Pancakes with SUNY Oswego-made maple syrup, free tree seedlings, educational talks,and nature-related activities are among the offerings at this year’s Arbor Day Festival at Rice Creek Field Station on April 25.

Co-hosted by the Canal Forest Restoration Project and the Office of Sustainability, the event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, the day after National Arbor Day.

Attendance is free, and all are welcome. Visitors are encouraged to bring cash for the $10 suggested breakfast donation and for shopping with student vendors. 

Organizers noted the festival recognizes that National Arbor Day is a day set aside to celebrate trees, and is traditionally marked by tree giveaways and tree-planting events. In addition to a tree seedling giveaway, this year’s event will start and end with a celebratory tree planting. 

An annual highlight of Rice Creek’s Arbor Day celebration, the festival will also feature invited talks highlighting different perspectives on trees, forests and sustainability — with the intention of offering practical advice, sharing conservation science and evoking critical thinking about the world. This year’s speakers include SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s native pollinator ecologist, Molly Jacobson, who will speak about planting for pollinators (including trees and shrubs), and SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Sarah C. Reckess on "Embracing Civil Engagement in a World of Science Skeptics."

Those who cannot attend the talks in person can join them by Zoom. The link will be shared closer to the date on the Rice Creek website. Recordings will be posted to the Forest Restoration Project’s YouTube channel after the event.

The activities for the Arbor Day Festival include: 

  • 10 a.m.: Celebratory tree planting to open the event
  • 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Tree seedling giveaways, tabling by environmental organizations and donated prizes for attendees (including native shrubs)
  • 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Pancake breakfast with real SUNY-Oswego-made maple syrup and fresh-pressed apple cider; syrup also available for purchase
  • 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Kayaking and canoeing, weather permitting; drop-by arts and crafts for kids and adults
  • 11 a.m. to noon: “Munch and Learn” invited talks
  • 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Guided nature discovery walk
  • 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Student craft market, featuring sustainable goods
  • 1:30 p.m.: Prize drawings and celebratory tree planting to close the event

The Arbor Day Festival marks the culmination of SUNY Oswego’s celebration of Earth Week and Earth Month, featuring events like Shining Waters lakeshore cleanups, sustainable cooking and gardening and the Oz Thrift sale. Campus will honor National Arbor Day, the day before the festival, with a day of service, beginning with annual spring maintenance in the Centennial Arboretum, followed by a mass planting of native trees and shrubs across campus — a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative project in partnership with the Atlantic States Legal Foundation. 

SUNY Oswego’s Rice Creek Field Station is dedicated to being a living laboratory for the advancement of knowledge through ecological research, education and stewardship of the natural world. Rice Creek’s Canal Forest Restoration Project, with support from Constellation Energy Foundation and private donors, grows and distributes native trees that were heavily logged to support New York’s canal industry, restoring them to the region. 

Additional details about the festival, the Canal Forest Restoration Project, and how to support the project can be found on Rice Creek Field Station’s website, oswego.edu/rice-creek. 

Additional details about the SUNY Oswego Office of Sustainability, their Maple on Tap program, and all the Earth Month events can be found on the Sustainability website, oswego.edu/sustainability.

-- Submitted by Rice Creek Field Station