ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Applications are now open for a nationwide program making the country, including the U.P., a little greener.
Sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation and administered by the Michigan DNR Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Program, Tree City USA recognizes communities for planting, maintaining, and promoting the benefits of trees. The program is coming up on its 50th anniversary, and it’s still gaining traction.
“Last year, we broke the record for Michigan and had 131 communities participate,” said Lawrence Law, a UCF forester and partnership coordinator. “We saw a little bit of a drop in 2020 because of COVID and stuff like that, but it’s coming back stronger than ever. We hope to even grow that number this year.”
To become an official Tree City USA member, communities must meet four criteria, including creating a public tree care ordinance and establishing a tree board or department.
“A tree board is usually volunteers from the community, or it could just be a department of public works,” Law explained. “You have someone who has some sort of authority and advocacy for the trees in the community.”
The third requirement is to commit at least $2 per capita to tree care each year.
“Let’s say you have a community of a thousand people, and they spend $2,000 dollars on tree planting and removals, leaf litter pickup, and staff that do this work,” said Law. “That counts. It’s essentially some investment going towards this.”
Finally, Tree City USA communities must also have an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
“The Arbor Day observance can be anything from planting a tree, teaching a class about trees promoted by the community,” Law said. “It could be almost anything.”
In the U.P., Iron Mountain, Negaunee, and Menominee have joined Tree City USA in the last couple of years. Escanaba has been part of the Tree City USA network for 25 years, hosting annual tree planting ceremonies with the Department of Public Works and local scouts in Ludington Park.
Communities of any size can participate in Tree City USA. There are also variations of the program designed for schools and healthcare organizations.
All the effort that Tree City USA members put into meeting the requirements improves the look of their communities. However, for the Arbor Day Foundation and the DNR, trees are more than just something nice to look at. Law says trees are infrastructure that will enhance the communities they are planted in for generations.
“They really do provide benefits in terms of air filtration for the community and community health, water filtration, storm water mitigation,” he said. “Shade is legitimately a premium; reducing temperatures in communities is huge. It’s part of a greater strategy that needs to be taken into account for planning. We hope to promote more robust programs and investment into trees.”
To learn more about Tree City USA and eligibility requirements, visit arborday.org. To apply for the program now through December 31, click here.
