AMHERST — Both Amherst College and the town’s Public Shade Tree Committee will join together to mark Arbor Day with events on Friday.

The celebration will have tree enthusiasts and green industry professionals over the course of the day.

Arbor Day comes as the college recently earned a Tree Campus Higher Education designation from the Arbor Day Foundation, joining Smith College and the University of Massachusetts as campuses recognized locally.

To meet the terms of the recognition, Amherst College established a campus tree advisory committee, provided evidence of a campus tree care plan, verified the plan’s dedicated annual expenditures, observed Arbor Day and created a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.

At 12:15 p.m., a talk titled “Charismatic Megaflora: Really Big Trees!” will be given by Kevin T. Smith from the U.S. Forest Service. Smith will outline his research on how the biology of trees change as they age, why big trees are so unique, and why they require special care in the built environment.

That is being held at the Cole Assembly Room, in the Converse Memorial Library Building at the college. Smith will be introduced by Amherst Tree Warden Alan Snow, and Gigi Barnhill from the Amherst History Museum will discuss “The Story of the Historic Groom Tree.”

After the hourlong talk, Amherst College is hosting a guided Heritage Tree Walk of the big trees and a tree planting at 3 p.m.

The remaining events will be in downtown, including at the Amherst History Museum and Jones Library on Amity Street.

Children will be welcomed at 4 p.m. at the Jones for a book reading with crafts, before a new sycamore is planted at History Museum using money from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Urban Forestry Program that is also providing health care for the historic tree.

Those who come will get a free tree seedling.

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