Each year on Arbor Day, which in Illinois is the last Friday in April, Public Works holds an Arbor Day celebration at one of the schools in River Forest. During the celebration, Public Works crews plant one tree donated to the River Forest school on the school's property, distributes seedlings to students, and talks to the students about the importance of trees both in the River Forest community and globally.
The Village of River Forest has been a Tree City USA Community since 1998. The National Arbor Day Foundation has named River Forest a Tree City USA community based on the following standards: having a forestry division, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program, and an Arbor Day observance.
Arboretum Accreditation
The Village of River Forest has been awarded a Level 1 Accreditation by The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and The Morton Arboretum, for achieving particular standards of professional practices deemed important for arboreta and botanic gardens. The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program is the only global initiative to officially recognize arboreta at various levels of development, capacity, and professionalism. River Forest is also now recognized as an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of the world’s arboreta and gardens dedicated to woody plants.
About ArbNet
ArbNet is an interactive, collaborative, international community of arboreta. ArbNet facilitates the sharing of knowledge, experience, and other resources to help arboreta meet their institutional goals and works to raise professional standards through the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program. The accreditation program, sponsored and coordinated by The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois in cooperation with American Public Gardens Association and Botanic Gardens Conservation International, is the only global initiative to officially recognize arboreta based on a set of professional standards. The program offers four levels of accreditation, recognizing arboreta of various degrees of development, capacity and professionalism. Standards include planning, governance, public access, programming and tree science, planting and conservation. More information is available at www.arbnet.org.