Parks & Recreation News
Wednesday, April 16, 2008LAWRENCE RECEIVES TREE CITY USA DESIGNATION FOR THIRTIETH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
LAWRENCE – Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department will once again celebrate Arbor Day, as well as its status as a “Tree City USA” city with a tree planting ceremony.
The planting commemorates the city's achievement of being named a Tree City USA city for the 30th consecutive year by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
The ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Langston Hughes Elementary School, 1101 George Williams Way, and will include students from the school’s fourth grade classes.
Lawrence Parks and Recreation was recognized for the planting of more than 800 trees in 2007, replacement of numerous declining trees in the Downtown area, and hosting “Experience the Rotary Arboretum Day,” an educational event open to the Lawrence community, with the Lawrence Rotary Clubs.
The department also pruned nearly 2,500 trees on the city right-of-way, municipal grounds and in city parks, and continues to offer a bi-annual mulch sale in addition to its Saturday morning drop-off program, which allows the public to dispose of woody debris, from mid-April through mid-November.
The Tree City USA designation is given to cities meeting four standards, which are having a tree department, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive forestry program and having an Arbor Day observance. It is a program is sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service.
For more information, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 832-3450.
Prepared by Laurel Kupka, 785-832-3458
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