Celebrate the benefits of trees

Let’s take a moment and think about trees. Trees can easily be taken for granted. If you spend just a moment, you can build quite the impressive list of things they provide or do. On the basic level they provide three of the four vital things for all animals to survive (air, food and shelter). The fourth item, water, is greatly influenced by trees: filtering it, retaining it, improving the quality of it and helping control flooding and erosion.

At the human level, the medical community promotes the benefits of spending time outside. Forest bathing is a practice that helps people slow down, relax and take advantage of trees and nature in general.

Medicines, biodiversity of animals, carbon dioxide storage, opportunities for play and so much more are provided by trees every day. Celebrate Earth Day today by enjoying a tree and consider planting one yourself. Pick up a free native tree seedling at the Discovery Center this Saturday from Details can be found at https://mdc-event-web.s3licensing.com/Event/EventDetails/176397.

Other ideas for celebrating Earth Day include participating in today’s Native Plants at Noon program, or attend the free webinar, Bicycling with the Butterflies with author Sara Dykman. This webinar is presented by the Missouri Prairie Foundation and will be held from 4-5 p.m. on April 28. Registration information can be found at https://moprairie.org/event/mpf-webinar-bicycling-with-butterflies-with-author-sara-dykman/.