Quincy Tree Commission presents landscape award to Illinois Veterans Home

QUINCY — The Quincy Tree Commission presented its Quincy’s Prestigious Landscape Award to the Illinois Veterans Home during a ceremony Tuesday morning at the IVH campus along North 12^th Street. Mayor Mike Troup and IVH Administrator Troy Culbertson joined members of the Quincy Tree Commission for the presentation, which recognized the facility’s commitment to tree planting.

QTC Chair Sarah Michaels Fernandez thanked IVH for planting approximately 150 trees in the past few years.

“Tree planting is extremely important to the entire community,” Fernandez said. “In addition to beautifying the natural landscape, the trees also have a significant impact on the environment. There are also huge benefits to urban landscaping.”

Fernandez said the Illinois Veterans Home already is a destination for people who enjoy trees. She hopes these new trees will being more people to the campus and encourage them to plant trees at their own homes.

Culbertson said the current effort is part of a long-term plan to beautify the IVH campus, a plan developed with guidance from Quincy Tree Commission member Anne St. John and Trees for Tomorrow.

“Anne has been instrumental in every part of our tree planting effort,” Culbertson said. “It’s been a challenge with all the construction going on, so we are working in phases. What you see so far are just the first few phases of the overall landscape plan.”

Culbertson said before the start of construction on the campus, the trees that were going to be removed were documented so they could be replaced for future generations.

“The trees on the IVH campus are part of our history,” Culbertson said. “I look back through the archives, and the trees in the pictures are still standing, some 50, 60, even 80 years later. Not a lot on the campus looks the same after that long, but these trees do.”

Recipients of the “Quincy’s Prestigious Landscape Award” must be located within the City of Quincy. The most recent recipient was Klingner & Associates in 2019.

The City of Quincy has been a Tree City USA for more than 35 years.