For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
October 12, 2006

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Tree Planting for the Enterprise 50 Million Tree Pledge
World's Fair Pavilion
St. Louis, Missouri

Photos

2:34 P.M. CDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much, Andy. Thanks, everybody. Thank you all so much for coming. I also want to recognize Secretary Mike Johanns, the head of the Department of Agriculture. Your great senators, Senator Bond and Senator Talent, thank you all for joining us today, as well as Congressman Todd Akin and Lulli, his wife. And of course, the Taylor family. I know that it was your love of the outdoors and our nation's landscapes that brought you to today. And that's what brought me here, as well.

I'm delighted to be here for the announcement of the Enterprise 50 Million Tree Pledge, a donation of $50 million by Enterprise Rent-A-Car to the National Arbor Day Foundation to plant 50 million trees in national forests over the next 50 years.

Trees are essential to our life on the planet. They eliminate harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and they produce the oxygen we breathe. Around the world, trees are the habitat of diverse species of wildlife. Trees can even reduce your energy costs if you plant a nice shade tree in your yard to shade your house.

A visionary today -- a visionary non-profit organization, a generous corporate citizen, and the government agency charged with preserving our national forests have come together to make a positive difference for many decades to come. The Enterprise $50 Million Tree Pledge reminds us that private citizens have a responsibility for our national treasures. Public-private partnerships are vital to the health of our national forests.

I urge people across the country today, as Enterprise makes this pledge, let's also all pledge to plant more trees -- in our own yards, in our own communities, in our own school yards, and in our own parks, especially the trees that are native to each of our regions in the United States.

So thank you very much to Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Arbor Day Foundation, and the USDA Forest Service for leading this effort. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)

END 2:37 P.M. CDT