The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board was one of 13 cities chosen to participate in the 2009 Trees for Success campaign sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Home Depot Foundation.

The annual event was held May 20 at Waite Park and Waite Park Community School in Northeast Minneapolis. One hundred trees in 17 varieties were planted with assistance from over 500 students and staff from Waite Park School, community members, Home Depot employees and other volunteers.

An “American Liberty” elm tree was planted as the ceremonial tree. This tree, the first disease-resistant American elm, was provided by the Elm Research Institute, an organization dedicated to saving the American elm from extinction. 

About Arbor Day
Founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872, the first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska in response to a state proclamation urging settlers and homesteaders to plant trees that would provide shade, shelter, fruit, fuel and beauty for residents of the largely treeless plains. On that first Arbor Day, more than one million trees were planted in Nebraska's communities and on its farms.