Voluntary environmental programs have become an increasingly used and studied environmental policy instrument in recent years. While many voluntary environmental programs are aimed at individuals and firms, some target cities that wish to engage in (and get some amount of credit for) activities that generate environmental benefits. Tree City USA is one such city-focused voluntary program. This paper exploits multiple years of land cover data from the National Land Cover Database as well as variation in initial participation year by cites to conduct a difference-in-differences evaluation of Tree City USA that examines whether participating cities succeed in preserving more of their forested area than non-participating cities. Estimation results suggest the program is not effective in achieving this urban forest-sustaining goal. Such results are robust to different specifications and treatment definitions and suggest that participation in Tree City USA may function more as a status provider as opposed to a program that helps cities produce environmental benefits. This research contributes to the growing literature on voluntary environmental programs. In particular, the results help inform potential opportunities and obstacles to achieving environmental results through voluntary programs at the city level.