HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — The Arbor Day Foundation has awarded Hill Air Force Base the Tree City USA designation for 26 years in a row.

The base achieved the award for meeting four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.

This included maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree care ordinance, keeping a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita, and celebrating Arbor Day.

On its 6,600-plus acres, Hill has more than 11,000 trees of nearly 100 different species, valued at approximately $17 million of dollars.

In addition, the base routinely plants trees across the installation. In 2019, more than 70 news trees were planted. Some of the base’s trees are more than 70 years old, dating to before the U.S. Air Force came into existence.