Times Observer Photo by Josh Cotton The City of Warren's Parks, Recreation and Landscape Committee discussed the health of the city's urban forest. This tree is one of the most famous in the city, located near the Jefferson Tea House at the intersection of Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Mr. Warren “Tree City USA” Recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation for 35 years.
This program highlights the city's commitment to sustaining and growing the city. “Urban Forest”.
However, the process requires a significant amount of work.
And those efforts were discussed by city officials at Tuesday's Parks, Recreation and Landscape Commission meeting.
More trees were planted than the city cut down in 2023 (38 instead of 55).
City arborist Joe Reinke said the main reason for the removal was safety.
“As an urban forester, I'm primarily concerned with targets and predictability.” He said. “(You) can see from the ground what those three will do under our weather conditions.”
He said that threshold is typically 30 percent or more dead wood, at which point pruning or removal is recommended.
“We want to plant more trees than we cut down.” He further explained that the city is doing its best. “To protect trees and help them grow.”
Since 2018, nearly 200 more trees have been planted than have been cut down.
Along with this increase, the types of seeds being planted are also increasing.
“In the 60's, 70's and 80's” The city planted Norway maples;” He said. “I think we had easy access to them. ”
“This represents almost 14 percent of our total inventory.” District Forester Cecil Stelter explained. “Before it was considered an invasive tree, I loved planting Norway trees in all areas.”
But, she said, forest officials “You can see trends in planting in urban communities.” Elms were popular before they were ravaged by disease and replaced by ash and sugar maple.
“It's very stylish.” Stelter added. We strive to have a diverse forest. Because forests are more resilient. That's a very good sign of increasing diversification. Each of these trees has a different lifespan. ”
Species diversity also means insect and disease problems have less of an impact.
One species that is in decline is the ash tree (courtesy of Emerald Ash).
“Only a handful are on their last legs.” Reinke said. “Some look really good. There's just a handful of ash still there.”
One of the fastest growing areas of the city forest is the island trees near the Third Street Bridge. They were cut just two years ago.
“They grew up very quickly.” said Commissioner Mike Sappa. “That's incredible.”
Reinke said there was more than 20 feet of growth in one year.
“Much of the growth is suckers, growing from root systems that were not removed.” He said.
