Tree Commission hands out seedlings for Arbor Day

In celebration of Arbor Day, the Mountain Brook Tree Commission gave away seedlings on Saturday, March 21 at the Emmet O'Neal Library, Western Supermarket, Whole Foods and Piggly Wiggly.

This year’s selections included white dogwood, eastern redbud, southern red oak, southern wax myrtle, yaupon holly and black gum. Tree Commission members were on hand to provide planting tips and information about the trees. 

Also this year for the 21st year running, Mountain Brook was named a Tree City USA, a designation awarded by the Arbor Day Foundation that the city shares with more than 3,400 communities across the nation. 

Four things are required for a community to become a Tree City: the creation of a tree board or department, an ordinance giving the commission authority to create an annual forestry work plan, an annual forestry budget of approximately $2 per resident and an annual Arbor Day proclamation.

The Mountain Brook Tree Commission, a board of nine volunteers, works in conjunction with Don Cafaro, Mountain Brook’s senior arborist, to manage and care for the community’s trees.