Arbor Day celebrated at Clinton schools
Clinton officials receive the 2021 Tree City USA award. From left are: Tree Board members Larry Gann, Bob Jameson, Jason Brown, Gwen Payne, and Tim West; Diane Warwick, TN Division of Forestry; board member Riley Sain; Clinton Elementary School Assistant Principal Abbey Kidwell; Mayor Scott Burton; and CES Principal Jenna Sharp.
The sixth-grade classes participated in the event by reading several students’ original poems about trees.
Sharon Jean-Phillipe of the UT Forestry Department spoke to the group about the importance of urban forests.
Diane Warwick, Tennessee Division of Forestry, presented the city with its 2021 Tree City USA award from the National Arbor Day Society.
This is the fifth consecutive year that the city has earned recognition as a Tree City USA.
Mayor Scott Burton officially proclaimed Oct. 6 as Arbor Day in the city of Clinton.
The group then moved outside, where the students helped plant a red maple tree in honor of Arbor Day.
Tim West, Clinton Tree Board member and CUB arborist, spoke to the students about careers in the tree-care industry, and supervised the planting of the tree.
The Tree City USA program was founded in 1976 to celebrate towns and cities committed to growing their urban canopies.
There are currently more than 3,600 Tree Cities across the United States.
To receive recognition, a community must meet four core standards for its public trees:
• Form a tree board or department;
• Establish a tree-care ordinance;
• Maintain a community forestry program with an annual budget of at lest $2 per capita;
• And proclaim and observe Arbor Day every year.