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Tree City USA is a national program sponsored by the
National Arbor Day
Foundation and administered in Kansas by the Kansas Forest
Service. Tree City USA recognizes towns that have organized community
forestry programs supported by municipal ordinance that meet four
program standards.
- A Tree Board or Department - The community has a board,
commission or department with legal responsibility for the care of
public trees and authority to develop and administer a community tree
management program.
- A Community Tree Ordinance - A municipal tree ordinance
regulates and establishes authority for tree planting, maintenance,
protection and removal.
- A Community Forestry Budget of at least $2 per Capita -
Evidence is required that the community has established a community
forestry program that is supported by an annual budget of at least $2
per capita. The budget should address the needs of species diversity,
planting and removal needs, hazardous trees, insect and disease
problems and establish a pattern of regular tree care such as pruning
and watering.
- An Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation - The community
issues a mayoral (or equivalent)
Arbor Day proclamation and sponsors
or participates in an Arbor Day observance.
The Tree City USA program has successfully provided an increasing
number of Kansas communities with
benefits
inherent with being recognized. In doing so, the program has
reached an all-time high in regards to
major
accomplishments.
To learn more about Tree City USA, download the Tree City USA brochure here.
15 Reasons to Become a Tree City
Becoming a Tree City:
- Encourages better care of community forests.
- Touches the lives of people within the community who benefit daily from cleaner air, shadier streets, and aesthetic beauty that healthy, well-managed urban forests provide.
- Recognizes and rewards communities for annual advancements in urban forestry practices.
- Increases public awareness of the many social, economical and environmental benefits urban forestry practices.
- Provides education to improve current urban forestry practices.
- Builds cooperation between public and private sectors to effectively manage urban forests.
- Encourages, supports, and strengthens effective urban forestry programs in diverse communities nationwide.
- Can make a strong contribution to a community’s pride.
- Serves as a blueprint for planting and maintaining a community’s trees.
- Puts people in touch with other communities and resources that can help them improve their program.
- Brings solid benefits to a community such as helping to gain financial support for tree projects and contributing to safer and healthier urban forests.
- Helps present the kind of image that most citizens want to have for the place they live or conduct business.
- Tells visitors, through signage, that here is a community that cares about its environment.
- Sometimes gives preference over other communities when allocations of grant money are made for trees or forestry programs.
- Provides a way to reach large numbers of people with information about tree care.
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