Monday

Re: Monday

John Veerkamp

Can this proclamation be sustained by facts?

I think I can noodle it out.

Lee Schierer McKean, PA

Lee

Probably you can, but not as posted

Hint:  It started in 2001 with a poll

Gary Smyth

Approved by Congress and signed by the

President of this country making it "official".

Yes 

Monday answer

Gary Smyth

I put �official� in parentheses because not everyone agrees. All fifty states have a state tree and even though the poll was large it in no way could represent the majority vote of the U.S. population. Still, the Oak is the United States National Tree.

Nearly Five years after being voted the United States' favorite tree, Congressional passage and presidential signing of an historic bill made it official in late 2004 - America's National Tree is the Oak. "Having oak as our National Tree is in keeping with the wishes of the hundreds of thousands of people who helped choose this striking symbol of our nation�s great strength," said John Rosenow, then president of The National Arbor Day Foundation.

Votes were tallied in April, 2001 and results announced on the Nation's Capitol grounds in Washington D.C. The oak was selected during a four-month-long open voting process hosted by the Arbor Day Foundation. From the first day of voting, oak was the people�s clear choice, finishing with more than 101,000 votes, compared to almost 81,000 for the magnificent runner-up, the redwood. Rounding out the top five were the dogwood, maple, and pine.

Advocates of the oak praised its diversity, with more than 60 species growing in the United States, making oaks America�s most widespread hardwood tree. There is an oak species that grows naturally in nearly every state in the continental U.S.

By the way. this info source is Steve Nix via the net. If you have a tree/forestry question you can contact Steve Nix, no, not Stevie Nix of Fleetwood Mac infamy. Type in �Steve Nix, Forestry� on any browser and he generally comes up first, he is pretty good with replies.