The City of Chicopee was named a 2017 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. This is the 25th time the City has received this distinction.
Chicopee achieved Tree City USA recognition by meeting the program’s four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
Since 2015 the City has planted over 300 trees. While the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is close to planting their 1,000 th tree within Chicopee. These trees provide multiple benefits to a community when properly planted and maintained. They help to improve the visual appeal of a neighborhood, increase property values, reduce home cooling costs, remove air polluntants and provide wildlife habitat, plus many other benefits.
The City of Chicopee is proud of the designation as a Tree City USA and its ability to provide true benefits for now and our future generations” said Mayor Kos
For more information on the program plese visit arborday.org/TreeCityUSA
In a related effort on Monday May 7th, at the Portuguese Club located at 149 Exchange Street. The City will hold a public information meeting in regards to the Green Streets Program starting at 6:30 PM. This project stemmed from a grant from the US Foresty Service. The City was sub-granted funds from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. The funds were used for “streets trees for stormwater” management concept performed on Perkins & Dwight Streets. This was designed by the Conway School of Landscape Design graudate students in the Winter of 2017.
The event will feature representatives from Valley Opportinuty Council, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and the City of Chicopee.
This event will also outline a Tacticual Urbanism Demonstartion Day, during which volunteers and landscape architecture professionals will temportairy stage the subject
streets to display how the green street improvements will function and appear on the streetscape.
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