2023 Outstanding Community Forestry Program Award and Platinum Certification, People’s Choice Award from Scenic City
Keep McAllen Beautiful (KMB) has recently earned some new hardware for the City of McAllen, from the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISAT) and Scenic Texas.
Keep McAllen Beautiful recently received the 2023 Outstanding Community Forestry Program Award recognizing the organization as it’s award winner at the 43rd annual Texas Tree Conference in Waco, Texas. The Outstanding Community Forestry Award recognizes individuals, organizations or municipalities that have promoted community forestry through a program that significantly engages, educates or enhances the community.
The City of McAllen, certified as a Tree City USA since 2020, is booming in growth and has undertaken numerous initiatives to expand, improve, maintain and educate residents regarding its tree canopy. Keep McAllen Beautiful Board of Directors and volunteers have worked diligently, alongside the City of McAllen Parks Department, to help implement its urban forest initiative, which focuses on public spaces in and around the city to establish pocket forests. Keep McAllen Beautiful provides volunteers to help plant the trees. Other efforts include trees planted for restoration projects, such as the one at Escandon Park to mitigate storm damage and another at Garcia Park to restore a memorial citrus grove decimated by the recent freeze. KMB has implemented the “Tree Doc” program where a master naturalist or the Texas Regional Forester will schedule a visit with McAllen residents who may have concerns about their trees.
Additionally, during the Texas Municipal League Conference in Dallas, there was a special awards ceremony that was held by Scenic Texas, Inc. which is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works hard to create a more beautiful Texas through promoting municipal landscaping, design standards for public projects, signage control, and scenic municipal development throughout our great state.
McAllen was awarded a Platinum Certification as a Scenic City, the highest level attainable and represents the hard work and effort by the City of McAllen to create an amazing and scenic city.
Finally, McAllen won the 2023 Scenic City People’s Choice Award for the entire state of Texas, receiving more public votes than any other community in the state.
Keep McAllen Beautiful, Inc. is a non-profit organization affiliated with Keep Texas Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful. During the annual Arbor Day Celebration, KMB will distribute over 1,000 native trees, to help expand the urban canopy in the growing community. This year’s celebration takes place on Saturday, November 4, 2023, from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Westside Park, 1000 S. Ware Rd.
Keep McAllen Beautiful encourages all its residents and visitors to take greater responsibility for improving the community's environment. To learn more about KMB, visit www.keepmcallenbeautiful.org.
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Photo Caption:
Keep McAllen Beautiful was on hand at a ceremony in Waco to receive the Outstanding Community Forestry Program award. This year’s award recipients were given a framed, limited edition, remarked print of a famous Texas tree by artist Ronnie Wells from Salado, Texas, for their outstanding achievement. Left to right; Marie Perez, Board Member; Chris Lash, Program Manager; Mary Gonzalez, Board Member; Michael McClure, Board Member.