Prichard Receives National Tree City USA Designation

In March of 2006, the City of Prichard, at its Annual Arbor Day Celebration, was designated as a National Tree City USA. The Tree City USA award program is sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service. The award is given to communities recognized as having comprehensive urban forestry programs.

To obtain Tree City USA status, a community must adopt a tree ordinance, appoint a board, department or commission to advise the city on tree issues, spend $2 per capita on community forestry activities, and hold an Arbor Day celebration. To date, more than 2,700 cities in the U. S. have been awarded Tree City USA status.



Coinciding with the City’s Arbor Day festivities, the City of Prichard was awarded a Tree City grant to provide an inventory and assessment of the City’s trees. The grant will also assist the City with the needed technical support for our public works staff to care for and properly groom trees. Additionally, the City of Prichard received grant funds from the Urban and Community Forestry Hurricane Ivan Supplemental Funding Program to purchase over a 100 cypress and live oak trees. These trees were planted throughout the Prichard area to replace trees damaged by Hurricane Ivan.