(Washington, DC) — Today the District Department of Transportation’s Urban Forestry Administration celebrated Arbor Day with students and staff at Capitol Hill Montessori Public School. In addition, this event marked the 21st consecutive year that the Arbor Day Foundation has named Washington, DC a Tree City USA community.

“Being a Tree City USA for so many years is a great testament to the leadership, agencies, conservation partners, and citizens of the District of Columbia,” said John Thomas, DDOT’s Chief Forester. “Arbor Day provides an opportunity for all of us to step back and appreciate the social, economic, and environmental values a healthy and growing tree canopy provides to our city.”

As part of the Arbor Day celebration at Capitol Hill Montessori students and representatives from UFA planted eight new trees, donated by Pepco. The celebration also included tree climbing activities and truck demonstrations, and a captive raptor exhibition by the Earth Conservation Corps. Pepco was awarded the Tree Line USA award for best practices in utility arboriculture within the District of Columbia.

The mission of the Urban Forestry Administration (UFA) is to establish a full population of street trees in the right of way and to ensure that those street trees are maintained in a healthy and safe condition. UFA has 16 certified arborists on staff maintaining approximately 148,000 trees throughout the city. For more information about UFA visit ddot.dc.gov/trees.