FARMINGTON – A spring cleanup and biggest-tree competition highlighted this year’s Arbor Day celebration held Wednesday in Farmington.

The town has been named a Tree City USA community by the Arbor Day Foundation for the 32nd year to honor its commitment to community forestry.

Farmington is also the recipient of a Tree City USA Growth Award for demonstrating progress in its community forestry program. This prestigious Growth Award recognizes environmental improvement and higher levels of tree care in Tree City USA communities.

Farmington has met the four standards to become a Tree City: having a tree board, the Farmington Conservation Commission; a tree-care ordinance; a comprehensive forestry program; and an Arbor Day observance.

Students from Cascade Brook School helped with a garden cleanup Wednesday as the town celebrated Arbor Day. Students weeded, mulched, fed and pruned gardens at Hippach Field, the Farmington Community Center and at the traffic island park in West Farmington.

The community is invited to participate in a challenge made by the Conservation Commission to find the biggest trees in Farmington.

The Maine Forest Service has been compiling a list of the largest native and naturalized trees in the state since 1968. To determine whether a tree is a champion, measurements are taken and a score is given based on the circumference of the trunk, the height and the average crown spread.

Directions on how to measure a big tree can be found at: www.americanforests.org/resources/bigtrees/measure.php.

Maine’s Big Tree Program lists 160 trees on the register with five entrants in Franklin County. If you have a big tree to nominate or for help with measuring, call Bobbie Hanstein at 778-6905.

Copy the Story Link