The City of Sebastian’s Natural Resources Board announced on Jan. 6 that the city has been recertified as a Tree City USA and has received the program’s 2025 Growth Award.

Board member (speaker 2) told the board that the city secured the Growth Award after staff compiled improved documentation. “Thanks to Laura for providing me with all the documentation and everything that I needed to be able to fill out the application,” speaker 2 said, and noted the city already received standard Tree City USA materials and will update signage to show the revised year count.

The recertification closes a multi-year gap in the city’s participation: staff said the city had not qualified in recent years because progress benchmarks had been missed but that the municipality met the criteria during the most recent fiscal cycle. Speaker 2 said the city has received regular Tree City USA decals and stickers, and that any special physical materials tied to the Growth Award are still pending and may or may not be sent by the program.

Staff described work already under way to support next year’s recertification: the parks, recreation and facilities team is compiling maintenance and project data beginning with the most recent fiscal-year change and will continue gathering documentation through the late-summer/early-fall application window.

The board congratulated the city and discussed outreach to underscore urban-tree awareness and better tree maintenance practices in private easements and new developments. No formal policy changes or funding allocations were decided at the meeting; the discussion focused on recognition, ongoing recordkeeping and outreach to preserve urban canopy gains.

The Natural Resources Board will continue to track Tree City USA recertification tasks as part of its Sustainable Sebastian five-year implementation plan.