Tree City USA

The City of St. Louis has received the designation as a TREE CITY USA every year since 1981.

The designation is given by the National Arbor Day Foundation annually to cities that meet the following criteria:

• A tree board or department
• A community tree ordinance
• A community forestry program
• An Arbor Day observance and proclamation

The National Arbor Day Foundation describes its Tree City USA program, "as being designed to recognize those communities that effectively manage their public tree resources."

The Forestry Division plants 3,000 street trees and 1,500 trees in parks each year.

The Forestry Division recieved two awards at the Missouri Community Forestry Council's Annual Conference March 6, 2003 in Kansas City.

At right, the Forestry Division employees show the most recent awards (left to right): Missouri State Champion Tree, 2002 Missouri Treescape Award and 2002 Communitree Award.

Staff in the picture (front left) are: Gene Pasetti, Amil Jakupovic (both Urban Forestry Assistants), Christine McCarthy (Urban Forester), Art Bunch (Urban Forestry Superintendent) and Jamie Frank (Urban Forester).

Chris McCarthy and Jamie Frank, urban foresters, were in Kansas City to recieve the awards.

The Forestry Division received the Missouri Department of Conservation's Treescape Award. This award has been awarded annually by MDC since 1976 to communites that have shown outstanding efforts in the tree planting in the past year. St. Louis recieved the top award for municipalities with a population of +20,000. The award was given for our continuing street and park tree planting efforts. In 2002, approximately 3,100 street and 1,500 park trees were planted.

The Forestry Division also recieved the Missouri Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council's 2002 Communitree Award. The award recognizes those who act as good stewards for trees. The city received the award in the "event category" for our "anti-tree topping" and "tree preservation during contruction" educational programs.

Jamie Frank received the Midwestern Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (7-states) 2002 Citation of Merit at an Awards Assembly in Springfield on Feb. 6. The award is given to one indivdual each year for outstanding service in advancing the ideals, principles and practices of arboriculture. The award was to recognize his work in preparing the series of informational bulletins and posters for the City.