Parks & Greenery

About

The Parks and Greenery department is responsible for:

• Parks & Playgrounds
• Cemeteries
• Monuments
• Athletic fields
• Public docks 
• Public art installations
• Acres of public green spaces including an urban forest of more than 15,000 trees.

Portsmouth is an Eco-Municipality. For more information on initiatives, click here.

On April 26, 2024, the City issued the Mayor’s Arbor Day Proclamation in a ceremony at Langdon Park.

City Arborist Supervisor Max Wiater with the City’s Parks and Greenery Division, led by Parks and Greeneries Foreman, Corin Hallowell and the Trees & Public Greenery Committee, have helped Portsmouth achieve this distinction and plan to honor the outgoing Trees & Greenery Committee Co-Chair with this year’s Arbor Day commemorations.  The ceremony includes a tree planting in honor of Richard Adams who is stepping down from the Committee after two decades of service. Adams joined the Trees and Public Greenery Committee in March 2003, just a month after it was formed. He has provided invaluable assistance to the City, with a special interest in the history of the trees in Portsmouth’s urban forest

The Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Portsmouth as a Tree City USA for over twenty years. The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters. Portsmouth achieved Tree City USA recognition 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.

Since 2019 the Parks and Greenery Department has also received The Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Growth Award, based on the Department’s high-achieving levels of education, partnerships, planning and management, and tree planting and maintenance. Portsmouth and Nashua were the only communities in New Hampshire to receive a Tree Growth Award.

Prescott Park

The City of Portsmouth adopted the Prescott Park Master Plan in February 2017 at the conclusion of work by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Prescott Park. For more information, click here.

In 2019, the City of Portsmouth Parks & Greenery Department gardening team offered free weekly tours of the formal gardens at Prescott Park each Friday in August. The one-hour tours led by two student interns, explored the extensive garden beds of the South Lawn and the formal garden planted around the anchor at the end of Prescott Park closest to the river. While discussing the plants and care that goes into maintaining the gardens, the Parks & Greenery staff answered questions, identifying plants and explaining plant selection and care. (Image credit: David J. Murray/ClearEyePhoto.com)