Commemorative Arbor Day ceremony held

Today, Western Australia celebrates Arbor Day and World Environment Day.

Environment Minister Bob Pearce attended a special Arbor Day ceremony at Matilda Bay Nature Reserve this morning.

He said Western Australians were well aware of the importance of trees and were very concerned about their survival.

"Today on Arbor Day, we should focus on the role trees play in our society," he said.

"There are trees for many reasons.

"They play an essential environmental, economic and recreational role.

"Some of the values we associate with trees include nature conservation, timber, heritage, landscape, recreation, tourism, scientific study and wildflowers."

Mr Pearce said WA's Department of Conservation and Land Management wanted to manage these values in an integrated way.

He said this philosophy had been incorporated into recently released draft Forest Management and Nature Conservation strategies.

"Integrated management is the only way to guarantee environmental sustainability - by balancing the needs of the community and the environment," Mr Pearce said.

The Minister also paid tribute to the work carried out by CALM's tree nurseries over the past ten years.

"Each year, CALM nurseries at Manjimup, Narrogin and Broome collectively produce more than 13 million seedlings from 28 different tree species," he said.

"These are used for regeneration in karri and jarrah forests, in timber sharefarming, mining and salinity rehabilitation, landcare projects and many other conservation programs.

"This year, CALM is planting 8.9 million trees and will also plant trees on 2600 hectares of cleared agricultural land.

"CALM also uses direct seeding techniques for revegetation, and plants trees throughout the State in conjunction with community groups and schools specially for Arbor Day."

Arbor Day was first observed in Australia on June 20, 1889 in Adelaide.

The idea originated in the USA and has spread widely to other lands where it is celebrated as the Festival of Trees in Japan; the New Year's Day of Trees in Israel; the Tree Loving Week in Korea; the Reforestation Week in Yugoslavia; the Students' Afforestation Day in Iceland and the National Festival of Tree Planting in India.

Arbor Day in its various forms is now recognised in more than 50 countries.