A tree placed in a parking strip outside of Mountain View Elementary School marks the 1,000th that Salt Lake City has planted on the west side in 2021.
And it is a pretty one. Mayor Erin Mendenhall helped plant the catalpa tree with its big heart-shaped leaves and white flowers.
This effort started as a campaign promise, and Mendenhall plans to keep it up every year she is in office.
The city normally plants 1,000 trees each year, but that usually keeps up with the number that are lost to disease, storms or other reasons.
Mendenhall has instructed her government to plant an additional 1,000 trees, and all of them on the west side, which has fewer trees than the city’s east-side neighborhoods.
Now in its second year, the 1,000 Trees Initiative runs from April to November.
In all, Salt Lake City has about 85,000 public trees, including 63,000 lining streets, according to the city’s urban forestry division.
Follow @mattcanham