DNR honors communities, utilities and colleges with Tree USA awards

Michigan Department of Natural Resources sent this bulletin at 04/16/2015 02:19 PM EDT

Cities, groups certified for their promotion of community forestry.
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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2015

Contact: Kevin Sayers, 517-284-5898 or Ed Golder, 517-284-5815

DNR honors Michigan communities, utilities and colleges
with annual Tree USA awards 

Tree City USA sign The Department of Natural Resources and the Arbor Day Foundation announced today that 117 Michigan communities – from Marquette to Muskegon and Taylor to Traverse City – have been certified as a “Tree City USA" for their promotion of community forestry in 2014. (A full list of communities certified is available in the PDF file available for download below.) 

Communities are certified for work accomplished in 2014 and were presented with their awards materials earlier this month to coincide with Arbor Day and spring tree-planting projects.

The Tree City USA program promotes proper tree care and management in urban areas and calls attention to the economic, health and aesthetic benefits trees offer.

To be eligible to participate in the Tree City USA program, a community must have:

  • A designated board or department responsible for tree-care issues.
  • A local tree ordinance.
  • A budget for public tree care of at least $2 per capita. 
  • An annual Arbor Day celebration and official Arbor Day proclamation.

“This designation signifies a community’s commitment to caring for trees as valuable assets in the places we live,” said DNR Urban Forestry program coordinator Kevin Sayers.

Along with the Tree City USA program, the DNR recertified one Michigan utility – International Transmission Company – through the Tree Line USA program.

Three college campuses – the University of Michigan, Western Michigan University and Calvin College – were also certified through the Tree Campus USA program.

These programs encourage utility companies and universities to offer tree-care education programs and sponsor tree-planting events as part of their commitment to maintaining healthy urban forests and trees. To find out more about the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree USA programs, visit www.arborday.org/programs.

For more information about the DNR’s Urban and Community Forestry program, contact Kevin Sayers at 517-284-5898 or sayersk@michigan.gov or visit the program’s website at www.michigan.gov/ucf. 

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.