Arbor Day Celebration

• Each year elementary school children plant a magnolia tree in Southerly Park. Board members, the City Forester, the Mayor, students and teachers attend the celebration. Commemorative plaques mark each tree.
• Residents nominate trees to be honored with Heritage Tree Award on Arbor Day. Nominated trees are:
  • associated with a famous person or significant event,
  • an historical landmark, or
  •  unusual in size, form, age, or other unusual quality.
• Fourth grade children participate in an annual poster contest in which drawings and sentiments about a tree-related theme are judged. The three top winners receive National Arbor Day Foundation subscriptions, framed copies of their poster, a Nature Explorer Club Packet and a Trees for America T-shirt. A tree is planted in honor of the first place winner.

Tree City Awards

The City has received 22 consecutive Tree City Awards from the National Arbor Day Foundation. To qualify for Tree City USA, the city must meet four standards established by The Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters. They are:

• A Tree Board or Department
• A Tree Care Ordinance
• A Community Forestry Program With an Annual Budget of at Least $2 Per Capita
• An Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation

Tree City USA is supported by the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program.

City Tree/Sidewalk Policy

The City strives to balance safe and accessible pedestrian paths with maintenance of a healthy and sustainable urban forest. To this end, its policy goals include:

1. Preservation of large, healthy trees whenever possible.
2. Planting the largest species appropriate.
3. Enlargement of planting areas where feasible.
4. Removal of trees in phases to retain an acceptable level of canopy.

Achievement of these goals entails:

• pruning roots,
• root grinding,
• sidewalk cut-outs,
• sidewalk meandering,
• use of flexible paving materials, such as pavers.

Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan

The emerald ash borer (EAB), a non-native insect has already killed millions of ash trees in the U.S. It has now spread into Ohio including Cuyahoga County.

Because there is no known means to eradicate the EAB, the City has developed a five year EAB management plan to reduce the potentially devastating impact on Shaker’s trees by the EAB infestation.

The plan manages the costs associated with removal of ash trees on the public right of way and planting replacement trees. It will both reduce the economic impact and also lessen the social and quality of life issues associated with removal of a large number of trees at one time.

 

Shaker's Tree Advisory Board

Lauryn Ronis, Chair, Citizen Member	216-371-0744
Nancy Moore, Council	216-751-8812
Pat Neville, Superintendent of Forestry	216-491-3285
Earl M. Leiken, Mayor	216-491-1410
Ami Horowitz, Citizen Member	216-561-7059
Mike Kannard, Citizen Member	216-471-3465
Ryan Sullivan, Citizen Member	216-791-7845