The City of Noblesville was named a 2022 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. This is the 32nd consecutive year Noblesville has earned this national distinction.
“Being a Tree City USA member for over three decades shows the importance that the city and its citizens have for our environment and its sustainability year after year,” Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen said. “I also want to thank the Noblesville Tree Board for its overall care of city street trees and the educational outlet and projects it provides our residents.”
The Tree City USA program started in 1979. Only four cities in Indiana have participated as long as Noblesville – Bloomington, Indianapolis, Elkhart and Angola. Noblesville received Tree City USA recognition by meeting the program’s four requirements: Maintain a tree board or department, have a community tree ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observance.
The city will celebrate its Tree City USA status during its Arbor Day Celebration on Saturday, April 30 with a proclamation by Mayor Jensen at noon. The city will hold a tree planting along the White River to help improve the river corridor. Those interested in volunteering for a shift can register at bit.ly/wrtv912 (9 a.m. to noon) or bit.ly/wrtv123 (noon to 3 p.m.). The planting is currently scheduled for rain or shine.
Starting at 10 a.m., the Tree Board will be giving away three-gallon shade trees to the first 50 Noblesville residents who arrive and sign one of the Clear Choices Clean Water pledges (indiana.clearchoicescleanwater.org) in an effort to protect Indiana Waterways. The Tree Board also will have 100 Shagbark Hickory seedlings and forestry information available to residents at the Riverwalk Trailhead parking lot west of 5th Street, next to Riverside Cemetery.
“Trees are a uniting force in the world, and we think the time is now to capitalize on this part of nature that we all have in common,” Tree Board President Ashley Mulis said. “Trees provide our city with so many benefits [such as] clean air and water, erosion control, stormwater and pollution uptake, increased property values, positive mental health impacts, heating and cooling savings, shade and natural beauty, and the list goes on. We want to share that on Arbor Day and bring our community together.”
On May 2, the Tree Board and the Noblesville High School AP environmental science class and Junior Lions Club members will plant six native Redbud trees inside the interior courtyards of the high school.
The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, in partnership with the United States Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. For more information about the program, visit arborday.org/TreeCityUSA.