Honored by Arbor Day Foundation, Mountain Brook strives to nurture its vital urban forest
Planting trees is important work these days.
Communities around the world are facing problems with air quality, water resources, energy use and protection from extreme heat and flooding, and trees can help.
The Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1972, recently launched the Time for Trees initiative to help plant 100 million trees by 2022.
The city of Mountain Brook is doing its share.
The foundation announced in January that it had named Mountain Brook a 2020 Tree City USA to honor its commitment to effective urban forest management.
The community also received a Tree City USA Growth Award for demonstrating environmental improvement and a higher level of tree care.
This is the 27th year that Mountain Brook has been named a Tree City USA and its 19th year receiving the Tree City USA Growth Award, Mayor Stewart Welch III said.
These designations are the result of hundreds of volunteer hours and the city’s funding commitment over the years, Welch said.
Mountain Brook is one of more than 3,600 Tree City USAs, with a combined population of 155 million, Arbor Day Foundation President Dan Lambe said.
“The trees being planted and cared for by Mountain Brook are ensuring that generations to come will enjoy to a better quality of life,” Lambe said. “Additionally, participation in this program brings residents together and creates a sense of civic pride, whether it’s through volunteer engagement or public education.”
City Manager Sam Gaston is credited by Welch and other officials with helping to form the city’s Tree Commission in 1993.
The Tree Commission eventually became the Board of Landscape Design, now chaired by Sim Johnson.
The Tree Commission was needed “because of the beautiful urban forest we have in Mountain Brook and the pride most all residents have in trees and landscaping,” Gaston told Village Living.
In addition, Gaston had recently resurrected the Tree and Beautification Board in Anniston, where he was working as the assistant city manager and planning director.
Anniston then received its first Tree City USA designation.
“This was still fresh on my mind when I came to Mountain Brook about three years later and wondered why such a beautiful city didn’t have a Tree Commission or an established urban forestry program,” he said.
Gaston is proud of the work the city has done with tree since then.
The Tree Commission, arborists and others — especially City Council President Virginia Smith, who has been the council liaison to the Board of Landscape Design — “have promoted trees, used the city newsletter and other social media platforms to promote our urban forest and education residents on the benefits of trees and on proper tree care and maintenance,” he said.
The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.
Mountain Brook achieved Tree City USA recognition by meeting the program’s four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
State foresters coordinate the presentation of the Tree City USA recognition materials
For information about the Arbor Day Foundation, go to arborday.org.
For more about the Board of Landscape Design, go to mtnbrook.org/bc-bld.