Flush with red, yellow and orange leaves, trees along a Greencastle street in the Northwood Addition brighten the fall landscape. Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE
The mayor has a mission for the Greencastle Tree Board.
Branch out, she says. Look for gaps in the treeline. Look for places trees are needed. Look for places trees have been taken down but not replaced.
That was the urging of Mayor Lynda Dunbar at the Tree Board’s recent quarterly meeting at City Hall.
“I’d like to see this group get more involved in seeking out areas to plant more trees,” she said. “We need to start thinking about a nicer treeline. When the city takes one tree down, we need to replace it, not necessarily even in the same spot.
“Every year we could pick out an area (to plant trees) and put it in the budget and then plant trees,” Dunbar added.
Assistant City Planner Scott Zimmerman took that suggestion a step further after the mayor departed for another meeting.
“Maybe we should ask, ‘If you had two trees to plant anywhere in the city, where would you plant them?’” Zimmerman asked to responses of encouragement from the board.
During her presentation, Mayor Dunbar earlier revealed plans for planting street trees at the south edge of Robe-Ann Park, along the north side of Tennessee Street from Wood Street to Bloomington Street.
That area, she said, “has always been a concern of mine. It’s very stark with no trees.”
What trees to plant and when to plant them will be decided later. First the city will need to determine what utilities lie in that area and how they might impact tree planting.
“I’d like to make it a nice, tree-lined area,” Dunbar said in conclusion.
Councilman Mark Hammer, a Tree Board member, noted there’s not much opportunity for planting trees along the south side of Tennessee Street, where it is virtually all concrete or asphalt except for the frontage at Putnam County Comprehensive Services.
The mayor also provided the board with an update on the tree-planting portion of the U.S. 231 reconstruction project.
The tree-planting crew is expected to dig holes for redbud trees and plant them along the route shortly.
“We got everything the city requested and hopefully they’ll be put in the right spot,” Dunbar said of the variety of trees sought for redeveloping the route “without having any other crazy trees showing up.
“It should be any time now,” she said of what might be considered the culmination of the 2-1/2-year INDOT project. “They’re coming. So I expect to have new trees very soon.”
Delivered in balled-and-burlap fashion, the new street trees represent a $300-$400 investment apiece by the state. They will be guaranteed for one year after planting.
In other business, the Tree Board:
• Heard a Parks Department report that six new Frasier fir trees have been purchased for planting in the area of the new bocce ball court east of the park office. Park Director Jason Kenney noted in his written report that the trees will not only be used for Christmas decorating but for screening from the neighboring apartments.
• Heard a Cemetery Department report, also from Keeney, that actions have been taken at Forest Hill Cemetery to safeguard some of its smallest trees from the resident deer population. Actions include moving benches to “favored trees” and wrapping some of the smallest trunks with plastic drainage pipe and hardware cloth. Cemetery crews are also beginning to mulch and remove leaves that have built up in areas of the cemetery.
• Learned that the annual tree giveaway, sponsored by Buzzi-Unicem, is scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at the Putnam County Museum with 1,500 trees ordered to dispense to the public, including six to eight species of oak, hickory varieties, tulip trees, American plum, black gum and more. A tree care educational workshop will be scheduled in advance of the giveaway with those attending to get “first dibs” for trees at the giveaway. Mature trees in containers will be provided for planting at schools, parks and other public places in Greencastle and beyond.
• Heard Zimmerman report that the city is planning to apply for the Clean Community Program sponsored by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management at the bronze level initially, centering on three projects from a pre-approved list. After the first year, the city can take on additional projects and move up to silver or gold status. The project requires establishment of a Clean Committee, which Zimmerman said ostensibly will be the Sustainability Committee with advice from the Tree Board.
• Heard Zimmerman suggest the need to update the city’s open-burning ordinance, which he said “is out of date from an environment standpoint.” It needs dimensions and distances added, he said, as well as standards for bonfires allowed for schools and other organizations.
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