January 15, 2021
2021 recognition program standards changes from the Arbor Day Foundation regarding all 2021 applications.
Tree City USA
- Standard 4- Proclamation and Arbor Day Observance
- Arbor Day Foundation will be requiring a signed Arbor Day proclamation on all 2021 applications
- Arbor Day observances/celebrations will not be required, but cities will be highly encouraged to publicize their community's recognition as a Tree City or celebration of Arbor Day.
- Examples of things communities could do to still observe while socially distancing: Facebook live tree planting, social media post encouraging citizens to celebrate Arbor Day, newspaper article, radio ad, etc.
- Arbor Day Foundation will be working on developing a communications toolkit with graphics, social media posts, and more that communities can use to celebrate.
Tree Campus Higher Education
- Standard 4- Arbor Day Celebration
- Arbor Day Foundation will be requiring that campuses celebrate/observe Arbor Day on 2021 applications.
- Again this doesn't have to be a large tree planting event. It can be a social media live video of department members planting a tree, a simple social media post promoting being a Tree Campus and celebrating Arbor Day, a blog post, etc.
- Arbor Day Foundation will provide a toolkit with languages for campuses to use for their 2021 events.
- Standard 5- Service Learning Project
- This will be required and students will need to be involved in some capacity for the 2021 applications.
- Arbor Day Foundation understand that this may look different from previous years with being virtual but below are some examples that campuses used to meet this standard in 2020:
- Student coursework on trees in classes being held virtually (college arboriculture classes)
- Record or livestream a local tree expert giving tree planting or care tips to the student community
- The creation of a virtual tree walk video
- Student-led education on the importance of trees to the campus and community that is shared via a social media campaign or via a digital campus publication
- Students give a virtual presentation on trees to a local K-12 classroom
- Student interns on the campus facility teams that work on trees
- Arbor Day Foundation understand that this may look different from previous years with being virtual but below are some examples that campuses used to meet this standard in 2020:
- This will be required and students will need to be involved in some capacity for the 2021 applications.
Tree Line USA
- Requirement 5- Arbor Day Celebration
- Arbor Day Foundation will be requiring that utilities celebrate/observe Arbor Day on 2021 applications.
- Again this doesn't have to be a large tree planting event. This can be an employee planting a tree, social media posts or live events, bill inserts with Arbor Day information, or more.