OU’s Duck Pond will have 60 new trees after this year’s annual Arbor Day celebration Thursday, which will be preceded by a public picnic.
The event will take place at 11:30 a.m. in the David A. Burr Park, located at 1501 Asp Ave.
During the picnic, OU President David Boren, Madeline Grunewald, Student Government Association president, and Clarke Stroud, university vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, will speak, said Deanna Foster, special events assistant for Public Affairs.
Immediately after the picnic, attendees will walk to the Duck Pond, 600 Jenkins Ave., for the tree planting, Foster said.
The university community started recognizing Arbor Week in 1997 with the dedication of David A. Burr Park, honoring the late vice president for university affairs, according to a press release.
The first Arbor Day events were held to honor OU’s first president, David Ross Boyd, who invested his own money to plant thousands of trees all over campus, according to Daily Archives.
Participants will follow Boyd and Boren's example by planting 60 new trees at the ceremony, said Allen King, director of Landscaping and Grounds.
“Arbor Day is my favorite day of the year,” King said in an email. “I personally enjoy watching the students plant trees that will someday be enjoyed by future generations of students.”
Participants will plant red buds, white buds, water oaks, shumard oaks, weeping willows, Chinese pistaches, autumn blaze maples and river birches, King said.
Provisions have been made in case of rain as well. If inclement weather should occur, the tree planting will remain at the Duck Pond, but the picnic will move to Couch Cafeteria.
