Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is highlighting the 150th Arbor Day, and its worldwide focus on the ecological and health benefits of trees.

“We are blessed in American Samoa with an abundance of trees, along with fruits and green plants, because of our beautiful tropical rain forest,” Amata said. “Even here, we can experience damages from the volume of sudden rainfall, erosion, slides on the mountainsides, or changes from invasive plant species. Trees have a tremendous importance worldwide, and benefit and sustain us, our wildlife habitat, and our air quality in many ways.”

Arbor Day began in Nebraska in 1872 due to the lack of trees on the plains, needed for shelter and shade. The idea, with a simple “plant a tree” message, spread rapidly throughout states with official proclamations, along with popular support, volunteerism and school activities.

Amata is an original cosponsor of the Trillion Trees Act of 2021, introduced with bipartisan cosponsorships by Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who is the only licensed forester in Congress.

The act includes new grants, programs and funding to encourage and promote the addition of a trillion trees worldwide, the One Trillion Trees Initiative, and support preservation and planting efforts. Studies show that restoring a trillion new trees globally could take 205 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere.

The legislation begins a $1 billion loan program to state, local, or private nurseries for seedlings; boosts the U.S. Forest Service’s Reforestation Trust Fund to $180 million; starts a grant-backed Fifth Grade Forestry Challenge; adds reforestation grants under a new Trillion Trees Challenge Fund; establishes an advisory Philanthropic Reforestation Advisory Council; encourages efforts with a new National Medal for Forest Restoration through the National Forest Foundation; builds international cooperation through a new International Forest Foundation; and sets up a Trillion Trees Task Force to advise the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

“I am eager to see these many Trillion Trees school projects and learning options, along with these local grant possibilities, work together in American Samoa and elsewhere for a healthier planet,” Amata concluded.