Monmouth the first county deemed a Tree City USA

The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Monmouth County as a Tree City USA in recognition of the county's ongoing community forestry program.

The county's community forestry program is rooted in the Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission, which is responsible for overseeing care and maintenance of the county's many trees. The commission comprises five appointed members and employs 33 staff members, including a superintendent, an assistant superintendent, a general supervisor and three tree crews.

Monmouth County is the first county in the state and only the 17th in the country to receive a Tree City USA designation. The announcement was made today at New Jersey's official Arbor Day celebration held at Sunset Park in Asbury Park.

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, provides direction, technical assistance, public attention, and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns and cities that more than 93 million Americans call home.

Gaining Tree City USA recognition is an award to the tree workers, managers, volunteers, tree board members and others who work on behalf of better care of a community's trees.

"Residents, too, can take pride in the fact that their county is a Tree City USA," said Gary Lovallo, superintendent of the Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission. "Being a Tree City USA helps present the kind of image that most citizens want to have for the place where they live."

Being a Tree City USA also could help Monmouth County financially when it applies for grants for its forestry programs because officials evaluating the grant requests tend to have more confidence in communities that have demonstrated the foresight of becoming a Tree City USA.

The Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission plants 1,000 to 1,500 trees, plants or shrubs per year, many of which improve the visual aesthetics of the county's roadways. Workers also survey and remove hazardous trees and prune thousands of others. The staff also provides technical information to municipalities on proper tree selection, placement and care.