Berwyn adopts Arbor Day proclamation as tree advocates press for $75,000 township planting plan

The City of Berwyn council voted to adopt a proclamation recognizing April 25, 2025, as National Arbor Day and urged residents to support the city’s tree-planting efforts.

During the open-forum segment, Danielle Agriapoulos, representing the Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative, asked the council to use a $75,000 township allocation — ratified by the council on Oct. 22, 2024 — to plant approximately 150 additional trees and asked for a public plan and schedule. “We know that the city has extra money for trees in its budget this year because ... Berwyn electors ... voted unanimously for more tree planting by allocating $75,000 from the township budget to be given to the city of Berwyn,” she said. She asked how and when the money will be spent; the transcript records that the group had requested details from public works but had not received a response.

Public Works Director Schiller presented the Arbor Day proclamation language to the council, which recited Julius Sterling Morton’s role in founding the Arbor Day tradition and noted the city’s recent Tree City USA recognition. An alderman moved to adopt the proclamation; the council approved it by voice vote.

Members of the Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative urged targeted plantings near Morton West High School and other parks and school sites outside the city’s resident-request tree program. They said planting near schools could support school ecology clubs and suggested the city coordinate with the township allocation to expand plantings this spring.

The council’s adoption of the proclamation was a ceremonial action; the transcript did not include a staff presentation detailing a timeline or planting schedule for the $75,000 township allocation, nor did it show a motion to release or allocate those funds at the meeting. Advocates requested a public-works committee meeting; the transcript records that the city had not held a public-works committee meeting since March 2024, according to the speakers.

Clarifying details from the meeting: the township allocation equals $75,000 and, according to speakers, is intended to fund planting “approximately 150 trees,” an intergovernmental cooperation agreement for tree planting was ratified by the council on 10/22/2024, and advocates said they had not received a response from public works about the spending plan.