The Summit Hill Shade Tree Commission was initially formed as a committee of the Summit Hill Historical Society to restore the historic beauty of Summit Hill.  The borough council enacted an ordinance in 1999 creating the Shade Tree Commission and the guidelines by which the commission operates.  The commission members are John Kupec, Maryann Szczecina, Mary Helen Shelton, Ann Markey and Louis Vermillion.

    The first plantings were on Arbor Day 2000 and five memorial trees were planted in Memorial Park.  Since  then over 300 trees have been planted along the streets and in the parks in the borough.  The commission organizes two planting programs a year- a Spring memorial planting in the park and a Fall planting on the streets.

 The Commission members and other volunteers were educated and trained through the Penn State Urban Forestry program and other resources.  An inventory of all the street trees and park trees was done several years ago and a maintenance programs was established.  These were prerequisites to be eligible to apply for grants to help fund the program.  We received two small grants but a majority of the funding comes from donations and the borough budget allotment.

     Commission members and volunteer teams of planters do the work of preparing mailings, visiting nurseries, selecting sites, cutting sidewalks, digging the holes, planting the trees, cleaning up and  doing the training pruning. The efforts of all these people in various capacities is really appreciated.

    Summit Hill has been recognized as a Tree City USA community for the past three years.  This is  recogniton from the National Arbor Day Foundation for our tree-care program.  We are proud of this honor and the commitment it symbolizes from the borough council, the commission, and the residents of Summit Hill.

    Information concerning the commission, the memorial program, donating trees or money as well as voluteering in planting and caring for our trees can be done through any commission member or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .