Syracuse Sun

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh announced that the City of Syracuse has joined the international program, Tree Cities of the World, for the first time, alongside only 39 other US cities. This recognition from the Arbor Foundation and Food and Agriculture Organization highlights Syracuse’s dedication to growing and maintaining its urban forestry efforts.

Syracuse earned this distinction by meeting five program standards: establishing responsibility for tree care, setting rules for forest and tree management, maintaining an updated inventory of local tree resources, allocating resources for a tree management plan, and holding an annual celebration to educate residents about trees.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for our efforts in expanding and improving urban tree canopy initiatives in the city of Syracuse,” said Mayor Walsh. “Syracuse has an outstanding Forestry team, and I am grateful for their work. We will continue our planting and outreach efforts in addition to implementing policies that protect our tree canopy for future generations.”

The City of Syracuse also received two additional recognitions from the Arbor Day Foundation: its 35th consecutive Tree City USA designation and its 21st Growth Award. These accolades underscore the city’s commitment to nurturing an urban forest cherished by residents.

Throughout 2023, various initiatives helped the Syracuse Department of Parks & Recreation Forestry Division earn these recognitions. The division manages 35,000 street trees and 10,000 park trees across 400 miles of roadways and 1,000 acres of parkland.

For more information on these efforts or to participate in upcoming events such as volunteer tree plantings or monthly Tree Identification Walks, residents can visit syr.gov/urbanforestmasterplan or syr.gov/Events.

The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit dedicated to planting trees. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a United Nations agency focused on defeating hunger worldwide. Both organizations founded Tree Cities of the World in 2019 to recognize cities committed to sustainable urban forest management.