Little Rock plans to spend between $19,000 and $36,000 to replace aging trees in its downtown River Market District.
The city's Parks and Recreation Department is reviewing three bids that were submitted to replace 59 red maple trees with younger bald cypress trees along President Clinton Avenue and surrounding streets.
Roughly 40 percent of the red maples are dying or in below-average condition, according to the department. Conditions range from broken and bare limbs to badly split trunks. Some trees have completely bare tops. At least four have died and were uprooted, leaving empty wells.
One of the spots where a tree is missing has a plaque saying the tree was dedicated to President Bill Clinton by White House staff members in honor of the president's 53rd birthday.
Another plaque marks an empty spot for a tree that was planted in memory of City Director Dean Kumpuris' daughter, Anne, who died in 1997 at age 18 during a study-abroad trip in Egypt.
The red maples were planted about 20 years ago. Some of them are still in good, full-grown condition.
Little Rock's horticulturist, Ernie Moix, said the environment the trees are planted in might have something to do with some of the trees dying.
"This is not an ideal growing condition -- in a small cut-out in concrete sidewalks," Moix said. "That may be one reason the red maples are struggling, because you can find them around town that are doing just fine. The conditions downtown with all the heat and the asphalt and small surfaces for roots is probably going to inhibit the growth no matter what kind of tree."
The new bald cypress trees will be 9 to 15 feet tall and have trunks at least 3 inches in diameter.
The city will require the selected vendor to perform the tree-replacement work overnight to lessen the impact on surrounding businesses. All new trees will have a one-year warranty.
Grassbusters Inc. of Beebe submitted the lowest bid -- $19,647 -- for the tree replacement. Delta Grass Masters of North Little Rock came in second with a $32,981 bid. Bemis Tree Farm Inc. of Little Rock was the highest bidder, with a $35,400 response.
"We are still in the process of evaluating proposals and our options. I do not have a time frame for when a decision will be made," Parks Director John Eckart said.
A map of the current trees' locations and conditions is available at arkansasonline.com/rivermarkettrees.
The geographical plotting of the trees and their health status was completed by the Parks Department. It shows that the worst trees are in a two-block area on President Clinton and River Market avenues, between South Rock and Sherman streets.
In all, 11 trees are rated poor, 34 are fair and 43 are in good condition. Four are missing, for a total of 92 tree wells in the area. Only the ones along President Clinton Avenue are set to be replaced.
Metro on 04/09/2018