An arboreal celebration

The city celebrated Arbor Day with a special ceremony at the Glendale Civic Auditorium Tuesday, during which county officials recognized Glendale's efforts at maintaining and expanding its urban forest.

"I can't think of a better way to recognize the city's 100th anniversary than to recognize our citizen trees, some of whom witnessed the city's formation," said Daniel Hargrove, the city's asst. maintenance services administrator and guest speaker at the annual Arbor Day celebration.

The event is usually held at the Casa Adobe de San Rafael but was moved to the auditorium because of the likelihood of rain. City and county officials and representatives of Glendale Beautiful spoke at the event, which also featured the dedication of scores of new city trees and the presentation of the Tree City USA award for the 22nd consecutive year.

The award, presented to City Manager Jim Starbird by Barbara Chalton, deputy forester and fire warden for the Los Angeles County Department of Forestry, recognizes cities throughout the country that have developed a comprehensive urban forestry program. The Tree City USA program was first started in 1976 by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Glendale also received a special recognition for developing a cooperative program with utility companies to plant trees along utility easements, a tree pruning program and a community outreach tree planting program, Chalton said.

"This city truly recognizes the benefit and usefulness of trees to the community," she said in presenting the award.

Glendale's urban forestry program, which has an inventory of 45,000 street trees valued at $183 million, has come a long way since the 1970s, said Hargrove, a former urban forester for the city.

"Back then, tree planning was limited to someone saying to their neighbor, 'Hey Ned, I like that neat tree in your backyard; I want to plant one,'" Hargrove said.

Today' the Maintenance Services Division of the Public Works Department keeps detailed information about each street tree and inspects them regularly. It has developed special criteria to help determine the best type of tree to plant in a particular area, and has planted 3,000 new trees in the past five years through grant funding, Hargrove said.

But the city's interest in tree preservation predates even the growth of the modern environmental movement of the 1970s, Hargrove added. The city first came up with a municipal tree ordinance in the 1940s, a law that was updated a few years ago.

The city's forward-looking vision from the 1940s continues with the current urban forestry program, Hargrove said.

"We can hope that in 2106, an urban forester will be here talking to your grandchildren and recognizing the decisions we have made today," he said.

Following the presentation of the Tree City, USA award, Glendale Beautiful presented certificates to attendees who have had trees donated in the name of loved ones.

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