NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. –– Residents of Nevada will celebrate Arbor Day 2010 on Friday. While some states chose to celebrate Arbor Day on a different date that coincides better with its growing season, National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April by many states such as Nevada.

The best way to celebrate Arbor Day is to plant trees. The Arbor Day Foundation’s website, www.arborday.org, offers many helpful tips to celebrate the tree-planters’ holiday, from how to plant a tree to selecting the right tree for the right place.

To find out which trees grow best in Nevada, consult the Arbor Day Foundation’s Hardiness Zone Map at www.arborday.org/treeinfo.

Nevada has 11 cities and towns that were honored by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA community. Tree City USA recognizes communities that are committed to its trees. More than 135 million Americans live in a Tree City USA community. To see a list of Tree City USA communities, go to www.arborday.org/programs.

The first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska on April 10, 1872, thanks to a resolution proposed by Nebraska City, Neb., resident J. Sterling Morton. Morton, a civic leader, agriculturist and former newspaper editor, urged Nebraskans to “set aside one day to plant trees, both forest and fruit.” The tree-planting holiday was so popular that by 1920, more than 45 states and U.S. territories annually celebrated Arbor Day. Today, Arbor Day is observed in all 50 states and in countries around the world.

The state trees of Nevada are the bristlecone pine and the single leaf pinon. The bristlecone pine is the oldest living thing on Earth; some Nevada specimens are older than 4,000 years. The single-leaf pinon is a short, aromatic pine tree that grows in rocky soils.