Greenville City Park. Photo: Chas Hundley
BANKS – The city of Banks received its Tree City USA re-certification and the Tree Board plans to hold its annual tree planting Arbor Day event on Saturday, April 27 at 10 a.m. at Greenville City Park.
Tree City USA is a nationwide program that began in 1976 and now boasts 3,400 communities across the U.S. that meet the four core standards of urban forestry management — maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, contributing at least $2 per capita to urban forestry, meaning $2 per citizen, and holding an Arbor Day celebration.
Banks City Manager Jolynn Becker said the city spends $2.50 per capita each year to keep up on the health of trees, general maintenance, and planting.
“Our annual budget is about $3,000,” Becker said. “At the Arbor Day event this year we are planning to discuss what types of trees are good (in the region) for small yards, how best to prune small trees, and other (educational discussions) that are still in the planning phase.”
For Banks’ Arbor Day celebration, the city donated two trees, a Persian Ironwood and a Katsura Tree, which will be planted in the northwest corner of Greenville City Park, located at 13680 NW Main Street.
A city press release says it selected the Persian Ironwood “for its beautiful spring-to-fall leaf color, attractive form, and unusual bark,” and the Katsura tree for its “heart-shaped leaves, which also exhibit three-season color.”
“Both trees bring forth purple, red-to-bronze leaves in the spring, which turn to green in the summer, and then crimson, orange and yellow in the fall,” the press releases states.
There are 63 cities in Oregon that hold a Tree City USA designation. For more information about the nationwide program go online to www.arborday.org.
