3/29/2010

Trees, Trees, Trees

Posted by Anonymous

Locust St, Lockport NY

4th Ward Alderman Andy Chapman is looking to promote tree planting.

Hoffman says he’s all for the city’s re-entry to the program, if for no other reason than it could be another avenue to securing saplings. The forestry department budget includes $1,000 a year for new trees; that buys about eight trees on average, not nearly enough to replace what’s lost every year.


Since January 2006, according to forestry statistics, city workers have removed 626 diseased or dead trees from public property, mostly from the grassy areas between sidewalks and streets. In the same period, they planted about 100 new trees, purchased mostly from a $10,000 bequest to the city by a former resident.

I've been thinking of writing on the topic for a while but never got around to taking one of the pictures I wanted for the post.

Re-Tree WNY was formed after the October Storm to help replace all of the trees that were lost. So far they have planted over 10,000 trees. When I called they said that Lockport was not part of it. AS part of this process this is something the city should look into.

$1,000 for 8 trees is not the biggest abng for our buck, nor is it going to help keep our tree canopy intact.

Trees are free, or very cheap if planned ahead. The city can by real small saplings for around $10 per tree. Find a piece of city property where a city tree farm can be created to nurture (water) them until they are ready to plant. One could envision it as a volunteer or student effort. I mentioned it here about a year ago when a similar effort was started in Buffalo.

A nice effort by Chapman. I'll revist trees later in the week.

UPDATE 03/29/10:
Buffalo News Reported.

comments (3)
TOP

10/12/2009

October Storm - 3 Years Ago

Posted by Anonymous

The Buffalo News is reporting on the lag of replacing trees damaged in the surprise large snow storm of three years ago.

I remember waking up for work and turning on the news to hear the concern over all of the breaking trees in Buffalo. After  the storm redirected up here to Lockport I became even more concerned. I ended up taping a a few flag poles together and knocking the snow out of my trees as high as I could reach and others along the street. Pry not the wisest move but one of the reasons I live in an older area is all of the old mature trees and the feeling of "life" they give.

Tree replacement is usually one of the first things cut in a budget (because "we already have a lot") but when it takes 20 years to grow another one the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. To me, nothing reflects a neglected street or area like a city choosing not to replace the trees. It has a large subconscious effect.

comments (0)
TOP

4/16/2009

Buffalo's Teaching Tree Farm

Posted by Anonymous



Image - Locust St - Lockport NY

Long time no post ;) House work has kept me busy busy... I did come across this "idea in action" over at Buffalo Rising.

A "teaching tree farm" is planned and ready for planting on the site of former ramshackle, abandoned homes on Buffalo's west side.


The tree farm will encompass two abandoned city lots at 309-315 14th Street between Vermont and Rhode Island streets, and will be installed with the first trees planted on Friday, April 24th, and Saturday, April 25th. Used to train area youth to
learn the craft of raising seedlings to become trees large enough for planting along Buffalo's city streets, the initiative was established through a grant given to *Re-Tree WNY by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.


The Youth Forestry Crew Initiative will employ twelve youth and a supervisor that will work for the entire season managing the tree farm, watering trees and working with the City Forester, Jeff Brett, to do regular pruning along our city streets....



I personally love this idea. Many municipalities throw out the "cost" issue as a reason for not being able to replenish the tree canopy along the streets. But as any home owner knows, once spring thaw hits there are more than enough tree seedlings already finding their way out of the yard. If left alone they grow much quicker than one would expect. Small 6" seedlings also cost a small fraction of a more mature tree price. No need to buy them at the larger more expensive "ready to plant" stage.

What would it take for the Lockport DPW to section of a part of their yard to start growing some trees? How hard would it be to keep them watered and growing until large enough to plant? Would they allow volunteers to tend to them during business hours or would union rules get in the way? There are already numerous volunteers in out city whom greatly add to our quality of life. With today's interest in "green" lifestyles, nature, etc I think young enthusiastic volunteers would be easy to find if given the proper tools.

Paul Maurer, Chairman of Re-Tree WNY, puts this into perspective: "If you give these trees on just this one property three years of growth and they're replanted in the city, we just became more cost-efficient by about $29,000. Our whole City of Buffalo initiative could be supplied by four such farms yielding 480 trees per year and will only cost us about $5,000 for the materials. Plus, we will have made a lot of future foresters out of our inner-city children. It's a great 'win- win'. We are very grateful to the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo for giving us this grant."


Trees can be low cost if allow ourselves to set up a system to nurture them on our own.

comments (0)
TOP

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)