Tree City USA Standards

Standard:

• A community tree board, department, or position with legal authority and responsibility for public tree care decisions.

On your application you will provide:

• Tree Board Chairperson contact information (when there is a tree board)
• Up to 5 Additional Board Members contact information (when there is a tree board)
• Department Chair or City Manager or equivalent position contact information (when there is a department)
• Tree Board Meeting Frequency (when there is tree board)

Eligibility:

• The responsible entity could be a city or volunteer tree board, commission, or committee, a forestry department, a parks and recreation department, a public works department, a planning department, city manager, or other appropriate community department or position. While only one entity is required to be established for the care of public trees, often, both professional staff and a community tree board are established.

Purpose:

• Establishing authority and responsibility over public tree care decisions helps community officials and leaders determine who is responsible for public tree work. The public will also know who is accountable for decisions that impact community trees. Involving residents and business owners creates wide awareness of what trees do for the community and provides broad support for better tree care.

Standard:

• Assign authority over and responsibility for the care of public trees through the establishment of a trees board, department, or both. 
• Provide clear guidance for planting, maintaining, and/or removing trees from streets, parks, and other public spaces. 
• Always be in effect.

On your application you will provide:

• Provide a copy of the ordinance (or the individual clauses) that meets the requirements. Provide the name of the person, position, or department with responsibility for oversight of public tree care or urban and community forestry activities. Provide the date (or best estimate) the current tree ordinance was established and whether the ordinance has recently updated.

Eligibility:

• Effective public policies are not always contained in a single “Public Tree Care Ordinance”, it is acceptable to have tree care clauses in a single ordinance or throughout a community’s ordinance or policy structure. 
• The ordinance or policy must:
  • Meet the components of the standard.
  • Be established in or before the year of recognition. 
• In some communities the person, position, or department with responsibility for oversight of public tree care or urban and community forestry activities is not explicitly identified but is implied based on the community or state ordinance structures. This is acceptable. 

Purpose:

• Tree ordinances, and other legally enforceable policies, guide communities in the proper care, establishment, conservation, protection and maintenance of community trees and forests. Codified and enforced ordinances help communities maximize the benefits of community trees, creating more livable communities. 
• The Arbor Day Foundation recognizes the complexity of developing an ordinance in the diverse legal, cultural, and political landscape of communities. Standard 2 is intentionally broad to allow communities of all sizes to participate in the Tree City USA program.

Standard: 

• The community must document a minimum of $2 per capita annual expenditure on community tree care related activities. Expenses can include staff time, contracted work, and/or volunteer time. Qualified expense categories include:
  • Tree planting and initial care
  • Tree maintenance
  • Tree removal
  • Management
  • Utility line clearance
  • Volunteer hours 
  • Other tree related expenses

On your application you will provide:

• The dollar amount spent (if any) in the following categories:
  • Tree planting and initial care
  • Tree maintenance
  • Tree removal
  • Management
  • Utility line clearance
  • Other tree related expenses
  • Volunteer hours (you submit the total hours, we calculate the hourly rate at a national level in the application). 

Eligibility:

• Annual expenditures must meet one or more of the qualified expenses and must occur within the year of recognition. Volunteer hours supporting tree related activities are calculated at the national volunteer hourly rate in the application system.
• Qualified Expenses

Purpose:

• Budgets and expenditures require planning and accountability, which are fundamental to the long-term health of community trees and community forestry programs.
• By providing support at or above the $2 per capita minimum, a community demonstrates its commitment to community trees and forests as valuable public assets.