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Leetonia to be host of Tree City awards
Officials say that going green helps communities.
LEETONIA — “Trees are the answer.” That’s the title of a talk that will be given Tuesday as the village hosts a Tree City USA Awards ceremony.
The talk will be given by Chris Carlson, an associate professor of urban forestry and arboriculture at Kent State University.
Youngstown also will be getting its first Tree City award, said Lola Lewis of New Philadelphia.
Lewis is a former Youngstown steel mill worker who, when the mills closed, moved on to become an urban forester for the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s division of forestry.
Some 33 representatives from communities and agencies will be at the ceremony, including Sean Logan, a former Columbiana County commissioner and a state representative who is now the director of ODNR. He’s scheduled to speak.
But if talking about trees seems boring, think again.
Gary E. Phillips, Leetonia’s administrator, said, “It’s not just looking at today, but looking at tomorrow as well” when talking about the importance of having trees in a community.
The Tree City program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, the National Association of State Foresters and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s forest service.
To have a program, a community has to have a board or department that cares for trees, an ordinance regulating tree care on private property, a program with a budget of $2 per resident, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. Tuesday’s event also celebrates the 136th anniversary of Arbor Day.
That means the community, in this case, Leetonia, takes stock of its trees and plants appropriate ones on tree lawns and other public areas that won’t interfere with electric lines. The community also removes dead trees.
Maintaining trees pays off. Phillips recalled the problems and expense in cleaning up downed trees and branches after heavy rain storms. It took five years or more to get the trees into shape.
“In the last 10 years, it’s really paid off,” he said. “Now every tree in town is inventoried.”
Bill Merdich, the village’s shade tree commissioner, said, “We do get a lot of compliments about the way the village is looking.”
Part of that effort included work to beautify the downtown to help attract customers.
Three trees were planted this year at the site of the former high school. That site will be the location of the new village library.
Another tree will be planted at St. Patrick Church, where the event will be from 8 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.
Trees may be added to the Cherry Valley Beehive Coke Ovens. Phillips and others want to restore the ovens that turned coal into the coke that powered the early steel mills. That would preserve the past and help bring in tourists.
The ovens are near the The Little Beaver Creek Greenway Trail, which is used for riding and walking. Tree care could help promote better health by drawing more users to the trail.
Merdich said officials from other communities become friends.
“You all try to achieve the same goals in your community,” he said. And as communities take care of their trees, he added, “business goes up.”
wilkinson@vindy.com