Glen Arbor Arts Center recognizes 250 years of American trees
From staff reports
American Tree is an exhibit that explores the role trees played in the formation of the United States 250 years ago—and the role trees will play moving forward into this nation’s next 250 years. This exhibition opens Friday, June 5, in the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s Main Gallery. It features the work of 28 artists and continues through Aug. 13. An opening reception is June 5, from 5-7 pm.
Set in Glen Arbor—named “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation in February 2026—the exhibit celebrates trees in a wide variety of media, styles, and materials. It interprets the pivotal role trees played in the history of this nation. At the same time, American Tree is an exhibition that asks what our relationship with the forests and woodlands looks like today? Is it purely transactional and commercial? Is there respite and renewal to be found in the woods? And what is our blueprint for the forest ecosystem in the next two centuries? What does a United State of Trees look like? Why should we care?
The American Tree exhibition enjoys the support of Deering Tree Service. Read more about American Tree, its companion programs, and look at the exhibit online at GlenArborArt.org/EXHIBITS.
Leelanau’s Old Growth Forests: Living History
The Leelanau Conservancy manages two old-growth forest sites in Michigan—which may surprise some who think “old-growth forests” are a thing of the past.
On Saturday, June 13, Becky Hill, director of natural areas and preserves with the Leelanau Conservancy, will talk about the Conservancy’s program to protect the diverse ecosystems and critical habitat in which these ancients live. The program takes place at the Glen Arbor Arts Center, at 1 pm, in conjunction with the GAAC’s American Tree exhibit. The program is free.
At more than 1,000 acres in size, Palmer Woods Forest Reserve was the first Leelanau Conservancy property to be recognized by the national nonprofit Old-Growth Forest Network [OGFN]. In 2025, the Conservancy added the Kehl Lake Natural Area, and it, too, was certified by the OGFN.
Hill will discuss the characteristics of old-growth forests, and the vigorous community of botanical and animal life that make up these forests. The Old-Growth Forest Network is the only national network in the U.S. of protected, old-growth, native forests. It was established in 2012.
