City opens nominations for urban forest awards

Kathryn Godsiff, Correspondent | Last updated Mar 10, 2009 12:0pm0

The Sisters Urban Forestry Board is taking nominations for the 2008 Urban Forest Awards. Two awards will be given; Tree of the Year and Citizen Forester.

Tree of the Year recognizes an outstanding tree within the Sisters City Limits.

The Citizen Forester award honors individuals, groups or agencies who actively promote the planting and management of trees within the city by way of a community forest activity. The trees must be inside the city limits, but the person or groups responsible for the planting may reside outside the city.

The awards are part of Sisters' designation as a Tree City, USA. Participation in that program requires a community to have an Urban Forestry Board (in Sisters, that is the Planning Commission), and to run an urban forestry program.

David Gentry, UFB/Planning Commission chairman, gives credit to Associate City Planner Laura Lehman for getting the program up and running. She presents a list of ideas to the UFB, and they select which projects they want to focus on throughout the year.

"This year the board decided that they'd like to implement a Tree of the Year award, and decided to also incorporate the Citizen Forester award to recognize those who make the Tree of the Year possible by promoting trees within the Sisters UGB," said Lehman in an e-mail.

The UFB has undertaken tree planting projects on Arbor Day for the last two years. Trees were planted at the elementary and middle schools, and staff and students were involved.

There are other tree projects happening around town, and Lehman said any project dealing with planting, maintenance, identification or tree-related learning qualifies as a community forest activity.

Trees nominated for Tree of the Year only need be identified by location and a brief explanation as to why the nominator finds the tree special. "You don't need to be a tree expert or be able to identify the species," said Lehman.

Nomination forms are online at http://www.ci.sisters.or.us or at Sisters City Hall. Nominations close March 31.