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Tennessee Tree Day, a day dedicated to planting more than 100,000 trees throughout the state, was held Saturday, March 18.

A local Girls Scout Troop committed to contributing 750 trees in support of the day.

Each year Tennessee Tree Day engages thousands of volunteers in a fun, meaningful, family-friendly, event that results in multi-generational benefits to our environment, communities and public health.

The Tennessee Environmental Council hopes participation in Tree Day instills public awareness of the value of trees, while nurturing a culture of sustainability in our region.

The TEC has held this event since 2007 and since then it has been able to plant more than 800,000 native trees across the state.

Last year Tennessee Tree Day 2022 had 18,585 volunteers plant 80,900 native trees in all 95 Tennessee counties, as well as 47 counties in neighboring states, encompassing all watersheds that flow through Tennessee.

This year the goal was to plant 100,000 trees in one single day throughout the state of Tennessee.

“Our goal is to plant 100,000 native trees on Tennessee Tree Day,” said CEO OF TEC Jeffrey Barrie. “The benefits to our families, our environment, and our communities are immediate and will last for generations when we come together to plant trees.”

The council hopes to continue its mission in restoring trees throughout the state by planting one million trees by 2025.

It affirms that no matter the reason, all trees planted will improve the health of our environment by reducing air pollution, and enhancing Tennessee’s magnificent tree canopy.

Girl Scout Troop 20617 helped this year by giving out more than 700 trees to those in the community to plant.

The troop picked up 750 tree saplings on Wednesday and separated and potted each individual tree into their type.

“We had to go to Knoxville to pick up the trees and then we had to pre bundle all of our trees,” said Amanda Buchanan, troop leader. “The girls had to wrap the roots with paper, and sort 750 trees by type.”

Among the 750 trees where elderberry, flowering dogwood, cherry ark oak, white oak, pecan, tulip poplar, Virginia pine and indigo bush.

They gained support from two local business to aid in their goal of helping the environment.

“We want to give a special thank you to Morristown Harbors Freight and Lowes of Morristown for their support,” Buchanan said. “They provided all the buckets for all the trees.”

The community rallied around the event in support of its mission.

“Despite the frigid wind we are hoping to plant a bunch of pecan and dogwood trees for the Tennessee Tree Day,” said Rae Ann McCurry of Rocky Meadow Farms.

To see how the day long tree planting event went visit the Tennessee Environmental Council’s website or use the hashtag #Tennesseetreeday2023.