Joliet gives Slammers fans 400 trees

The city of Joliet handed out 400 tree saplings at a Slammers game recently, the latest endeavor in efforts to promote a forested urban landscape.

Joliet has been named a “Tree City USA” for 32 consecutive years, an honor bestowed by the National Arbor Day Foundation to municipalities that meet certain criteria.

This was the first year that Joliet expanded its tree ambassadorship to a Slammers game, city Arborist Jim Teiber said.

“This will be an ongoing thing,” Teiber said. “There were a lot of smiling faces.”

The city gave away red pines and ponderosa pines at Duly Health and Care Field on Friday, a tree giveaway that is going to be funded by tree contractor Arbor Tek Landscape Services, Teiber said.

The city itself is in the ninth year of a 10-year contract in which it plants 1,000 trees each year in parkways.

“We finished planting our spring trees, which was about 600 trees,” Teiber said. “We have 400 to plant in the fall.”

Residents may fill out a request for a parkway tree by going to Forms on the forestry page of the Public Works Department section of the city website, joliet.gov.

Joliet also is conducting a survey to keep a record of all trees in the parkways.

“Every tree is going to be documented,” Teiber said.

The tree giveaway at the Slammers game follows other events this spring.

Joliet holds an Arbor Day event at a local school each April. Arbor Day this year was celebrated on April 26 at Union School, where students participated in a tree planting ceremony and also received tree saplings that they were encouraged to plant at home.

Six Union School students won awards in an Arbor Day Poster Contest. They were Isabella Castaneda (first place), Yareli Allende (second place) and Olivia Loster (third Place). Ashley Schomig, Maria Jacobo and Annabel George all received honorable mention awards.

Joliet also has a Tree Advisory Board, which organizes Arbor Day activities and provides recommendations on city tree policies.