By Jocelyn Bogen
July 16, 2007

On Saturday June 23, The U.S. Conference of Mayors and The Home Depot® Foundation presented the second annual Awards of Excellence for Community Trees and Urban Forestry at the Conference of Mayors 75th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

The city of Philadelphia and the city of Wilmington (DE), won first place in the large and small city category, respectively; each city received a $75,000 grant. The runner-up cities of Albuquerque, (NM), (large) and Orland Park, (IL), (small) each received a $25,000 grant. There were also six cities presented with honorable mention awards, including Atlanta; Chicago; Cincinnati, (OH); Fayetteville, (AR); Minneapolis and Tulsa, (OK). Each honorable mention city received a $2,500 grant.

Grants were awarded to mayors and their respective city’s non-profit partner to further the goal of promoting healthy, more stable communities through the strategic use and management of trees in these urban areas. “The Home Depot Foundation believes that community trees make enormous contributions to our social, economic and overall well-being and that the urban forest is one of the essential building blocks of healthy, stable communities,” said Kelly Caffarelli, executive director, The Home Depot Foundation. “Through programs like the Awards of Excellence, we reward cities that share this mission by taking an active role in demonstrating the importance of the strategic use of trees in our nation’s cities.”

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society® worked with the city of Philadelphia to develop and launch the TreeVitalize program. In 2006, more than 22,000 trees were planted involving 4,000 volunteers and the investment of $5.3 million for staffing, planting and maintenance. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s program brought together a diverse group of partners representing numerous local and national government agencies, community activists, funders, business leaders and community development corporations to address the need for trees and how their strategic use can benefit the residents of Philadelphia.

Wilmington Mayor James Baker has been an advocate for urban trees for decades. Evidence to his support is the Wilmington Tree Program, a multi-faceted initiative developed in partnership with the Delaware Center for Horticulture (DCH). DCH completed an online inventory of Wilmington’s urban forest in 2002, and this survey showed that the city, as part of this program, has planted more than 5,000 street trees in the past 20 years. Mayor Baker and DCH have worked closely to secure transportation funds, CDBG funding, urban & community forestry dollars to ensure over $300,000 are dedicated to Wilmington’s trees annually.

Award categories were determined by population — one category for large cities with populations more than 100,000, and the other for small cities with populations less than 100,000. Over 75 applications were submitted for the Awards, these project winners were selected by an independent advisory committee comprised of experts in the fields of urban forestry, environment and sustainable community development.

Please visit usmayors.org\trees for 2007 Award recipient program descriptions and the latest information and resources for community trees. Information about the Award of Excellence for Community Trees and Urban Forestry application process for 2008 will be available in November at www.homedepotfoundation.org.