Tree Give Away Part of Farmers’ Market Saturday
Lincoln College Student and Lincoln city official organize project promoting Tree City Status

[June 21, 2018]   LINCOLN - Visitors to Lincoln’s Saturday morning ALMH Market this week will find something unusual among the usual selection of fresh produce – free trees.

When Kelli Allison, a Lincoln College conservation biology major, learned that Lincoln is a designated “Tree City,” she decided she wanted to do something to help raise awareness of the program and benefit the environment at the same time.

Working with Lincoln Streets Superintendent Walt Landers, who oversees the Tree City USA program for the city, they made arrangements with the National Arbor Day Foundation to obtain 150 trees that could be distributed free to local residents.

The trees will be available on a first come, first served basis at the Lincoln College Eco Lynx booth at the Market on Saturday, June 23, which runs from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, at the Logan County Fairgrounds Expo Building.

The booth will also feature activities for children and adults to learn about the benefit of urban trees, according to Julia Ossler, lead faculty for the Lincoln College Conservation Biology program.

More than 3,400 communities have made the commitment to becoming a Tree City USA, according to the National Arbor Day Foundation. They have achieved Tree City USA status by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day every April.

[Mark Gordon
Public Relations and Media Manager
Lincoln College]