CHICOPEE, Mass. - The City of Chicopee held its annual Arbor Day celebration with a special tree planting and recognizing members of the community for their outstanding efforts in helping the environment.

In addition to celebrating the city's 28th consecutive year as a Tree City USA, Chris Scott was also recognized as the 2020 Massachusetts tree warden of the year.

Scott is the City of Chicopee's arborist and tree warden. A Swamp White Oak was planted at the DPW Headquarters in honor of Scott since it is his favorite tree. The 12-year city employee says he has been passionate about trees since he was little and is excited to have this tree planted.

"(The Swamp White Oak) gets about 50 to 60 feet tall, 50 to60 feet wide. It is very tolerant of urban conditions. Any tree that does well in very damp soils also does well in urban environment because the urban environment tends to really hurt oxygen, getting to the roots of the trees," Scott said. "So the tree is more adaptive to that situation. They are just a really pretty tree, a resilient tree and a tree that should be here a long time after I am gone."

The tree adds to the over 1,100 trees planted throughout the city since 2015.