Credit: http://www.arborday.org/

Credit: http://www.arborday.org/

Just saw that my home town, Geneva, was named a Tree City USA community for the 14th straight year. That got me wondering how many Kane County municipalities had the Tree City seal of approval.

So I checked on the Arbor Day website, looked under Illinois, and found that Geneva wasn’t on the list.

Being a formerly intrepid reporter, I sent an email to Geneva, letting them know of the issue, then called the Arbor Day Foundation, where a very, very nice representative transferred my call to another very, very nice representative, Arbor Day Foundation Department Coordinator Lindsay Strizek, who said she’d email a list of Kane County, IL, Tree City USA communities — which she did in, like, 15 minutes.

Here’s the list from Kane County. ( Editor’s note: We added Carpentersville and Algonquin to the list, thanks to notes from alert readers. If we missed any others, let me know at ricknagel23@gmail.com. The full list of Illinois Tree Cities is below.)

1. Algonquin
2. Aurora
3. Batavia
4. Carpentersville
5. Elburn
6. Geneva
7. North Aurora
8. Sleepy Hollow
9. South Elgin
10. St. Charles
11. Sugar Grove

Congratulations, Kane County, IL, Tree City USA designees!

What is Tree City USA?

The Tree City USA program is a national program that provides the framework for community forestry management for cities and towns across America.

Communities achieve Tree City USA status by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.

Participating communities have demonstrated a commitment to caring for and managing their public trees. Together the more than 3,400 Tree City USA communities serve as home to more than 135 million Americans.

Tree Cities USA Communities in Illinois