Monroe seeking Tree City USA status

The Monroe Parks Department and Monroe Historical Society are working to secure a Tree City USA designation, launching their campaign last month to identify and honor unique specimens in the community.

“We want Monroe to be a Tree City,” said Monroe Historical Society president and Park Board member Tami Kinney earlier this year.

A ginkgo tree on Blakeley Street and a chestnut on Main Street are already in the running for recognition, according to a joint news release. The parks board and city selected the first tree to nominate this spring — a large coast redwood in Traveler’s Park that served as last year’s community Christmas Tree.

The status was given because of the tree’s “size and rarity in the area,” according to the release. The tree will be highlighted again at the annual Light Up Monroe event at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25. The second Electric Holiday Light Parade will precede the ceremony at 4 p.m.

Each designated site will be listed on a public map, according to the news release, which the parks department will update.

“We will produce the map after the first year when we have enough nominated trees,” according to Kinney. “We are going to accept more than one nomination this year to establish the program and map and then decide year by year.”

Efforts took root this April, when a slew of Fryelands Elementary School third-graders planted a young red leaf maple near the playground in Lake Tye Park. The kids took turns digging a hole for the sapling.

“I look forward to many years from now, and you can come back and see this and remember the part that you had in this,” Jennifer Wood told her class. “I hope this brings back memories for many years to come.”

Mayor Geoffrey Thomas announced another opportunity for families to impact the city’s landscape. Staff will pick up any live trees that were used to fill homes over the holidays and replant them.

“In addition to the Heritage Tree Program, our living Christmas tree program allows residents who use living Christmas trees to donate suitable trees to the city for planting in our parks and open spaces after the holidays,” Thomas said in the release.

The annual deadline for heritage program nominations is Dec. 31. The parks board will review the nominations, and then announce selected winners in April, in conjunction with Earth Day and Arbor Day the following spring. Forms are available on the city’s website.

A group of trees may be selected. Property owners must be notified if a tree sits on their land, according to the release.

“Our goal is not only to celebrate the diversity and importance of trees in our community, but to give the homeowners recognition for preserving and caring for them. We are excited to see the variety of trees nominated,” Kinney said in the release.

Duvall and Woodinville have already earned the Tree City USA status, along with nearly 3,400 communities across the country since the program started in 1976, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

“It is a nationwide movement that provides the framework necessary for communities to manage and expand their public trees,” according to the foundation.

More than 143 million Americans live in a Tree City, according to the foundation. The organization works with the National Forest Service and other agencies.

Four standards must be met for the designation. A tree board or department must be maintained, a community tree ordinance much be enacted, and $2 per capita must be spent on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.

Trees can help communities reduce energy and stormwater management costs, according to the program. They can help cut energy consumption by up to 25 percent; studies have shown three trees planted around each building in the U.S. could save around $2 billion.

Trees also boost property values and build community connections, according to the foundation.

For more information about the Heritage Tree and Living Christmas Tree programs, contact the Monroe Parks Department at 360-863-4559.