It’s National Arbor Day. While the official tree of the District of Columbia is the Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea), the Potomac area beaver community urges you to plant more of those tasty Yoshino Cherry trees (Prunus x yedoensis) near streams and rivers. The kits really love them.
Maryland couldn’t wait and celebrated Arbor Day on April 1st, but if you can’t plant trees today, don’t sweat it. Alaska, Maine, North Dakota and Vermont observe the holiday in May, Hawaii celebrates in November, South Carolina in December, and some other states in January and February. It’s always Arbor Day somewhere. Ask your local extension agent or forester for tree planting advice.
Beaver kits in the Washington area should be big enough to leave the lodge in a month or so. Please help protect them from an insane new invasive species, the Portuguese Water Dog.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: Arbor Day, beavers, cherry blossoms, District of Columbia, environment, trees, Washington DC
April 25, 2009 at 6:41 am
I encountered my first colony of beavers when I moved to Pennsylvania a few years ago. They were busy constructing dams along the flowing streams in the PA mountains and I found them to be the most amazing creatures. I simply adore them!
Thank you so much for pointing me in your direction. Food for thought:)