Village of Lake in the Hills receives Tree City USA Growth Award from Arbor Day Foundation

LAKE IN THE HILLS — The Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees, recently awarded the Village of Lake in the Hills with a Tree City USA Growth Award to honor the village’s commitment to effective urban forest management.

According to Guy Fehrman, the village’s superintendent of streets, a Growth Award is bestowed to a community alongside their Tree City USA recognition for demonstrating environmental improvement and a higher level of tree care.

The Growth Award further recognizes major milestones and annual activities in five categories on a point-based system to build sustainable community forestry programs over the long term such as: building a team, measuring trees and forests, planning the work, performing the work, and building the community framework.

“We are excited to receive this recognition,” said the Lake in the Hills Public Works Director Tom Migatz. “The village looks forward to maintaining its commitment to exceptional tree care so our community continues to realize the benefits provided by a healthy urban canopy.”

Lake in the Hills has been recognized with the title of Tree City USA for 18 consecutive years and has previously earned the Growth Award 10 times.

“Tree City USA communities can experience the positive effects that an urban tree canopy has year after year,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “The trees being planted and cared for by the Village of Lake in the Hills are ensuring that generations to come will enjoy a better quality of life. Additionally, participation in this program helps cultivate a sense of stewardship and pride for the trees the community plants and cares for.”

Fehrman added that the recognition the village received with the Growth Award this year has demonstrated “expediency toward building framework for sustainable urban forest management.”

The Arbor Day Foundation states that urban tree plantings help reduce energy consumption by up to 25%, which will reduce general energy costs and help with the overall cooling of the village as well.

Additionally, members of the community benefit from properly placed trees as they increase property values from 7-20%. Trees also positively affect the local ecosystem by helping to clean water and create animal habitats to encourage biodiversity.

Since its founding in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters, and valued partners.

From its time in operation, the nonprofit has seen almost 500 million trees being planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities, and forests throughout the world.

Their mission is to lead toward a world where trees are used to solve issues critical to survival.

For more information about the Tree City USA program, visit arborday.org/TreeCityUSA.