After being awarded the “Tree City USA” award for the 11th year in a row, the town doesn’t look like an area whose trees were ravaged by a storm less than two years ago.

To celebrate, the Town of Tonawanda in cooperation with the Kenmore Garden Club and the Town of Tonawanda Commission for Conservation of the Environment, will plant a tree at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the intersection of Colvin Boulevard and Paramount Parkway. The tree, a Crimson King Maple, was donated to the town by the Kenmore Garden Club.

But maintaining that honor wasn’t a foregone conclusion. In the days that followed the October 2006 storm, Highway Superintendent Brad Rowles said the department wasn’t sure how extensive the damage would be.

“During the storm we were very concerned. When we looked at the impact and what we had to do, we weren’t sure we could keep up,” Rowles said. “But after we started, things started to fall into place. We turned the whole highway department into the forestry department to get back to normal.”

The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service sponsors the Tree City USA program. To become a Tree City USA, a community must meet four criteria: Have a tree board or department, a tree ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an Arbor Day observance.

The town had a forestry department long before Rowles started 31 years ago and has always kept up a proactive program for tree maintenance and replacement to keep the town beautiful, Rowles said. Supervisor Anthony Caruana proclaimed Friday Arbor Day in the town at the last Town of Tonawanda Town Board meeting, fulfilling the final condition.

A dry summer last year wasn’t ideal for planting, but since the storm the town has lost less than 10 percent of the trees that have been planted and is looking to do even better. That success rate is a testament to the tireless work of forestry crews, led by Supervisor Bill Swanson and Crew Chief Jack Schifferli, to return the town to its pre-storm state, Rowles said.

“There are some new products out and we put additives in when we plant the trees,” Rowles said. “The department’s supervisors have also been going to different seminars about planting, so our success rate has improved substantially.”

Cooperation from the community is another component of ensuring that the trees survive. Groups like the Kenmore Garden Club fill a big role in watering the new plantings and creating awareness in the community, Rowles said.

After the maple tree is planted Friday, Patrick Marren of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will present the town with its award. Immediately following that ceremony, the dedication of a tree donated by Praxair in the name of the Kenmore Garden Club will take place 11 a.m. at Lincoln Park. But the plantings don’t stop there.

At 9 a.m. on May 23, members of the Kenmore Garden Club will plant flowers at the triangle in front of the Kenmore Municipal Building at Delaware Avenue and Delaware Road and at the Englewood–Kenmore Point Garden.

The Kenmore Garden Club is truly dedicated to making the Town of Tonawanda more beautiful through tree and flower plantings throughout the area, said club member TreAnn Thom.

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.