As Yarmouth Says Good-bye to "Herbie"
• Gray looks to develop a management plan for its street trees.
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Aerial view of Gray Village, the dashed yellow line denotes the area of the tree assessment
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Looking South on Main Street
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Looking North on Main Street from the exact same spot. The presence of healthy street trees makes a striking contrast to the South facing photo.
Jan 21, 2010 – One would have to live under a rock not to know about the loss of New England's oldest and tallest elm tree this week in Yarmouth. Herbie, as the tree was known survived 14 rounds of Dutch elm disease and was more than 200 years when he could no longer be kept healthy. The entire community suffered a great loss, and folks will miss him terribly, there are some who felt that Herbie actually had a personality. With Herbie's passing, there is no better time than now to talk about the benefits of Project Canopy in Gray.
The municipality received a Project Canopy grant from the Maine Forest Service. Project Canopy encourages the proper management of our trees both in the forest and in cities and towns. The grant to Gray was to facilitate first, an assessment of the street trees in Gray Village, then to develop a plan to manage the trees. Finally, with a strategic plan for the management of the village trees, an application for more grant money to help carry out the plan.
At an informational public meeting on January 18th, Gray Planning Consultant, George Thebarge reported on the progress of the undertaking. He explained that 237 trees had been inventoried, by Whitney Tree, and categorized into three 'tiers'. The 'Tier 1' trees of which there were 30 are in immediate need of removal either due to safety or health (of the tree) reasons. Another 68 were placed in 'Tier 2' are at risk and need attention, but not immediately, and the remaining 139 trees in 'Tier 3' are generally healthy but would benefit and remain healthy longer if they were part of a maintenance plan.
Under the grant, Gary Fogg, of Land and People LLC in Topsham, is a consultant hired to develop the strategic plan for the management of the trees. He spoke about the benefit that most of the trees in the designated village area are generally healthy, he also expressed concern that a disproportionate number of trees, 76%, are of the same species – Sugar Maple. He explained that without a diversification of species, a single disease, not unlike the Dutch Elm could come through and decimate the majority of the trees quite quickly. Fogg noted that part of the management plan should be to swing the pendulum so that 75% of the village trees are of diverse varieties and that there be no more than 25% of one species.
The estimated cost for the removal of the Tier 1 trees and the maintenance of the Tier 2 trees is $36,000. That cost does not include replacement trees for those removed. Mr. Thebarge explained that a typical maintenance grant from the Maine Forest Service is $8,000. They look for towns to have a strategic management plan in place and actually follow it. Applying communities are scored based on their plan and its implementation. Each grant comes with a match requirement of the amount requested, so if Gray requested $8,000, the town would need to budget $8,000 annually for tree maintenance to meet the match requirement. Thebarge also explained that there is money in the current Public Works budget for tree maintenance, and if it is used to begin implementation plan, the initial implementation of the strategic management plan could be completed in two years after this fiscal year. From that time forward, a routine maintenance plan would continue.
According to Thebarge, there are multiple reasons why proper management of street trees is beneficial to the community. From the Public Works and the Public Safety perspective, well managed healthy trees are less likely to become issue in storms and with power lines. Economic Development and Downtown Revitalization are also positively affected by the aesthetic of attractive healthy trees, and will thus have an impact on property values throughout the town. Finally, he emphasized Quality of Life, and the beauty of place associated with tree lined streets.
Only five citizens attended Monday's meeting, there are more than 70 addresses where the designated street trees are located, and according to Mr. Thebarge, the entire town would benefit from taking a proactive role in tree management. One area that was mentioned by citizens at the meeting was the MDOT site on Portland Road, that site is not within the current street tree designated area, but might be considered later if the public shows support for beautifying that area. Citizens are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas about Project Canopy.
