MOUNT VERNON — The city’s urban forest, under the care and direction of the Shade Tree and Beautification Commission, is doing well. Commission members Jim Brown and Kate Burley updated council members on Monday about the commission’s 2017 activities and also looked ahead to 2018.
A tree inventory in 2016 showed 500 trees that either needed removed, pruned or that are dead or dying. The commission removed some trees in 2016; another 246 were removed this year. Brown said the tree removal program is on a four-year cycle for completion. “A lot of our risk and problem trees will be gone by then,” he said.
The commission is starting a new program called Tree City Partners. Brown said that the commission runs into trouble in the fall with making sure the trees get watered. “Not enough people are taking the job,” he said. “The pay is not that great, and the kids go back to school.”
The commission received a grant that will pay the partners to water the trees. The grant also will help cover the cost of pruning trees.
“We have 2,000 trees put in in the last 10 years,” said Brown. “They need to be pruned and trained to grow so that we don’t have problems later in life. We have trained people doing this pruning.”
Trees on Gay and Mulberry Streets have been pruned. Trees on Main Street will be done in March 2018.
The commission planted many trees throughout the city during 2017. Plantings include:
- 21 on Wooster Road from Lambton Square Park to The Dairy. The homes along that route that don’t have trees is a focus project for 2018.
- 83 on Gay Street
- Eight, including some spruce, along the sidewalks in Ariel-Foundation Park
- 12 along the sidewalk on Taylor Road from the residences to the school
- 10 in Mound View Cemetery
- Seven along the dike in Arch Avenue Park. A tree will be planted in the park to commemorate Councilman John Fair’s 18 years of service to the city.
“All in all, we did 188 trees this year, in the ground,” said Brown. “We did 266 last year.”
Students at the Knox County Career Center planted 2,500 daffodils along the dike at Riverside Park. In Ariel-Foundation Park, a tree and bench were dedicated to Van Wade of Wade & Gatton Nurseries. Wade was instrumental in creating and working with the shade tree commission in its early stages.
Brown mentioned tree planting on Sandusky Street and Newark Road, recruiting more Tree City Partners and planting an arboretum on 18 acres in west Ariel-Foundation Park as other 2018 projects. He also said Knox County will host the Tree City USA conference in 2020.
