Santee Wins Urban Forestry Award

The California Urban Forests Council has awarded its 2011 “Community Building with Trees” Award to the city of Santee.

The city garnered the honor for its annual SanTree Fest, an event created in 2007 to celebrate both Earth Day and Arbor Day.

No one is prouder of Santee’s tree-planting honors
than Annette Saul, the city’s park and
landscape supervisor and a certified arborist
who helps organize SanTree Fest.



At the most recent SanTree Fest held in March, an estimated 500 community volunteers turned out to plant approximately 75 ornamental trees at Town Center Community Park.



Santee was nominated by the San Diego Regional Urban Forest Council, which heralded SanTree Fest as the “best overall tree planting event in San Diego County.”

Since 2002, the city has recruited community volunteers to help plant more than 1,500 trees citywide. These efforts to engage the community in tree planting have earned Santee the designation as a Tree City USA by the national Arbor Day Foundation for nine consecutive years.