NORWICH – The Norwich Street Tree Committee and volunteers will be planting trees on Oct. 30. They are currently accepting applications for planting sites. For a Tree Planting Form, stop in at City Hall during business hours, applications are due Oct. 22.

Many studies have shown that trees in cities and villages and around homes have many benefits including: providing shade and reducing energy bills; decreasing local air temperatures; filtering out pollutants in air and water; increasing the value of homes and businesses; aesthetics, turning streets into pretty and pleasant places to be; reducing blood pressure and improving overall psychological health; reducing crime; and increasing academics in youth.

Norwich has many beautiful tree lined streets, with maples, oaks, elms, crabapples and ashes towering over our streets and sidewalks. In an effort to add to our current urban forest, the City of Norwich Street Tree Committee secured a grant, from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Community Urban Forestry Grant Program, to plant 15 more trees on City tree lawns this fall. The funding for this grant runs out at the end of the year.