The Morton Arboretum’s Community Trees Program has awarded the village of Montgomery a $15,000 federal forestry grant, which will help Montgomery develop an accurate inventory of parkway trees: species, size, health, and location.

The inventory will be used in the day-to-day management of the village-owned trees.

The Arboretum awarded more than $170,000 in federal forestry grants to Illinois communities looking to fund tree-related projects. The program aims to help municipalities, park districts, townships, counties, and other local government entities fund projects such as tree planting, obtaining a tree inventory and developing or updating a tree protection and preservation ordinance or a tree management plan.

The federal grants are administered by the Arboretum on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service Department of Agriculture’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Trees are a critical asset to communities, serving many valuable roles including producing oxygen, absorbing rainwater to reduce the threat of floods and offering shelter for local wildlife. They also add beauty, shade, and character to neighborhoods.

Montgomery Trustee Stan Bond, chairman of the village’s Beautification Committee, underscored the value of identifying, nurturing and maintaining urban forests.

“In addition to the obvious visual benefits trees afford our community, we are also mindful of their positive environmental impact,” he said. “I believe our forest totals more than 12,000 trees, each of which needs to be catalogued and monitored for healthy condition, proper pruning and management and contribution to its surroundings. To accomplish this entails considerable effort and expense, but the result is a highly valued contribution to our community and to our environment.”

Beth Corrigan, Community Trees Program specialist with The Morton Arboretum, said the grants will enable communities to move forward with their urban forestry plans.

“Trees are an important part of our region’s green infrastructure,” Corrigan said. “Communities are the key to creating a greener, healthier world.”

About the Community Trees Program

The Community Trees Program at The Morton Arboretum was established in 2002 with support from the Grace Bersted Foundation. The program’s goal is to help people help trees live long, productive lives, based on the philosophy that all trees, on both public and private land, together form an urban and community forest that is crucial to a community’s infrastructure.

About the Morton Arboretum

The Morton Arboretum is an internationally recognized outdoor tree museum and tree research center located in Lisle. As the champion of trees, the Arboretum is committed to scientifically-informed action, both locally and globally, and encouraging the planting and conservation of trees for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world.

On 1,700 acres are 222,000 plant specimens representing 4,500 different kinds of plants, along with specialty gardens, educational exhibits, the award-winning Children’s Garden, 16 miles of hiking trails and the Visitor Center, featuring The Arboretum Store and the Ginkgo Restaurant and Café.

The Morton Arboretum is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, welcoming 1.1 million visitors annually and serving 46,200 member households in 2017. Learn more at mortonarb.org.