Arbor Day comes early in the state of California

California will celebrate Arbor Day 2007 during the week of March 7 through 14. While National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, many states, including California, celebrate the tree planters' holiday at times best suited to their own growing seasons.

The California Redwood includes Coast Redwood, Sequoia semprivans, and the Sierra big tree, Sequoia gigantea. Both trees were adopted in 1937 as the state tree since both fit the category of a California Redwood.

The tallest tree, a 364-foot Coast Redwood called the Founders Tree, is in Humboldt County.

The largest Sierra, the General Sherman Tree, is in the Sierra National Park. This tree has a circumference of 102.6 feet and is thought to be around 3,000 to 4,000 years old.

Once populating the entire North American continent, environmental changes have limited the redwoods to Pacific Coast regions.

The first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska on April 10, 1872 due to a resolution proposed by J. Sterling Morton, a resident of Nebraska City, Neb. Morton, a civic leader, agriculturist and former newspaper editor, urged residents to "set aside one day to plant trees, both forest and fruit."

The tree-planting holiday was so popular that by 1920 more than 45 states and U.S. territories annually celebrated Arbor Day. Today it is observed in all 50 states and in many other countries.

The National Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit environmental education organization, was established in 1972 to encourage people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees.

For more information about Arbor Day or the foundation, visit www.arborday.org.