Join us in celebrating the 2025 State Arbor Day celebration!

May 20, 2025 at 6 PM
North Dakota Game and Fish headquarters
100 N Bismarck Expy, Bismarck, ND 58501

On Arbor Day, we celebrate all of the wonderful benefits that trees provide by taking some time to plant, care, or maintain a tree. Just being around trees improves our mood, reduces stress, and lowers blood pressure. They perform environmental services like providing shade, windbreaks, filtering pollutants, and producing oxygen. Trees also increase tourism, raise property values, and make our communities more attractive places to live, work, and play. The best way we invest in a greener future for generations to come is by planting trees.

The North Dakota Forest Service is recognizing 30 years since the "Year of the Family" family forest planting. This project was spearheaded by the former First Lady Nancy Jones Schafer and former Lieutenant Governor Rosemarie Myrdal in 1994, which was declared the “Year of the Family”. As chair of the Centennial Trees Commission, Myrdal proposed that a tree should be planted “…for every child born in North Dakota in 1994”. She called this initiative the “Family Forest”.

            Led by State Forester Larry Kotchman, the North Dakota Forest Service brought Myrdal’s idea to life. In conjunction with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the planting site selected was the Outdoor Wildlife Learning Site (OWLS) at the Game & Fish headquarters in east Bismarck. In 1994, there were almost 8,600 births in North Dakota. In order to properly plant such a large number of trees, a design needed to be drawn and a plan followed to account for such a large undertaking. Thus, a shelterbelt planting design was selected.

As many of those babies who were originally honored are now having families of their own, a celebration to honor the tradition of tree planting is planned as the 2025 State Arbor Day. Anyone is welcome to join the fun, and a special invitation is extended to any family who was involved in the original planting. Join the North Dakota Forest Service at the North Dakota Game and Fish headquarters at 100 N Bismarck Expressway in Bismarck on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 from 6-7:30 PM. A ceremonial tree planting and program will begin at 6 PM, and 100 free tree seedlings will be given out to families who attend (while supplies last, courtesy of Towner State Nursery).

Following the program, families are invited to explore ND Game and Fish's hiking trails, visit the original Family Forest planting, fish in the OWLS pond, walk the native tree and shrub interpretive trail, and participate in hands-on educational activities about trees for children of all ages. This event is free and open to the public.