Greenville is located in an area that was once mostly bottomland hardwood forests. During the 1800’s the area was cleared for agriculture. This process continued for several decades and resulted in an area of wide open spaces and hotter temperatures. Unfortunately, cities that sprang up would go through changing attitudes toward trees and urban forests. Greenville would go through generations of tree plantings and then periods when tree planting on city property was hindered. Up until 1990 the City of Greenville had ordinances in place that forbade the planting of trees on its rights of way. In 1990 the City Council passed new ordinances promoting the planting and preservation of trees on rights of way and public parks. This was made possible by the acts of a group of interested citizens. Therefore 1991 was the first year that Greenville was recognized as a Tree City, USA. We have maintained that designation ever since. Our Tree Board is made up of volunteers and is very active in the selection of planting sites, species of trees, etc. They also oversee the removal of trees from rights of way throughout the city. This would become very important in 1994.

Ice Storms have occurred in Greenville on roughly a twenty-year cycle. In February of 1994, the strongest Ice Storm in our history struck. It was the worst Ice Storm in our community’s collective memory with over 750,000 cubic yards of debris removed from the city, and the electric grid completely destroyed. This storm of course wrecked our urban forest. We began simultaneously with the debris removal to restore our urban forest. Tree trimming crews were contracted to prune street and park trees to good arborist standards, not line clearing or topping. The tree crews were instructed to prune only broken limbs and do it to promote tree crown recovery. Other crews were retained to remove identified trees and even other crews to grind and remove stumps. Following the pruning and removal phase new trees were planted to replace those removed. This activity was funded 75% FEMA, 12.5% MEMA. Why, you ask? Because we were a Tree City, USA.

We have continued to plant trees all over this city, around streets, in parks, at schools. Utilizing a variety of methods, we have planted field-dug trees, container-grown trees, and bare root trees. We have utilized volunteers, contractors, and state trustees. We have amended the soil with moisture retaining elements, fertilizer, or not. We have planted from 200 trees per year to 1,000 trees a year. Our program has been altered to fit the then current needs and or best practices as we have identified them. We have always planted a majority of trees that are native species to the Mississippi Delta with a sampling of flowering and exotic species.

We now have streets with beautiful tree cover where none existed before. There are many parks and schools grounds with extensive tree plantings where none have taken hold in the past. Why is that? Because we have citizens who want to create a beautiful city, a healthy city. Mayor Heather McTeer Hudson says, “Greenville is growing beautifully since the Ice Storm of ’94 with over one thousand new trees being planted and maintained.”

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