1 million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.”

Arbor Day also typically highlights the city’s designation as a Tree City USA. The recognition this year would be the city’s 36th consecutive, one of the longest streaks in the state.

“The Tree City USA program provides communities with a four-step framework to maintain and grow their tree cover,” according to the Foundation. “It also gives them an avenue to celebrate their work, showing residents, visitors, and the entire country that they’re committed to the mission of environmental change.”