Athens recognized by global nonprofit for environmental efforts

Downtown Athens 20 1 — **Fun fact:** 48% of the U.S lives in a Tree City. (Ben Johnson / Hville Blast)

Athens was recently named a 2025 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of the city’s ongoing commitment to planting, nurturing + protecting its community trees!

I appreciate Rhett Murphy, who is the Right of Way Manager for Athens Utilities, working with other staff members to oversee this designation. Most recently, we have talked about the importance of tree plantings as we work on park projects + future projects.

Mayor Ronnie Marks

Keep reading to learn more about this new accolade 👇

About the Arbor Day Foundation

This global nonprofit’s mission is to inspire people to plant, nurture + celebrate trees. With a network of over a million supporters + partners, the Arbor Day Foundation has planted more than 500 million trees in both forests + communities around the world.

The Tree City USA program is celebrating its 50th anniversary of inspiring communities to prioritize planting trees. A total of 3,587 cities have been recognized, with nearly one million trees being planted annually.

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