Tree City for 24 years

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
The city of Newcastle and the Newcastle Tree Board will celebrate Arbor Day by planting 25 trees near the baseball complex in Newcastle on May 10 at 2 p.m. It has been the tradition in Newcastle to plant trees for Arbor Day. As in previous years, one tree will have a time capsule buried with it, signed by all those who helped to plant the trees. 
“This year the city got 25 trees, but our main goal is to get the junipers in; we have 15 of those,” said Lacey Sloan, a member of the tree board and manager of the Weston County Natural Resource District. “We need hands! We are hoping to have the holes already dug, so we will just be getting them in the ground and covering them up.” 
Sloan said that the city has also purchased bur oak, northern red oak, pin oak, narrow leaf cottonwood and golden willow to be planted in the area. 
“We are more or less going for some diversity of tree species. The only one we are “trying” is the northern red oak,” Sloan said. Some trees do better in different areas of town depending on the soil and moisture of the area, she said. 
Newcastle has always put an emphasis on trees and 2019 marks the city’s 24th year as a Tree City, according to Sloan. She said that a Tree City must have a tree board, tree care ordinance, a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. 
For the past 10 years, Newcastle has received the Growth Award, meaning that the city was awarded 10 or more points for activities in categories such as education and public relations, partnerships, planning and management and tree planting and maintenance. 
“We received over 10 points this year and that is what qualified for the Sterling Growth Award. Communities that receive the growth award for 10 years receive the Sterling Growth Award,” Sloan said. “We have met the requirements for the first award, and that is why we are getting the higher Sterling award.” 
Sloan said that in 2018 only 17 cities across the country received the award and this year Newcastle will join a limited number of communities across the country receiving it. 
Sloan said that trees are an important part of the beautification process in Newcastle and also provide habitat for animals and food for people and animals.