Sheboygan was recognized a 2015 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forestry management. The Tree City USA program, sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, started in 1976 in partnership with the US Forest Service is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year. Sheboygan was first recognized as a Tree City USA in 1978 and every year since. Sheboygan’s 38 years of continuous recognition is the longest of any community in Wisconsin.
Sheboygan achieved Tree City USA Recognition by meeting the program’s four requirements. First Sheboygan established the Board of Marina, Parks, and Forestry and also maintains a Forestry Department in the Department of Public Works. The Director of Parks and Forestry is legally responsible for the care of all trees on city owned property. By delegating tree care decisions to a professional forester who will perform necessary tree work, the public will also know who is accountable for decisions that impact community trees.
A basic public tree care ordinance forms the foundation of a city’s tree care program. It provides an opportunity to set good policy and back it with the force of law when necessary. A key section of the ordinance establishes the Board and establishes responsibility for public tree care. The ordinance also provides clear guidance for planting, maintaining, and removing trees from streets, parks, and other public spaces as well as activities that are required or prohibited.
The City Forestry Program must approve and spend at least $2 per capita. City trees provide many benefits — clean air, clean water, shade, and beauty to name a few — but they also require an investment to remain healthy and sustainable. By providing support at or above the $2 per capita minimum, a community demonstrates its commitment to grow and tend these valuable public assets. Sheboygan’s forestry expenditure for 2015 was $251,853.00 which comes to $5.11 per capita.
An effective program for community trees would not be complete without an annual Arbor Day ceremony. An Arbor Day observance was held on May 7 last year and offers citizens the opportunity to join together to celebrate the benefits of community trees and the work accomplished to plant and maintain them. An official Arbor Day proclamation was presented demonstrating support for the community tree program.
The benefits of Arbor Day go far beyond the shade and beauty of new trees for the next generation. Arbor Day is a golden opportunity for publicity and to educate homeowners about proper tree care.
Sheboygan developed a tree planting plan that gives us an inventory of all boulevard (right-of-way) available planting areas. There are approximately 3,000 open sites. We will have a list of trees that would be best suited for different planting conditions.
This Management Plan will give us a game plan for handling the trees that we have and efficient ways to manage our urban forest. This will include looking at current policies, equipment, and staffing. This will also include ways of reusing trees that need to be removed.
The Forestry Department has also upgraded our mobile application to work with GIS mapping to better document individual tree information, inventory, and process work orders.