Tree Cities and Tree Campuses in Louisville

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.

  • 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.

  • Standard 1: Establish A Campus Team

    Build a team of students, staff, and community members to lead your school’s Tree Campus K–12 efforts.

  • Standard 2: Education Plan

    Develop a plan to incorporate tree-focused education into your school. This plan should fit the school's needs and could include a tree-focused classroom curriculum, outdoor activities, off-campus field trips, and more.

  • Standard 3: Hands-on Experience

    Provide students with a hands-on experience that connects them with trees and their community. This experience can take many forms—what matters most is that students are actively involved and learning through doing.

  • Standard 4: Arbor Day Observance

    Celebrate Arbor Day with your school community to highlight the importance of trees. 

Who Meets the Standards?

Tree Cities

List of Services

Tree Campuses