Sisters earns Tree City USA status

Sisters joined Madras, Bend and Redmond as a "Tree City USA" during a small award ceremony at last Thursday evening's city council meeting.

The local urban forest has long been a hallmark of Sisters; however, it was not until this year that Sisters met the standards necessary to achieve the coveted designation.

The award is not as common as might be supposed in a state known for its trees; only about one in five Oregon cities has achieved the status.

"Tree City USA is a national award, and a little over 3,000 communities nationwide have won this status. Oregon has 49 communities that qualified this year, and 10 of those 49 are located east of the Cascades. The status is only good for a year, and the community has to reapply each year for the award," said Katie Lompa, Oregon Department of Forestry Community Assistance Forester.

Although Sisters has been surrounded by communities that share the Tree City USA designation, it has taken some time for the community to meet the requirements of the award.

"This is the first year for Sisters. Madras, Redmond and Bend have been designated as Tree Cities before. Redmond has held the status for three years, and Bend has held the designation for eight years. Madras has had the designation for 15 years now," said Lompa.

The standards to achieve the designation are set by a foundation.

"To achieve the designation the community has to meet four standards that the National Arbor Day Foundation has set. Sisters was able to do that last year. They adopted a tree care ordinance. Sisters spent a minimum of $2 per capita on their tree care program. That $2 per capita can also be in kind. It does not have to come from the general fund," said Lompa.

However, all of the standards for the award are not pure work.

"The fun one is to have an Arbor Day celebration, and of course they have to have a program where they have set up a commission or a board or just the program itself, and they did all those," said Lompa.

The small size of the Sisters community is not an obstacle to winning the designation.

"Echo is the smallest community (684 residents) east of the Cascades to hold the designation, and the next smallest is Metolius," said Lompa.

Although there is some prestige in winning the designation, it is not the status that is the primary concern for Lompa and the staff of the Department of Forestry.

"It is a status to receive the award, but the main thing that we as the Oregon Department of Forestry try to promote is for the cities to have an actual management program for the trees. We don't want to see someone have the status, just for status sake," she said.

More information about the Tree City Designation is available at the Arbor Day Foundation Web site: http://www.arbordayfoundation.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm.