Tree City, Tree Campus and Tree Line USA
The Arbor Day Foundation (ADF) has several national recognition programs which are administered at the state level. In North Carolina, the Urban & Community Forestry Program oversees the application and award process, by providing information and assistance to applicants, reviewing and approving applications, submitting successful applications to ADF for final review, and distributing award materials from ADF. The NC Forest Service is often invited to participate by presenting the awards at Arbor Day events throughout the state
THE RECOGNITION PROGRAMS REQUIRE YEARLY APPLICATIONS TO DOCUMENT ACTIVITIES RELATED TO URBAN FORESTRY AND ARBOR DAY.
Click on each program heading to be taken to the ADF website for more program information.
Tree City USA 
The Tree City USA program is a national program that provides the framework for community forestry management for cities and towns across America. Communities achieve Tree City USA status by meeting
4 core standards of sound urban forestry management each year: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.
Once a community has been a Tree City for 1 year, a community is eligible to apply for a Tree City USA Growth Award
in its 2nd consecutive year. The Tree City USA Growth Award is an opportunity to participate in activities that recognize environmental improvement and encourage higher levels of tree care and strengthen
your community tree care programs. For a list of eligible activities, check out the Tree City USA Growth Award Activities.
Deadline for certification, recertification and growth award applications: December 1st
Tree Campus Higher Education USA 
The Tree Campus Higher Education USA program is a national program that supports effective tree management at two- and four-year accredited colleges and universities. The campuses achieve
Tree Campus Higher Education status by meeting 5 core standards developed to promote healthy trees and student involvement: maintaining both a Campus Tree Advisory Committee and a Service Learning Project for students, having both a campus tree care plan and a campus tree program with dedicated annual expenditure, and celebrating Arbor Day.
Deadline for certification and recertification applications: December 1st
Tree Line USA
The Tree Line USA program is a national program that promotes sound utility pruning practices by recognizing best practices in public and private utility arboriculture, demonstrating how trees and utilities can co-exist for the benefit of communities and citizens. Utilities achieve Tree Line USA status by meeting 5 core standards that balance the demands of expanding utility needs alongside the benefits of providing adequate care for our urban forests: quality tree care, annual worker training, tree planting and public education, a tree-based energy conservation program and an Arbor Day Celebration.
Deadline for certification and recertification applications: December 1st