KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Knoxville celebrated 34 years as a designated Tree City USA site on Monday. This is a distinction reserved for cities who go above and beyond to support tree planting and tree maintenance.

The qualifications for Tree City USA are:

Invest $2 per capita into tree maintenance

The city has a tree board

Their is a city proclamation that says their values for trees.

Must have program for maintaining trees

Melissa Hinten, the executive director of Trees Knoxville, said there are many benefits to having a bigger tree canopy in the city.

“The first one that people really think about is probably shade, especially in hot summer days. They also provide clean air and they clean the water in cities,” Hinten said. “What trees do is they help to slow down that rainfall and

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