Locust trees are popular with urban designers for their scent, bright yellow fall foliage and hardiness to environmental stressors. In ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, you can find them on Capitol Street, shown here in this undated contributed photo.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the city has been awarded $50,000 in grant funding for the project and will be applying for $100,000 more.
The neon greens and purple-pinks of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä’s trees are hard to miss on the hillsides in spring.
John Porter trims grass next to a blossoming dogwood tree in the yard of a house on Vine Street, on ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä’s West Side on April 17, 2019.
CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail file photo
A tree inventory approved by City Council Monday night will help the city know exactly how many of these trees are in the public right-of-way, providing both practical and aesthetic benefits.
Brenda Craig Ellis, vice-chair of the city’s Beautification Commission, has been working toward a tree inventory for about three years.
“The city needs to be aware of what they have and what they don’t have,†she said. “It would help us know what we have so we know how to treat them.â€
The project would also show where the city needs to plant trees so that people could interact with nature in their own neighborhoods, she said.
“ When you have something mentally stimulating you like that, it does affect your health, and in a positive way,†she said.
Grant funding
Initially, she thought a partnership with West Virginia State University would work out, but that fell through. About 10 months ago, the Commission applied for grant funding distributed by the West Virginia Division of Forestry.
The city was awarded $50,000 with plans to apply for $100,000 more.
Monday night, City Council approved a contract with Davey Resource Group, who will begin the inventory.
While the funding initially came from the federal government, City Manager Ben Mishoe said the city has “as much assurance as you can have in this day and age of grant funding†that they will receive the money. The additional phases of the project are contingent upon continued grant funding.
Workers with Davey will begin counting and documenting trees in the city’s right-of-way that are near human activity. Trees on private property and those on state right-of-ways such as MacCorkle Avenue or Washington Street West will not be counted. Davey will create a TreeKeeper online database that shows where the trees are, the species and the health of the tree.
Tree problems
The city’s Public Works Department can use the database to quickly address any problem trees that could harm the public. The non-public facing part of the database has a place for inputting work orders and tree complaints as well.
“Trees are really important, but they also present risks,†said Anna Forbes, chair of the beautification commission. “And those risks have to be responsibly managed.â€
If an unhealthy tree is cut down, the database can be used to decide which tree species should be planted in its place. Forbes mentioned that a diversity of species is helpful in case invasive insects begin to attack trees of a certain species.
Forbes said the project could also have educational benefits such as showing the public the location of the largest trees in the city.
Three phases
The entire project is phased for three years. For the first two years, Davey will catalog up to 5,300 trees each year. There could be more flexibility in the third year, said Forbes. She’s hopeful that the state could provide funding then for trees in its right-of-way to be cataloged as well.
Locust trees are popular with urban designers for their scent, bright yellow fall foliage and hardiness to environmental stressors. In ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, you can find them on Capitol Street, shown here in this undated contributed photo.
Courtesy photo
Other inventories
Forbes said there are other tree inventories in West Virginia, including one for the Mary Price Ratrie Arboretum at Spring Hill Cemetery. Morgantown, Parkersburg, Wheeling, Vienna and Shepherdstown have their own inventories.
Creating a tree inventory could also unlock other tree-related funding opportunities, similar to when the city received a Tree City U.S.A. designation last year.
Other actions
Also Monday night, council authorized:
$197,400 for retaining walls at Gordon and Mayflower drives
$189,000 for backstop and foul ball netting at Go-Mart Ballpark which is owned by the city
$80,700 for a new Ford F450 truck to tow the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Fire Department’s new boat that should be delivered in August
$42,500 for a change order for a stormwater project at the intersection of Ferry and Thayer streets
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