SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By City of Santa Fe
Some of Santa Fe’s oldest residents are its stately trees, the ancient elders that populate our parks and rivers and bosques. Now the Arbor Day Foundation is recognizing Santa Fe as a 2019 Tree City USA, one of 3,600 cities around the country honored for making planting and caring for trees a priority.
Santa Fe achieved Tree City recognition for meeting four requirements: a tree care ordinance, a tree board or department, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per resident, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
Santa Fe goes the extra mile in looking after its urban forestry: it has a Municipal Tree Board, a Comprehensive Tree Plan, and uses an app called the Tree Plotter to manage and inventory its trees. Using this sophisticated software surveyors can map a tree’s location, species, condition and approximate age. Last year Santa Fe launched its first comprehensive tally of all our parks and trees.
For a look at how the City cares for its trees check out the video at this City of Santa Fe YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZMik1N2Qrg
Maintaining a healthy, diverse and resilient population of trees makes a healthier environment for all Santa Fe residents and visitors. Our trees create cleaner air, provide shade, minimize storm damage, help cool the atmosphere and create an improved quality of life.
With this latest Tree City recognition Santa Fe has demonstrated its commitment to effective management of a precious resource for today and the future.
For more information on the program:arborday.org/TreeCityUSA
