Branford, one of handful of “Tree City USA” towns in the state, honored Arbor Day with the planting of beautiful white pine on the front lawn of Branford High School (BHS) on April 29, overseen by members of Branford’s Community Forest Commission (CFC).

The National Arbor Day Foundation first recognized Branford as a Tree City of 2010 for the town’s commitment to maintaining the local urban forest and tree canopy cover.

Branford’s newest municipal tree was planted during a brief ceremony that gathered members of the CFC (including chair Shirley McCarthy and members Louise LaMontagne, Joanne Minicozzi, and Christopher Woener), First Selectman James B. Cosgrove, members of BHS teacher Matthew Park’s environmental science class, BHS Principal Lee Panagoulias, Branford Public Works Director Tom Brennan, and Branford Tree Warden Diana Ross.

During the ceremonial tree planting, the CFC also presented its 2016 Eco-Friendly Landscaping Award to Landscape Architect Larry Appelton and Civil Engineer Robert Criscuolo, who both practice in Branford.

McCarthy said Appelton’s and Criscuolo’s work in Branford meets the commission’s criteria for the new award.

“This is the first year we’re doing this, to promote people that help develop green infrastructure or plant natives,” said McCarthy. “It’s become more and more known that native plantings are critical to our wildlife, our pollinators, our butterflies, our birds.

“Foreign plants currently dominate our landscape because people go to garden centers and buy what’s pretty, but a bird didn’t co-evolve or is not adapted to some trees from China,” McCarthy continued. “So planting natives brings back the urban birds. Ninety percent of their diet is insects, and if they don’t have native trees or shrubs, the insects don’t survive.”

Cosgrove noted Appelton and Criscuolo are responsible for many native-driven green infrastructure projects Branford while the April 29 recognition applies to a recent rain garden constructed for local developer Alex Vigliotti during the Brushy Plains Plaza redevelopment. Cosgrove asked the two to describe their work to the BHS students present for the ceremony.

“The parking lot was a big sea of asphalt in the center,” said Criscuolo. “We removed the asphalt and it became a rain garden, collecting and storing water and managing run-off in an ecological way. Working with Larry, who’s an expert in plants and landscape architecture, really made it.”

Appelton described the project as “threading the needle between the developed environment and the need to handle the amount of water that came through.

“The idea of driving into a parking lot, and suddenly being confronted by a rain garden—in this case, one with mostly natural materials—and then trying to wed it to the buildings and environment around it and parking that was there was a fun job,” said Appelton.

Ross shared some insights with the students about Arbor Day, the state’s tree cover, and the newly planted pine. She noted the country’s first Arbor Day celebration was held 144 years ago in 1872, when more than one million trees were planted. Ross also pointed out that, in 2012, the U.S. Forest Service found that of the lower 48 states, Connecticut had the largest percent of urban forest cover, 67 percent.

“So I think Connecticut has demonstrated that we protect our trees and value our trees,” said Ross.

Ross explained the school’s new white pine replaces a memorial tree that became unhealthy and didn’t survive. The new tree can reach 80 feet and live between 100 to 200 years, benefiting residents for generations to come, said Ross.