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SOU celebrates Arbor Day early with awards and talks Apr 07, 2015 12:00 AM A A Southern Oregon University will celebrate an early Arbor Day on Wednesday, April 8, with events celebrating its designation as both a Tree Campus USA and the nation’s first Bee Campus USA, as well as the selection of a campus tree as the city of Ashland's Tree of the Year. Arbor Day is officially April 24. Paul Stamets, an author and well-known expert on mushrooms and underground fungi filaments called mycelia, will also speak at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in McNeal Pavilion on the SOU campus. Stamets has authored six books on mushrooms and related subjects. Stamets was chosen to be an invention ambassador in 2014 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A campus tree walk will start from McNeal Pavilion at 10:30 a.m., after the Stamets talk. Paul Ries, an Oregon State University urban forestry and arboriculture instructor, will speak at 10:45 a.m. in the Rogue River Room inside the Stevenson Union, followed at 11:30 a.m. by local arborist August Schilling, who will talk on the health of local urban forests and strategies for dealing with pests. SOU President Roy Saigo at noon will accept the Tree Campus USA honor from the Arbor Day Foundation. The school is also being honored for Tree of the Year by the city for its silver maple in the courtyard between the Mt. Shasta and Mt. McLoughlin dorms. The final presentation will be by John Roden, who will discuss his research on climate cycles from stable isotope variation in tree rings and fog utilization by coastal redwoods. Barbara Saigo, who has authored several books and holds a doctorate in environmental education, will give closing remarks. The day will conclude with the SOU Landscape Services Department and Plant Oregon giving a hands-on volunteer planting demonstration from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Participants will help plant some large trees and hundreds of small plants. All events are free and open to the public and parking will be free throughout the campus.