Five months ago, the Village of Howard City applied for the Tree City USA designation, which required the Village to meet a variety of criteria such as adopting a tree ordinance, establishing a tree board, designating $2 per capita to tree related activities and holding an annual Arbor Day celebration.

“These standards provide the foundation for our community forestry program,” said Mark Rambo, Village Manager, “they also provide an outlet for the community to be active in protecting one of our most visible natural resources.”

In 1972 the Tree City USA program began when Nebraska's Division of Tourism celebrated its centennial Arbor Day. As a result of this great success, the program went national in 1976 recognizing 42 Tree City USA communities, both small and large, for their efforts in proper tree care management.

“It’s a great honor to receive the designation and we hope to build upon this criteria year after year,” noted Rambo.

There are now more than 3,000 Tree Cities across the country. Michigan recently honored 104 communities with this designation and ranks 10^th in the nation for Tree Cities.

“This couldn’t come at a better time” said Rambo, “between the ice storm and the Consumers tree trimming it’s a great time to evaluate our trees and begin strategically replanting.”

The Village of Howard City will hold its second annual Arbor Day Celebration at the Community Expo on April 28 at 5:00 p.m. at the Tri-County High School. The Village will be giving away free Blue Spruce seedlings to those that attend the event.

“Howard City is quickly becoming the place to be,” noted Rambo, “from the Blueprint award, the Cool City & Tree City designations, to our grants for Ensley Street, the trail head and the streetscape project…our community has a lot of great things happening.”