SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: April 10, 2014

Media Contact: Jamie Crew, 605.773.4073

2014 Arbor Day Essay Contest Winners Selected

PIERRE, S.D.- Garrett Mitzel of Tyndall, Brandon Bosworth of Plankinton and Danika Gordon of Whitewood are the winning essayists selected from the 1,399 entries in the 2014 Arbor Day Essay Contest.

Sponsored by South Dakota’s conservation districts, McDonald’s Restaurants of South Dakota and South Dakota Department of Agriculture, the contest provides fifth and sixth grade students the opportunity to write about the importance of Arbor Day and tree planting in South Dakota.

For their efforts, the students win awards and cash prizes in addition to learning more about trees.

As first place winner, Mitzel receives a plaque, $100 in cash and a McDonald’s lined jacket. His school, Bon Homme Middle School, will receive $150 for the purchase of supplies or equipment. Bosworth, the second place winner, receives a plaque and $75 while Gordon receives a plaque and $50 for her third place essay.

Mitzel, Bosworth and Gordon will read their essays and receive their prizes during special Arbor Day celebrations in their hometown areas. All students who entered the contest will receive a McDonald’s dessert certificate and a packet of tree seeds.

South Dakota celebrates Arbor Day on Friday, April 25, 2014. Nebraska newspaper publisher J. Sterling Morton proposed the very first Arbor Day in 1872. On that first Arbor Day, over one million trees were planted in Nebraska.

The contest has been held in South Dakota for 37 years.

Agriculture is South Dakota's No. 1 industry, generating over $21 billion in annual economic activity and employing more than 122,000 South Dakotans. The South Dakota Department of Agriculture's mission is to promote, protect, preserve and improve this industry for today and tomorrow. Visit us online at http://sdda.sd.gov or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Note: Essays appear below

First Place - Garrett Mitzel of Bon Homme County Conservation District

The Life of My Tree

   Thump, thump. I started off as a seed in the ground packed in the dirt. I grew into a little sapling. They put me into a bag and handed me to a little kid on Arbor Day so he could go home and plant me.

   The little kid took me home and put me in a huge flower pot. He set me in his yard and watered me almost every three or four days. I started growing. It was like I was a weed at first. Months went by. There has been rain and more rain. Three or four years have passed. There have been birthdays celebrated under me and about a hundred picnics under my arms.

   The years flew by like birds in the sky. Families have come and gone. By now there have been dozens of nests in my limbs. Families of squirrels climb around me every day. I see the people that come and go. I have lost branches and regrown them. Animals have used me for shelter and food. They’ve been born in and died in me.

   I am old and frail, strong yet weak. People have climbed me and they have put nails in me. I am old and broken, but I am strong. I don’t know how many more years I will be here, but I will be in their hearts forever.

Second Place - Brandon Bosworth of Aurora County Conservation District

The Importance of Arbor Day and Trees

     A year after I was born in 2003, my mom and dad moved their house on a piece of land. There were no trees on the land. The conservation district came out and planted 1,214 trees and shrubs. They planted those trees on 2.6 acres of land on the north side of our house.

     My mom thought they weren’t ever going to grow because they were so small. After you plant the trees, you still have to hope for rain. You have to pick weeds and mow the grass around the trees.

    Over the past ten years, the trees have grown and developed shelter for our house. They have also provided shelter for the deer, birds, owls, rabbits, raccoons, skunks and pheasants. By having trees, we have been able to watch all this wildlife.

     By having trees now, my brother and I can go outside and walk through the grove. We find bird nests and count the bird eggs.

     We have moved twelve more trees from Kimball, SD, and one apple tree from Wagner, SD. The apple tree is special to my brother and me because we build forts in the tree and watch the birds fly around. We sit in the apple tree and eat apples. The apples are juicy and delicious!

     If we didn’t have trees, there wouldn’t be shelter for our house and for the animals. I also wouldn’t have any fun exploring nature and eating apples in the trees with my brother.

Third Place - Danika Gordon of Lawrence County Conservation District

Plant More Trees, Please

     I’ll never forget waking up after the big October 2013 blizzard and seeing the trees in our yard bent to the ground by heavy ice and snow. Most of the branches on my favorite tree were broken. Around town, I saw broken tree limbs everywhere.

     It was a mess, and now that many of those trees are gone I realize how pretty they were.

     It reminds me of the book, “The Lorax” by Dr. Suess, which tells about a town with no trees because an odd man cut them down to make the things that everyone needs.

     The world would be very strange without trees. No shade at the park and no trees to climb. No wood for building houses, furniture or a campfire. No trees to block the wind or stop erosion.

     Thankfully, in “The Lorax” one last tree seed is given to a boy to plant, because the strange man realizes “trees are what everyone needs.”

     I am thankful that, in 1872, J. Sterling Morton realized how important trees are and proposed the first tree-planting holiday. In 1874, Arbor Day became an official holiday in Nebraska and many other states soon did the same.

     It’s sad that we lost so many trees last October. I will really miss seeing my favorite tree full of leaves this summer. But my family has already been talking about replanting trees this summer - aspen, ash, pines, spruce.

     I hope Arbor Day reminds people to always plant more trees, too.