For the eighth year, Bell Buckle has been named a Tree City USA community, honoring its commitment to community forestry.

The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the United State Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

Bell Buckle has met all four of the standards to become a Tree City USA community: A tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an Arbor Day observance.

"Trees in our cities and towns help clean the air, conserve soil and water, moderate temperatures and bring nature into our daily lives," said John Rosenow, Chief Executive of the Arbor Day Foundation.

"Tree City USA designation recognizes the work of elected officials, staff and citizens who plant and care for the community forest," Rosenow said. "Trees are a vital component of the infrastructure in our cities and towns, provide environmental and economic benefits."

A presentation of the designation will be made this Saturday during Bell Buckle's Daffodil Day at the town's annual Arbor Day ceremony, starting at 11 a.m.

Arbor Day was first proposed as a tree-planting holiday on January 4, 1872 by J. Sterling Morton of Detroit, a reporter and later editor of Nebraska's first newspaper.

At the time, the state was quite barren of trees and both Morton and his wife were known as great lovers of nature. The first date was April 10, 1872 and prizes were offered to counties and individuals for planting the largest number of trees on that day. It is estimated that more than one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.

The day was officially proclaimed two years after and named a legal holiday in Nebraska in 1885, with Morton's birthday of April 22 selected as the day. Also, throughout the 1870s, other states passed laws to observe Arbor Day and the tradition began in schools nationwide in 1882.

The most common date for the state observances is the last Friday in April, and several U.S. presidents have proclaimed a national Arbor Day on that date. However, a number of state observances are at other times to coincide with the best tree planting weather, from January and February in the south to May in the far north.