Grant Funds Replacement Trees

Ice Storm Damage Remains in Urban Forests

By Steve Caraway

Posted: November 16, 2009 at 4:27 a.m.

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SPRINGDALE — City workers will learn to be tree-huggers, as they plant replacements for ice-damaged timber on city property.

Springdale received a $54,195 Urban and Community Forestry Assistance grant, to prune and remove trees in five city parks. The majority of the grant will pay for trees to replace those removed, or damaged enough to soon require replacement, said Sam Goade, city director of public works.

Patti Erwin, urban forestry coordinator for the Arkansas Forestry Commission, oversaw pruning and removal of trees in Murphy Park. The health of trees damaged by the ice storm in January is a big issue, Erwin said.

“A lot of the trees will die over time,” Erwin said. “There is no way to prune all the trees correctly so rot and insect damage will set in. This will last for years.”

Trimming by a trained arborist can save some trees, but a rule of thumb states a tree losing 50 percent of its canopy will likely die, Erwin said.

“All the rain this year helped the trees,” Erwin said. “If we have a drought, however, it would stress the trees and many would die.”

Fayetteville is also assessing the trees in its parks and on city property with the help of the forestry commission, Erwin said. Eureka Springs and Jonesboro have started tree replacement projects with grants, Erwin said.

Plans call for tree planting in November and December, Erwin said.

Employees are going over aerial maps of Springdale’s parks, deciding where to plant, said Rick McWhorter, city director of parks and recreation.

“After we finish, we’ll have Patti Erwin go over the plan to make sure we have the right type of tree in the right spot,” McWhorter said. “We’re leaning heavily on her.”

After training with Erwin, crews from parks and public works will plant the trees. The replacements will be between 2 inches and 2.5 inches in diameter and up to 7 feet tall.

“They’ll have a big root ball, but they’ll have to be handled gently,” Goade said. “We’ll have a backhoe with a forks to move them around.”

The trees must survive for three years, or be replaced at the city’s cost, Goade said.

Officials planned to buy more than 300 replacement trees at $150 each, Goade said. The quotes, however, came in at a range of $55 to $80, depending on the species.

Officials asked for prices on red and white oak, maple, pine, hickory, dogwood and evergreen trees, according to the quote sheet. The low quotes might allow the city to buy as many as 600 trees.

“After we take care of the parks, we might branch out and plant trees on other city property,” Goade said. “There is a stretch of the Don Tyson Parkway between Thompson and Turner that doesn’t have any trees.”

The city received the grant in October and all trees must be planted by September 2010, the grant states.

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