Royston, Lavonia Named Tree Cities for 2016
Members of the Lavonia Garden Club help plant a tree in Lavonia Memorial Park in April 2015
Two Franklin County towns were recently named Tree Cities USA by the Arbor Day Foundation.
Both the City of Lavonia and the City of Royston received that designation for 2016.
According to the Arbor Day Foundation Web site, to qualify as a Tree City USA community, a municipality must meet four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.
The standards were established to ensure that every qualifying community would have a viable tree management program and that no community would be excluded because of size.
Those standards include having a Tree Board or Department, a Tree ordinance, a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita, and an arbor day observance and proclamation.
Lavonia will celebrate Arbor Day next Wednesday, February 17 at 2p in the City Hall meeting room where a proclamation regarding Arbor Day will be read in conjunction with the Lavonia Cub and Boy Scout troops, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Tree Commission, and the Lavonia Garden Club.
In Royston, Arbor Day activities have not yet been scheduled.