Is Your Community Ready to Become a Tree City?

In 1976, the National Arbor Day Foundation, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and State Foresters, started the Tree City USA program to recognize communities that were planting and caring for urban trees. Initially recognizing 42 communities in 16 states. As of Arbor Day 2024, there were 3587 Tree City USA communities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Pennsylvania had 103 municipalities designated a Tree City USA in 2024, with Philadelphia reaching 49 years, Lancaster 48 years, and Allentown 45 years of continuing participation in the program. It recognizes both big and small communities alike, including Lewisburg Borough, with a population of 5,255 (recognized for 40 years), and Pittsburgh, with a population of 302,000 (recognized for 20 years). In 2024, Pennsylvania Tree City USA communities planted over 10,000 trees, utilized 34,489 volunteer hours, and spent approximately $8 per capita on tree planting and maintenance. Pennsylvania is also home to 16 Tree Campus Higher Education Campuses and 7 Tree Line USA utility companies.

If your community is planting and caring for its street and park trees, consider reaching out to a local DCNR Forester or Penn State Extension Forester and applying for Tree City USA status this winter.

Since its beginning, Tree City USA has helped communities develop a framework towards a sustainable urban forestry program by outlining four requirements or goals that must be met each and every year by a municipal program. Those four goals or standards are:

1. Maintain a tree board/commission/committee or forestry department within the municipality.
2. Adopt a tree ordinance that outlines the planting, care, and protection of community trees.
3. Spend at least $2 per capita on community trees (includes municipal and grant funding, volunteer time, and in-kind donations).
4. Celebrate Arbor Day each year.

For some communities that are just getting started planting trees in town, meeting the Tree City USA standards might seem like an unachievable hurdle. Steady progress towards the four goals or standards outlined by the Arbor Day Foundation can lead to a community tree program that can survive changes within the municipal administrations and budgetary constraints, while increasing public awareness of the need to plant and care for community trees.

Meeting the Standards

Many communities in Pennsylvania may not have a forestry department because of their small size, but have active volunteer shade tree commissions or committees working to plant trees. Pennsylvania law provides for the formation of tree commissions within state-enabling legislation found in borough and township codes. For example, the borough code authorizes a borough council to function as the municipal tree commission or allows the council to establish a separate commission made up of concerned citizens. Once appointed, the active tree commission or committee should spend time creating a shade tree ordinance that works well for their community.

Trying to determine if the municipality has spent $2 per capita can seem like a daunting task, but two worksheets that Penn State created can help. Annual Budgets for Community Tree Programs and the companion worksheet, Annual Community Tree Budget Worksheet, are designed to help a municipality determine its true costs of planting and caring for trees. It allows for volunteer or public works time, invasive species treatment, leaf clean-up, composting, tools, and program administration. Annual Work Plans for Tree Commissions and the companion worksheet, Annual Work Schedule for Community Trees, are designed to help shade tree commissions plan work on community trees or determine where they have spent time each year for their Tree City USA application.

Annual Budget and Annual Work Plan Worksheets that can be downloaded and used for Tree City USA applications

The easiest standard to meet for most communities applying for Tree City USA status is celebrating Arbor Day, which is typically observed in Pennsylvania on the last Friday in April, but a community can celebrate and proclaim any day as Arbor Day, including a fall planting (which many communities did in 2020, after delaying celebrations during the first months of the pandemic). Reaching out to a school or other youth group and organizing a tree planting in a park, school, or along a neighborhood street works well to educate others about the benefits provided by trees and the need to plant and care for them. Partnering with others, such as local arborists and landscapers, utility foresters, or conservation organizations, can help grow the program each year. Invite the local DCNR Service Forester or Penn State Extension Urban Forester, and make sure you invite the press to cover the planting and celebration. 

Each year, the Tree City USA program helps municipal tree programs and shade tree commissioners bring attention to the work they are doing to improve the quality of life in their towns. For some tree commissions, the Tree City USA status helps them gain municipal and public support for their programs and helps them maintain or grow their budgets to plant and care for trees. Tree City USA status is a great way for a municipality to illustrate its commitment to the environment and helps build community pride. Online applications for Tree City USA are typically opened in September and must be submitted before February 3, 2026, for approval from the Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry. For assistance applying for Tree City USA status, it is best to contact a DCNR Service Forester or Penn State Extension Urban Forester.