For Release: Thursday, March 26, 2009

Tree City U.S.A Recognizes More than 100 New York Community Tree Programs

More than 100 cities, towns and villages across New York State today received national recognition as a "Tree City USA" at a ceremony held at the Holiday Inn Express in Albany. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) State Forester, Robert K. Davies, gave opening remarks and spoke about current issues facing forestry in New York State.

Albany City Forester, Tom Pfeiffer was also present as the host city and gave welcoming remarks. The city of Albany has been recognized as a Tree City for seven years. The City of Poughkeepsie holds the record in New York State for gaining the distinction of being a Tree City USA for 30 years.

The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. It provides direction, assistance, public attention, and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns and cities.

The State Forester administers the Tree City program for the state and the National Arbor Day Foundation certifies and gives the official designation of Tree City to the communities meeting the standards.

"Volunteerism and cooperation is alive and well in our Tree Cities and we are proud of this tribute," said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis. "Across the state, the public has worked hand-in-hand with our staff to create greener communities."

There are four standards communities must meet to gain this distinction:

Having a tree board or department - A city council, town board or village board appoints a shade tree committee. These committees all have volunteers with terms of office, duties and responsibilities to take care of municipal trees or to advise the proper official that takes care of the trees.
Having a tree care ordinance.
Having a comprehensive community forestry program, administered by the shade tree committee.
Having an annual Arbor Day observance and proclamation by the local council or board. The municipality must apply for the award each year.

Below is a complete list by DEC region of New York's Tree Cities. Noted next to each city is the number of years they have qualified as a Tree City USA.
Note: New Tree Cities include Brockport, Medina, and Montebello.

Tree Cities by Region
Region	Cities	Years
1	Amityville	23
1	Babylon	19
1	Bellport	22*
1	East Rockaway	11
1	Floral Park	13
1	Garden City	20
1	Glen Cove	18*
1	Great Neck Estates	20
1	Greenport	5
1	Hempstead (V)	15*
1	Lindenhurst	25
1	Lynbrook	26
1	Malverne	21
1	Mineola	24
1	Munsey Park	22*
1	Oyster Bay	21
1	Rockville Centre	21
1	Roslyn	4*
1	Smithtown	23
1	Westhampton Beach	21
2	Bellerose (V)	4*
2	New York City	13
2	Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation	13*
3	Beacon	14
3	Bedford	9
3	Bronxville	19*
3	Cornwall	5
3	Cortlandt	16
3	Croton-on-Hudson	25*
3	Dobbs Ferry	22
3	Eastchester	19*
3	Goshen	16*
3	Hastings-on-Hudson	26
3	Hyde Park	14
3	Irvington	26
3	Kingston	14
3	Larchmont	28
3	Lloyd (T)	14*
3	Momaroneck (T)	17
3	Momaroneck (V)	28
3	Middletown	9
3	Mt. Kisco	13*
3	Mt. Vernon	23
3	New Paltz	22*
3	New Rochelle	20*
3	Newburgh	5*
3	Ossining (T)	10*
3	Ossining (V)	2*
3	Pelham	18*
3	Pleasantville	23
3	Port Jervis	21
3	Poughkeepsie	30
3	Red Hook (T)	3
3	Red Hook (V)	7
3	Rye (C)	16*
3	Rye (T)	6*
3	Rye Brook	14
3	Scarsdale	26
3	Sleepy Hollow	17*
3	Tarrytown	27
3	Tuckahoe	15
3	Walden	4
3	Warwick	25
3	West Point	12
3	White Plains	26
3	Yonkers	23
4	Albany	7
4	Cobleskill	7
4	Cooperstown	26
4	Niskayuna	15*
4	Oneonta	23
4	Schenectady	11
4	Sidney	16
4	Stamford	5*
6	Massena (V)	7
6	New Harford	27
6	Ogdesburg	16
6	Rensselaer Falls	3*
6	Rome	6
6	Watertown	9
7	Aubrn	8
7	Baldwinsville	23
7	Binghamton	9
7	Cortland	2
7	Fayetteville	9
7	Fulton (C)	6
7	Ithaca	21*
7	Jordan	7
7	Manlius (T)	5
7	North Syracuse	20
7	Norwich	18
7	Oneida	19
7	Oxford	16
7	Skaneateles	4
7	Syracuse	19
8	Bath	23
8	Brighton	7
8	Canandaigua	17
8	Fairport (V)	6
8	Geneva	4*
8	Greece	12
8	Hammondsport	10
8	Hornell	8
8	Naples	2*
8	Rochester	28
9	Amherst	13
9	Buffalo	23*
9	Cuba	6
9	East Aurora	11
9	Ellicottville	28
9	Franklinville	25
9	Gowanda	7
9	Jamestown	28
9	Lancaster	10
9	Middleport	13
9	Niagara Falls	5*
9	Olean	23
9	Tonawanda	12
9	Wellsville	18
9	Williamsville	5*

* not yet recertified for 2008 Growth Award
(C) - City
(T) - Town
(V) - Village

Also recognized at this event are the utilities serving New York that follow the Tree Line USA. Program standards: Bath Electric, Gas and Water Systems, Consolidated Edison; Long Island Power Authority; Massena Electric Department; National Grid and Orange and Rockland Utilities.