Jordan and Malta celebrate Arbor Day on January 15 every year. The Arbor Day Foundation has made possible conservation blessings because with the support of its members and friends, the foundation's Rain Forest Rescue programme has helped preserve the vital region sometimes referred to as "the lungs of the planet." Rainforests are home to countless unique wild species, and to a beauty found nowhere else on earth.
The idea for Arbor Day originally came from Nebraska. Among pioneers moving into the Nebraska Territory in 1854 was J. Sterling Morton from Detroit. He and his wife were lovers of nature and embellished their establishment by planting trees, shrubs and flowers. As a journalist, Morton spread his enthusiasm for trees to his enthusiastic readers, advocated tree planting by individuals, and encouraged organisations to join in, even stressing the value of trees.
Morton proposed a tree-planting holiday to be called Arbor Day, celebrated with a grand parade and the participation of schoolchildren for planting trees. Many countries worldwide observe Arbor Day at different times of the year to coincide with the best tree planting weather.
Rainforests
Tropical rainforests lie chiefly near the equator, where rainfall is the heaviest. North Queensland has some most breathtaking tropical rainforests of ecological importance and is world heritage protected. The wet tropics provide the only habitat for numerous rare species of both plants and animals. There are species of plants that can be classified as rare or very restricted, some others regarded as threatened, as well as species of animals that are considered as very rare.
Because of the amount of rain received, the rain forest is very humid, with a small difference in temperature - cooler in summer and warmer in winter. In the rainforest, most plant food is stored in a thin layer of soil near the surface.
Decaying vegetation mixes with the soil and adds food to it. The roots of most rainforest trees remain close to the supply of plant food near the surface. In some species, the roots form large growths called buttresses that extend between the roots and the trunk. The buttresses may help keep the trees upright.
Rainforests play a very important role in our planet's environment. They contain an amazing range of different plants and animals. More than half of all the earth's species of plants and animals live inside tropical forests.
Tropical rainforests have closed canopies which allow very little sunlight to reach the forest floor. The main canopy consists of some fully-grown trees and palms and can be high as 50 metres tall. Trees and shrubs generally have elongated crowns. Each leaf is set at the best angle to catch as much sunlight as possible.
The Daintree in Northern Queensland is believed to be the oldest living rainforest in the world (110 million years old). There are surviving species of the earliest flowering trees which first appeared over 100 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled the land. It is also the second largest virgin tract of rainforest after the Amazon rainforest in South America.
Piercing the canopy of the Evergreen Forest and pointing into the blue of the Californian sky is the tallest tree of the world. There it has stood for over 2,000 years! Surrounded by trees of lesser growth, it has with them survived forest fires, warring Indians, ravages by pests and devastation by man and beast.
The biggest threat to the rainforest is the human. The world's danger is from deforestation for timber and development to pollution, in fact they are disappearing at a frightening speed.
Potential roles of forests
Trees are forever working for man's good. Forests have the potential to contribute to climate change through their influence on the global carbon cycle. They store large quantities of carbon in vegetation and soil, exchange carbon with the atmosphere through photosynthesis and respiration.
During the day the ground under the trees is protected from the sun's rays and is cooler than soil unprotected. At night trees retard the radiation of heat from the ground under them. This helps to allay the temperature.
The health and the economic security of the human race depend on how well the forests of the world are managed. We are suffering the penalty resulting from man's neglect to plant where he has reaped. We have destroyed the gifts of a generous Creator without realising that they were a trust to be handed on to future generations.