SYCAMORE | This year, Sycamore is looking greener than usual.

The city received the title of Tree City USA. The Tree City USA program – sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters – stresses the importance of tree care. Cities with the “Tree City USA” title are expected to maintain a proper tree management plan and program.

“We’re happy to be a part of this,” said Mayor Ken Mundy. “We had an ongoing tree program here already to remove damaged or fallen trees and replant new ones. Now we’ve fulfilled all the requirements to become an official part of this program.”

Certain standards established by the National Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters must be met before a city can qualify.

“The program requires you have a forestry board and spend $2 per person in the population for the forest program,” said Public Works Superintendent Fred Busse. “It also requires an Arbor Day proclamation and some type of observance or program working alongside that. An ordinance also has to be established for tree care.”

Sycamore City Manager Bill Nicklas said an annual report is to be sent to the Arbor Foundation stating the efforts and goals since a city has been awarded the title.

“It’s something you have to apply and reapply for every year to maintain,” Busse said. “This is only our first year, but we’re hoping to be eligible for other growth awards within the program in future years.”

The program ensures healthier trees in the parkway and places people frequent. It also acts as a teaching tool to local schoolchildren who participate in Arbor Day tree planting, Nicklas said.

“We also have a tree-planting program that we offer in fall,” Busse said. “It’s a 50/50 program we do with property owners in the purchase and planting of trees.”

The program allows interested property owners to pay half the going rate for trees. Residents are given a variety of trees to choose from.

“We accept the low bid of a local nursery that wants to work with us,” Mundy said. “Buying a young, two- to four-inch tree can cost anywhere from $200 to $400 today. With this program, people only pay about $100 to $200 per tree.”