Tree Cities and Tree Campuses

Tree Cities and Tree Campuses in Louisville

Tree Cities

The Tree Cities of the World program is a effort by the Arbor Day Foundation to recognize cities that have a strong commitment to growing and protecting their urban forests. The designation is awarded when a city meets five standards that help create a healthy and sustainable urban forest.

Tree City Standards

Standard 1: Establish Responsibility

City leaders must write a statement assigning responsibility for a city's trees to staff members, a department, or a civic group.
Standard 2: Set the Rules

A city must create and ordinance to govern the management of trees. The ordinance should describe the best practice for tree care and create penalties for non-compliance.
Standard 3: Know What You Have

The city maintains an inventory or assessment of trees, so it can maintain a long term plan for planting, maintainence, and removals.
Standard 4: Allocate the Resources

The city has dedicated budget for the maintainance and planting of trees.
Standard 5: Celebrate Achievements

The city has an annual event to celebrate trees and raise awareness about their importance.

Tree Campus Standards

Standard 1: Establish A Campus Tree Advisory Committee
A committee with representatives from all the audiences with a stake in campus trees must exist and meet regularly.
The commity must include a representative from each of the following groups:
1. Students
2. Faculty
3. Facility Management
4. Community
Standard 2: Create a Campus Tree Care Plan

The campus tree care plan should be flexible enough to fit the needs and circumstance of the particular campus. The plan should be goal oriented and provide an opportunity to set good policy and guidance for planting, maintaining and removing trees.
Standard 3: Campus Tree Program with Dedicated Annual Expenditures

For a campus to be considered a Tree Campus it must allocate money for its annual campus tree care program
Standard 4: Arbor Day Observance

An Arbor Day observance should be used to educate the campus community on the benefits of trees.
Standard 5: Service Learning Project

The campus must organize a project to educate students about trees through volunteering.