Before the planting of the ceremonial tree, Mayor Henry announced his appointment of the City's first community-wide Tree Commission.
“The Parks and Recreation Department has done an excellent job establishing the groundwork to maintain our urban forest,” said Mayor Henry. “There's a structure in place, but it's time to really focus on issues such as the Emerald Ash Borer Crisis and to come up with a 10-year plan for increasing and managing Fort Wayne's Tree Canopy.”
The Commission's objective is to perform a comprehensive review of the City's urban forest and provide recommendations to Mayor Henry before the Great Tree Canopy Comeback in November, which will also take place at Salomon Farm Park.
The members are:
Co-chairs:
- Carol Cavell, Trees Indiana
- Jason Kissel, ACRES Land Trust
Commissioners:
- Karen Goldner, Fort Wayne City Council
- Bill Brown, Allen County Council
- Bill Diedrichs, Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation
- Al Moll, Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation
- Jeff Baxter, Allen County Parks
- Karl Bandermer, Sturges Development Group
- Tom Cain, City Planning Department
- Dan Ernst, Earth Source
- Julie Donnell, Friends of the Parks
- Jeff Ling, Treemasters, Inc.
- Ricky Kemmery, IPFW
- Kevin Scott, Indiana Michigan Power
- Kim Sabrosky, Indiana Michigan Power
- Pone Vongphachanh, Fort Wayne Area Association of Realtors
Director Moll added to the celebration by announcing that Fort Wayne has been named a 'Tree City USA' for the 19th year in a row. This designation was earned for tree canopy stewardship and a continued commitment to a green city. In addition, Fort Wayne earned a Growth Award from the National Arbor Foundation, one of only 14 cities in the state to earn that distinction for a higher standard of forestry management of the Park's 80,000 trees.
“The Growth Award is in recognition that Fort Wayne is working to make our tree canopy the very best it can be,” said Moll. “Our commitment to improve and maintain our green spaces helps us to attract people and businesses to our city for its quality of life.”
More information about Tree City USA can be found at www.arborday.org/TreeCityUSA. The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit, environmental, and education organization of nearly one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at www.arborday.org.