Parks and Greenery Department receives two awards from the Arbor Day Foundation

The Arbor Day Foundation recently awarded Portsmouth’s Parks and Greenery Department, led by arborists Corin Hallowell and Charles Baxter, with its Tree City USA designation as well as its Tree Growth Award. Portsmouth and Nashua were the only communities in New Hampshire to receive a Tree Growth Award.  

Portsmouth has achieved the Tree City USA recognition for over twenty years by meeting the program’s four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least two dollars per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

“Tree City USA communities see the impact an urban forest has in a community first hand,” said Dan Lambe, President of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Additionally, recognition brings residents together and creates a sense of community pride, whether it’s through volunteer engagement or public education.”

In addition to being named a Tree City USA, this latest recognition of the Parks and Greenery Department’s Tree Growth Award was based on the Department’s high-achieving levels of education, partnerships, planning and management, and tree planting and maintenance.

For example, every year on Arbor Day, City staff host an event alongside community members and other arborists to lead a public demonstration and discussion on techniques to prune trees and improve tree health; details on this year’s Arbor Day event will be announced in the near future.

In addition to public education, the Parks and Greenery staff work to capitalize on partnerships when possible in order to implement new tree growth and improve public spaces. Recently, crews worked with Eversource to improve an open space area next to Marsh Lane, off of Maplewood Avenue; this included clearing the area of debris and planting a variety of trees in the area, resulting in what will continue to grow to be a small arboretum of unique species for the community to enjoy.

About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a million member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information can be found at www.arborday.org.

Image: Trees being planted at Marsh Lane