Street Superintendent and City Arborist Brian Green was recently notified of the city’s successful Tree City USA Growth Award application for activities in the Planning the Work and Performing the Work categories.
Activities completed in the Planning the Work category included an update to the city’s Master Tree Plan and amendments to the Tree Care Ordinance in 2021. In the Performing the Work activity, the Tree Board’s newly established Tree Lottery Program resulted in 32 trees planted in the right-of-way during 2021.
The Tree City USA Growth Award is presented by the Arbor Day Foundation to participating Tree City USA communities that demonstrate higher levels of tree care and community engagement during the calendar year.
The Growth Award recognizes major milestones and annual activities in five categories that combine to build sustainable community forestry programs over the long term. Those categories include 1.) Building the Team; 2.) Measuring Trees & Forests; 3.) Planning the Work; 4.) Performing the Work; and 5.) The Community Framework. Each activity with the five categories has a value between 1 and 10 points, and communities must document activities that total at least 10 points—from any of the subcategories—to receive the Growth Award for the calendar year.