SWAMPSCOTT — The town has officially retained its “Tree City USA” status for the 31st consecutive year, according to Community and Economic Development Director Marzie Galazka.
The program, created by the Arbor Day Foundation — a global nonprofit organization dedicated to planting more trees — along with the USDA Forest Service and State Foresters, provides a framework for communities to manage and expand their public trees, according to the town’s newsletter.
By meeting the four main points of requirement, the town has been able to hold onto the designation since 1994. The four requirements are as follows: the town must have a Tree Committee; a tree care bylaw protecting public shade trees; spend at least $2.00 per capita on tree management; and host an annual Arbor Day celebration each April.
Galazka noted that a critical element of the town’s ability to retain its status comes from the Cool Corridors grant, which the town received $95,201.40 in April. The grant came from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Division of Conservation Services.
With the help of the grant, the town will be able to plant more trees. Certain areas of focus were noted to be planting trees in Phillips Park, the new elementary school, the Clark School, by the commuter rail parking lot and the middle school parking lot.
Tree Committee Chair Jennifer Honig shared her comments on the matter, expressing her commitment to the reforestation of the town.
“The Swampscott Tree Committee is thrilled that Swampscott once again has been designated as a Tree City. We credit the hard work of Tree Warden Gino Cresta and the DPW crew for this honor,” Honig said. “As advisors to the Tree Warden, the Tree Committee has been excited to be involved in expanding the diversity of Swampscott’s public tree inventory, through the identification and planting of a range of native trees.”
Honig continued, “In a time of climate change, trees are essential to protect our environment and to help cool our built spaces. We hope this designation will draw attention to our new tree plantings and encourage people to support the planting of more trees.”
Interim Town Administrator and Director of the Department of Public Works Gino Cresta also elaborated on why it’s an important milestone for the town, and the work that goes into it.
“This is the 31st year that we’ve been a Tree City USA recipient. To become a recipient, there’s criteria to meet,” Cresta explained. “You have to have a certain amount of hours of employees working on trees, we have to plant a certain number of trees, and also document the trees that we took down.”
He explained another part of the process is documenting how much money was spent per resident on certain trees. “We’re well above that, and that’s why we’re a recipient of Tree City USA,” he said.
