The City of La Mirada was named a 2020 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. La Mirada achieved Tree City USA recognition for the 22nd year by meeting the program’s four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
“Tree City USA communities see the impact an urban forest has in a community first hand,” said Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. “The trees being planted and cared for by La Mirada are ensuring that generations to come will enjoy to a better quality of life. Additionally, participation in this program brings residents together and creates a sense of civic pride, whether it’s through volunteer engagement or public education.”
Recently as part of the I-5 freeway widening project, Caltrans has provided the City of La Mirada funding to plant new trees in the community to minimize the impact of the project on the environment. With the help of TreePeople, over 1,000 new trees were planted citywide last year and 120 new trees were recently planted at the Creek Park Wilderness Area. The new trees will help improve air quality and enhance the appearance of La Mirada’s parks and neighborhoods. TreePeople, a local non-profit organization, inspires and supports the people of LA to come together to plant and care for trees, harvest the rain, and renew depleted landscapes.
In 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. The Arbor Day Foundation began in 1972 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Arbor Day. Since the organization was founded in 1972, more than 300 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities, and forests throughout the world and Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and world.
Trees enhance the quality of life and contribute significantly to the community’s natural environment. These important natural resources replenish oxygen, control soil erosion, absorb stormwater, and protect wildlife habitat.
The City of La Mirada contains an urban forest of over 13,000 trees. The city’s master plan includes parkway trees in front of homes on almost every street and maintains a Master Plan of Parkway Trees.
What’s a parkway tree? A parkway tree is planted in the public right-of-way, usually in the planting strip (space between sidewalk and road) or in the space approximately 10 feet from the curb or roadside, in the absence of sidewalks. Over the years a significant number of trees have been removed for a variety of reasons but not replaced as required by city ordinance. Since it has not been enforced, most neighborhoods have numerous locations missing trees. The City of La Mirada Public Works is in the process to begin planting trees where residential parkway trees are missing.
Benefits of parkway trees include:
- Convert streets into more aesthetically pleasing environments. There are few street-making elements that do as much to soften wide, grey visual wastelands created by wide
streets than trees. - Soften and screen necessary utility poles, hanging wires and the fronts of neighborhood homes. Trees are highly effective at screening infrastructure features to roadways that are needed for many safety and functional reasons.
- Added value to adjacent homes. Realtor based estimates of street tree versus non-street tree comparable streets relate a $15-25,000 increase in home value. It just makes for a more attractive street appeal.
- Increased public safety. Trees create a pleasant environment, bringing about increased walking, talking, pride, care of place, association and therefore actual ownership and surveillance of homes and neighborhood blocks. The more active a neighborhood is the harder it is to commit burglary and other nuisance crimes.
For additional information and resources, visit arborday.org.
Source & Photo Credits: City of La Mirada