News Release
David Huhnke
Director of Communications and Marketing
City of Lafayette, Indiana(765) 807-1007
dhuhnke@lafayette.in.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 18, 2024

City of Lafayette to Celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day!
City of Lafayette receives national/international tree recognition awards.
LAFAYETTE, INDIANA – April 18, 2024 – Next week the City of Lafayette, in conjunction withTree Lafayette, will celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day with various events throughout the city.
On Monday, April 22 at 10:00 am, Earth Day will be celebrated at Armstrong Park at 809 BeckLane, with the planting of 15 trees by SIA volunteers. Mayor Roswarski will also read aproclamation to commemorate Earth Day 2024.
To celebrate Arbor Day, 59 trees will be planted on Saturday, April 27 at 8:30 am along 26th
Street in Lafayette. A proclamation will be read by Mayor Roswarski for Arbor Day activities.
Volunteers are needed to plant trees on April 27. To sign-up, pre-register at
www.treelafayette.org/arbor-day.

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The City of Lafayette is excited to announce that based on its efforts to protect theenvironment and help mitigate climate change, the city has recently received three (3) tree
designation awards for 2023. Lafayette has achieved Tree City USA recognition, for the 32nd
straight year, by meeting the programs four requirements:
1. Forming a tree board or department
2. Creating a tree-care ordinance
3. Having an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita
4. Observing Arbor Day with a city proclamation“Everyone benefits when elected officials, volunteers and committed citizens in communities
like Lafayette make smart investments in urban forests,” states Dan Lambe, Chief Executiveof the Arbor Day Foundation. “Trees bring shade to our homes and beauty to ourneighborhoods, along with numerous economic, social and environmental benefits.”

The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, in partnership withthe U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. More information on
this program is available at www.arborday.org/TreeCityUSA.

The Tree City USA Growth Award is presented by the Arbor Day Foundation to participating
Tree City USA communities that demonstrate higher levels of tree care and community
engagement throughout the year that help our urban forest grow and develop. This is theseventh year Lafayette has received this award.

The Tree Cities of the World program is an international effort to recognize cities and towns
committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably
managed, and duly celebrated. Lafayette, for the third year, is one of only three cities inIndiana to have earned this designation and one of only 200 cities throughout the world. To
be recognized as a Tree City of the World, a community must meet five core standards thatillustrate a commitment to caring for its trees and forest on a higher level. These standards
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1. Establish responsibility for the care of trees within the municipal boundary to a staff
member, a city department, or a group of citizens called a Tree Board.
2. Set the rules for the city to have in place a law or an official policy that governs themanagement of forests and trees. These rules describe how work must be
performed, often citing best practices or industry standards for tree care and worker
safety.
3. Know what you have in your city’s inventory or assessment of the local tree
resource so that an effective long-term plan for planting, care, and removal of city
trees can be established.
4. Allocate the resources for a dedicated budget for the routine implementation of thetree management plan.
5. Celebrate achievements recognized at annual celebration of trees to raiseawareness among residents and to acknowledge citizens and staff members whocarry out the city tree program.

The Tree City of the World award was implemented at the 2018 World Forum on Urban
Forests in Mantova, Italy where world leaders issued the Mantova Green Cities Challenge
and a call-for-action that included joining the Tree Cities of the World program, which willconnect cities around the world in a new network dedicated to sharing and adopting the mostsuccessful approaches to managing community trees and forests.
“Lafayette is very proud to receive these three tree designation awards from the National
Arbor Day Foundation after many months and years of work by so many individuals andgroups,” states Mayor Tony Roswarski. “Through our work with the city forester, other city
departments, Tree Lafayette, and community partners, I’m excited to announce that we havea goal to plant over 1,000 trees by 2028 in Lafayette that will play an integral part in the workof the Greater Lafayette Climate Action Plan. By working together, we can make Lafayettegreener.”

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To learn more about the services of Lafayette’s urban forest, click on the link at:https://www.lafayette.in.gov/2025/Urban-Forestry. This site will inform citizens on the process
for planting, pruning and removal of ‘right of way’ trees in the City of Lafayette. For further
information on Lafayette’s urban forest, please contact Kris Brown, Lafayette’s City Forester,at kbrown@lafayette.in.gov.

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