Clearfield Awarded with Tree City USA Distinction

CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield Borough and the Shade Tree Commission were recently awarded with the Tree City USA distinction.

Shown, from left to right, are Scott Sjolander, Northwest Region Urban Forester of the Penn State Extension;  Rich Johnson, Urban Forester of the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, who presented the award; Jim Schell, Clearfield Borough Mayor; and Karen Miller and Larry Bickel of the Clearfield Shade Tree Commission.

Miller said, “We are so honored to be able to receive this plaque, flag and sign on behalf of the borough of Clearfield.  A lot of work has been completed by Scott Sjolander, the previous Shade Tree Commission, the borough office and the street crew in order to be able to apply for the award.”

According to the Arbor Day Foundation Web site, the Tree City USA program is a national program that provides the framework for community forestry management for cities and towns across America. Communities achieve Tree City USA status by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management, which are forming a Tree Board or Department; a Tree Care Ordinance; a Community Forestry

Program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation. Participating communities have demonstrated a commitment to caring for and managing their public trees. Together the more than 3,400 Tree City USA communities serve as home to more than 135 million Americans.

The Arbor Day Foundation Web site provided 15 reasons for becoming a Tree City, which includes that it:

1. Encourages better care of community forests.
2. Touches the lives of people within the community who benefit daily from cleaner air, shadier streets and aesthetic beauty that healthy, well-managed urban forests provide.
3. Recognizes and rewards communities for annual advancements in urban forestry practices.
4. Increases public awareness of the many social, economical and environmental benefits urban forestry practices.
5. Provides education to improve current urban forestry practices.
6. Builds cooperation between public and private sectors to effectively manage urban forests.
7. Encourages, supports and strengthens effective urban forestry programs in diverse communities nationwide.
8. Can make a strong contribution to a community’s pride.
9. Serves as a blueprint for planting and maintaining a community’s trees.
10. Puts people in touch with other communities and resources that can help them improve their program.
11. Brings solid benefits to a community such as helping to gain financial support for tree projects and contributing to safer and healthier urban forests.
12. Helps present the kind of image that most citizens want to have for the place they live or conduct business.
13. Tells visitors, through signage, that here is a community that cares about its environment.
14. Sometimes gives preference over other communities when allocations of grant money are made for trees or forestry programs.
15. Provides a way to reach large numbers of people with information about tree care.

Tree City USA is an Arbor or Day Foundation program sponsored in cooperation with: U.S. Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, The Urban and Community Forestry and the National Association of State Foresters.