LEWISTON-AUBURN – The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated both Lewiston and Auburn as a “Tree City USA.” This is the second consecutive year the municipalities have received the distinction, joining only 13 other Maine cities.

Lewiston Mayor Lionel C. Guay Jr., notes, “Being named a Tree City USA speaks very highly of our commitment to providing a healthier and beauty-enhanced community. In Lewiston for example, members of the Lewiston-Auburn Forest Board and the Lewiston Public Works Tree Work and Landscape Crew recently teamed up with St. Joseph’s School fourth-graders for a tree planting to shade a local playground and add to the aesthetics of Oak Street– truly a win-win effort.”

Auburn Mayor Normand W. Guay concurs, “It’s very important that we acquire and maintain this distinction.

There is certainly no question that planting trees and having trees within our community enhances the quality of life for everyone.”

To be designated a Tree City USA, a municipality must have a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, a budgeted community forestry program, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation, the latter of which the Twin Cities mayors proclaimed on May 13 during an American Heart Association “heart healthy” tree planting.

Steve Murch, Lewiston’s arborist, notes, “The fact that both cities have been designated a Tree City USA for two years in a row is another reminder that It’s Happening Here.’ Wherever trees are planted, they often serve as a symbol of community renewal, and that is certainly true here in L/A.”

The National Arbor Day Foundation inspires people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees, envisioning a world where trees and forests are abundant, healthy, and sustainable, and highly valued by all people.