2012 National Arbor Day Awards

Launched in 2002, the Committed to Community Growth Program is a collaboration between TXU Energy, the Texas Tree Foundation and local governments across North Texas to plant, nurture and maintain community trees. Every year, more than 500 volunteers plant thousands of seedlings at the TXU Energy Urban Tree Farm and Education Center located at Richland College in Dallas. Program leaders say they are on track to plant three million trees in some of the most populous areas of North Texas in the next 10 years.

From its inception, a legacy of partnership has been central to the mission of the U.S. Forest Service, and that same legacy extends to its work with the Arbor Day Foundation. With the Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters, the Forest Service in 1976 launched Tree City USA to provide resources and recognition to communities for sustained investments in tree management and care. Today, more than 140 million Americans in 3,500 communities live in a Tree City USA. The U.S. Forest Service has supported the planting of 24 million trees in more than 60 of our national forests, in partnership with the Foundation. The support of the Forest Service was also instrumental in the construction of Lied Lodge and Conference Center at Arbor Day Farm, where many of the Foundation’s core principles come to life.

Award winners are recognized for their leadership in the cause of tree planting, conservation,and environmental stewardship.

Leaders in tree planting, conservation, and environmental stewardship from around the country and world are honored each year at our annual Arbor Day Awards celebration held in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The awards ceremony is part of the annual Arbor Day weekend celebration held at Lied Lodge & Conference Center.