Submitted story

On Friday, April 26, the City of Urbana celebrated Arbor Day at Oak Dale Cemetery and formally unveiled Greenwood Arboretum.

Calendar year 2023 was the City of Urbana’s 22nd year as a Tree City USA through the National Arbor Day Foundation with an awards ceremony planned for Central Ohio in Worthington on May 9.

To be a Tree City USA, the National Arbor Day Foundation requires that a community have an active tree board, invest $2 per capita per year into urban forestry efforts, maintain a tree ordinance, and host an Arbor Day celebration, including a Mayoral Proclamation.

This year, to celebrate Arbor Day, approximately 20 attendees were present, including representatives of the Urbana Shade Tree Commission, Oak Dale Cemetery Board, Urbana City Council, City Administration, Champaign County Master Gardeners, and members of the Kerns family. As part of this year’s event, 10 Silver Linden trees were planted at Oak Dale Cemetery.

This year’s program also included the formal unveiling of Greenwood Arboretum at Oak Dale Cemetery which was formally designated by Urbana City Council through the passage Resolution #2590-20.

Back in late 2017, the City of Urbana received a generous donation from the estate of Karen Kerns Dresser, in honor of her parents, Edmund H. Kerns and Kathryn Strapp Kerns, to be used solely for the purchase and planting of trees in Oak Dale Cemetery. Since this generous donation was made, 30 new trees have been planted at Oak Dale Cemetery. Furthermore, in appreciation of this generous gift and honoring the roots of its origin, the City of Urbana pursued and was awarded a Level 1 accreditation by the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and The Morton Arboretum.

The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program is the only global initiative to officially recognize arboreta at various levels of development, capacity and professionalism.

Submitted by City of Urbana