Greenport Achieves Tree City USA Status

With Arbor Day just around the corner, it’s nice to know that at least one East End village is maintaining its “Tree City USA” status. For the ninth straight year Greenport has met the standards to earn this prestigious Arbor Day Foundation designation.

Tree City USA is a national program that provides the framework for community forestry management in cities and towns across America. Communities achieve Tree City USA status by meeting “four core standards” of sound urban forestry management, including maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day. In simple terms, participating communities have demonstrated a commitment to caring for and managing their public trees.

Given the village’s love of trees, it should come as no surprise that Forbes magazine voted Greenport one of “America’s Prettiest Towns” in 2011. Poet and nature lover Walt Whitman is also said to have taught one semester at Greenport High School.

Greenport‘s population of 2,070 is just a small piece of the national effort to preserve and protect our tress, but together, the more than 3,400 Tree City USA communities are home to over 135 million Americans. Learn more about the Tree City USA program and the National Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org/treecityusa

What’s your favorite tree in Greenport?