Need advice for City Tree Committee

[unclemoustache]

Greetings - I'm a musician by trade, but I'm the new chairman of our town's tree committee. I have a couple questions I'd like some help with:

1. As old trees along historic lanes die out, I'd like to replace them with new ones. However, private homeowners are not likely to be too willing to shell out much money for young trees. I thought we could start our own nursery by purchasing a several dozen tiny saplings (of whatever tree species we determine to be best for street trees) and grow them until they are a few years old. The question is where can I purchase bulk seedlings or saplings at a good price? The other question is, do you think this is a good idea? Are there things I need to consider if we pursue this route?

2. Do you have any ideas for gathering funds to finance our tree-ish pursuits for the city?

Thanks much.
Josh

 

[S Mc]

Josh, I am sure you are already aware that you may have taken on a thankless task. But thankfully there are people like you willing to do so.

The first thing I would suggest you do is ascertain if your city is a Tree City USA participant.

http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm

If so this organization can help in many ways from information about fund raisers to purchasing trees, writing ordinances and many other useful and helpful tips. If your city is not already a participant, consider becoming one.

Have a knowledgeable arborist assist with a suitable street tree list. If you just put the question out there for general feedback, everybody is going to give you the name of their favorite tree (or maybe the only tree name they know) with absolutely no idea whether or not it is a suitable street tree. This list will vary on the size of your tree islands/boulevards, etc, as well as other considerations.

In starting your own, you would need not only suitable space but knowledgeable personnel to nurture the saplings. you might want to contact your state DNRC or Forestry Dept or State Nursery to see what they might be able to assist you with.

Arbor Day grants are made available (may vary from year to year) for just such projects as you are considering.

Many cities may offer to purchase and plant the trees in exchange for having the homeowner care for them. This is many times a sensitive issue due to finances on both sides and therefore, planting in areas where people have a vested interest in the success of the project is always wise.

Sylvia

 

[unclemoustache]

Thank you, Sylvia.
Nice name - my oldest daughter is also a Sylvia.

Another coincidence, I'm originally from Billings. Been here in IL for 10 years - would love to get back to Big Sky Country some day.

Anyway, we're on the Tree City USA list, and I do have some people on the committee with Hort. degrees and professional experience. I think I'm well supplied with informed people. Also, we might be able to 'partner' somehow with the Missouri Botanical Gardens just across the river.

I will look more closely into the grants for the Tree City thing.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Malus]

This is my first post here, but I think I can help answer your question. I work full-time for a tree-planting non-profit. We don't grow our own trees, we leave that to professional nurseries, which are abundant in my area (western Oregon). I would recommend against growing your own unless the people running the nursery have (1) worked full-time in the industry and have formal horticultural training, and (2) nursery-grown trees are too expensive for you. Growing quality stock takes people who know what they're doing.

My organization focuses on getting the trees sold and planted. That's plenty enough to do, especially since we rely on volunteer labor, which means recruiting and coordinating volunteers on top of selling and planting trees. Running a start-up nursery on top of that would be too much, as much as I personally would like to do it

I know in Olympia Washington the city's urban forestry dep't has a very small nursery where they grow out liners in containers (mostly 10 gallons I think, and not much more than 1" caliper). Don't know if it lowers their cost, but I doubt it does. I've handled a bunch of their trees and the quality was OK, but no better than the trees my organization buys from wholesale nurseries. If you can buy plant stock for a reasonable price, there's no reason to grow it yourself.

As for street tree lists, many cities have their approved tree lists online. I'd look around in your region to see which trees are most often approved (likely to be good performers in your climate) and which trees are prohibited or discouraged. There may be non-profit tree planting groups in your area, too. I know our approved street tree list is different than the lists of the cities we work in.

In most municipalities in my area it's required to get an inspection from the city's urban forestry dep't before removing a street tree, and replanting is also required. If that isn't in your code yet where you live, that might be a good place to start.

I'd be happy to discuss different methods of getting people to accept street trees if you'd like. My organization has a few different ways of getting it done, depending on the area we're working in.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Greetings - I'm a musician by trade, but I'm the new chairman of our town's tree committee. I have a couple questions I'd like some help with:

1. As old trees along historic lanes die out, I'd like to replace them with new ones. However, private homeowners are not likely to be too willing to shell out much money for young trees. I thought we could start our own nursery by purchasing a several dozen tiny saplings (of whatever tree species we determine to be best for street trees) and grow them until they are a few years old. The question is where can I purchase bulk seedlings or saplings at a good price? The other question is, do you think this is a good idea? Are there things I need to consider if we pursue this route?

2. Do you have any ideas for gathering funds to finance our tree-ish pursuits for the city?

Thanks much.
Josh

I would concur with Malus' comments on buying the stock rather than growing your own. It takes time to get a nursery established. Also, here at least, there are significant sanitation and disinfection controls in place for nurseries to prevent the spread of disease such as Sudden Oak Death. These are issues that would make setting up your own nursery suddenly more expensive and difficult (you probably would need permits from the USDA). You may want to consider putting a tree order out to tender to several nurseries, therefore you would get the best price. And then you could save some money by having volunteers do the planting.

When you decide on your species, avoid monocultures. Alternate species down the block.

One way of raising funds is to convince your City Council to give developers bonus density in exchange for funds to buy X number of trees. For example, a developer wants to build 20 suites, allow him 22 suites and he would then fund the establishment of eg 10 blocks worth of trees. This is often done here, where the Council wants new recreation facilities. The developer may get an extra floor on his highrise in exchange for money to build a community centre.

 

[lxt]

I would recommend obtaining info from Mass. tree wardens and foresters assoc., they have helped me out tremendously along with the ISA in providing literature, sources,etc.. for me to provide towns in my locale with!!



LXT...........

 

[unclemoustache]

Thanks for all this great advice.

We're not really interested in setting up a large formal nursery - just a plot to grow a couple dozen saplings. If we'd have to get permits, then it's likely not worth our trouble. I'm just trying to be economical.

Also, what are the reasons for avoiding monoculture? I'm assuming it's more than just personal preference?

Thanks again,

 

[tomtrees58]

look at oaks good tree root barrier that's what i didin my city tom trees

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Also, what are the reasons for avoiding monoculture? I'm assuming it's more than just personal preference?

Lets say you plant all oaks. Then say 10 years down the road a pest or disease comes through that kills oaks, and you are left with nothing.

Look at southern Michigan and planting Ash as street trees many years ago. They looked great until emerald ash borer came though and now the streets are bare.

By planting a diversity of species you help make your stand more resilient to a pest of disease. Say only 20% of your trees are oak then if a pest comes through you only lose 20% of your trees.

 

[Ed*L]

Pretty much what chevytaHOE5674 said.
Many places went through the same thing with Dutch Elm Disease. Sadly, they didn't learn the first time to vary tree species when they replanted.

Ed

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Pretty much what chevytaHOE5674 said.
Many places went through the same thing with Dutch Elm Disease. Sadly, they didn't learn the first time to vary tree species when they replanted.

Ed

Yeah it was that way with dutch elm disease, chestnut blight, emerald ash borer, gypsy moth in oaks, etc. A mono-culture is never a good idea.

 

[groundsmgr]

try to go with lower growing trees so the utility companys don't hack them up..........

 

[Malus]

Monocultures can definitely be a problem. I had a call from a guy this season who had to take out a Norway maple because of verticillium wilt and the neighborhood association was requiring that he replant another Norway. Ridiculous. I think we ended up selling him a zelkova.

My organization plants a couple thousand street trees a year and we go out of our way to offer a diverse selection of trees (30+ genera). We limit the number of maples we sell, and we don't sell any Norways or Japanese maples at all since they're heavily overplanted around here. We do sometimes plant streets with "monocultures," but it may be 40 hornbeams in one little neighborhood, then 40 hawthorns in another little neighborhood, then 40 ash in another. Not our preferred method of doing it, but that's how one of the cities we work with does it. At least if something like ash borer or DED hits, the entire city's trees won't be wiped out, just little pockets. I will say that small-scale monoculture plantings like that make the logistics a whole lot easier.

We also plant hard sites (mostly commercial areas) with proven performers, whether "diverse" or not. I think it's better to have a tree that does well for 20 years before it dies than to plant a tree that's weak and stunted from year one because you wanted a diverse canopy. It's a balancing act.

 

[BC WetCoast]

The City of New Westminster (suburb of Vancouver) uses an interesting method of street tree planting to prevent sidewalk/curb damage. They will dig up the boulevard (strip between the sidewalk and curb) and replace the material with a enhanced planting soil, to a depth of about 24". This encourages the trees root system to grow in the boulevard strip and not under the sidewalk.

You can read the City Council report about it here
http://www.newwestcity.ca/cityhall/...ages/2007/1210_Dec10/Regular/Reports/RG12.pdf

 

[Malus]

The City of New Westminster (suburb of Vancouver) uses an interesting method of street tree planting to prevent sidewalk/curb damage. They will dig up the boulevard (strip between the sidewalk and curb) and replace the material with a enhanced planting soil, to a depth of about 24". This encourages the trees root system to grow in the boulevard strip and not under the sidewalk.

You can read the City Council report about it here
http://www.newwestcity.ca/cityhall/...ages/2007/1210_Dec10/Regular/Reports/RG12.pdf

That's an interesting (and incredibly expensive) experiment. That kind of operation would increase the price of planting street trees by an order of magnitude at least. More research is definitely needed to reconcile street trees and sidewalks, but trying to force the tree to grow unnaturally doesn't seem like a good solution to me. Better to make the sidewalk respond to the tree than vice versa. Proper tree selection is also a must of course, though I think too much emphasis is given to sidewalk protection over growing a good urban canopy.

 

[bendtrees]

Josh,

1st. Welcome and yes that is one fine looking stache'.
2nd. Its great to hear from some one in your position here, it futher reminds me how far behind our "tree city" is.
3rd. Why wait for some of those trees to go? If feasible, try planting now. Why not have a diverse urban forest not only in species but in ages?

Oh yeah, I sympathize with your plight to return home, I was just visiting a few months ago a few miles south of Slyvia. I visited with the fairgrounds manager while they were removing the rapidly disappearing cottonwoods. Although far from an ideal urban species, the trees give a lot of character to Hamilton. I asked him what they were planting in place of the many 100'+ and he just gave me a blank stare. --- My bet.... grass.
Go Bobcats!
cv