RAYTOWN A TREE CITY USA FOR SEVEN YEARS!

The City of Raytown, Missouri has won Tree City USA awards for the past seven years, the latest awarded in 2009! This award is provided by The National Arbor Day Foundation, in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service.

In 2006 and 2008, the City of Raytown won the Tree City USA Growth Award that recognizes environmental improvement and encourages higher levels of tree care through out America. Eligibility for this award requires that the applicant be a Tree CIty USA for at least two consecutive years and to have spent at least as much on its community forestry program in the current year as in the prior year.

Becoming a Tree City USA community means more than being able to display a road sign or fly a Tree City USA flag. Tree City USA is a foundation for effective well-organized tree care programs. Along with the community pride are practical benefits such as helping to gain financial support for tree projects, making a safer and healthier urban forest and allowing municipal officials to deliver better service to its citizens.

To qualify for Tree City USA, a city must meet four standard. These standards were established to ensure that every qualifying community would have a viable tree management plan and program.

The four standards to become a Tree City USA community are:

1. A Tree Board or Department
   Someone must be legally responsible for the care and management of the community’s trees. This may be a professional forester or arborist, an entire forestry department, or a volunteer tree board. Raytown has a volunteer Tree Board which is a group of concerned citizens charged by ordinance with developing and administering a comprehensive tree management program. Raytown’s Tree Board is made up of five citizens from Raytown with different backgrounds.
2. A Community Tree Ordinance
   A tree ordinance must designate the establishment of a tree board or forestry department and give this body the responsibility for writing and implementing an annual community forestry work plan. A tree ordinance provides an opportunity to set good policy and back it with the force of law when necessary. It provides guidance for planting, maintaining and removing trees from streets, parks and other public places.
3. A Community Tree Program With An Annual Budget Of At Least $2 Per Capita
   Evidence is required that a community has established a community tree program that is supported by and annual budget of at least $2 per capita.
4. An Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation
   Each year Raytown celebrates Arbor Day in the month of April usually at a Raytown School District elementary school (see calendar). A Mayor's Arbor Day proclamation is read, a tree is planted on school property and free seedlings are given out to everyone by the Missouri Department of Conservation. The Raytown Tree Board also recognizes the winner of the Raytown Tree of the Year award during the ceremony. Click here for more information about our community activities.