Should Amherst cut down cherry trees? Yes, plan will have long-term benefits

By ALAN SNOW

Published on July 27, 2007

The responsibility of a tree warden is to protect and care for the public shade trees in the community, including the removal of dead trees or at-risk trees that endanger life or property. Tree wardens are also required to hold a public hearing when a request is made to remove a pubic shade tree.

Effective tree wardens look at the overall canopy cover of a community. Another important role is education, because our public shade trees play a critical role in creating and defining the community we live in and our quality of life. Eighty years ago, when the citizens started planting the mature public shade trees we enjoy today, they could not have foreseen the impact of growth and modern infrastructure that now competes for root space in modern tree belts that can barely support grass, let alone a mature shade tree, which requires 950 to 1,250 cubic feet of healthy soil. The impact of this development and the lack of funding for a tree-planting program for nearly 30 years have left the town with a declining tree canopy, with few young trees growing to replace those that have been lost.

Having dedicated my life to understanding the complexities of the urban forest and how people interact with it, I can understand why citizens are willing to go to the mat to prevent another healthy public shade tree from being removed. So why would a tree warden, charged with caring for public shade trees, agree with a proposal to remove relatively healthy ones?

Like any good steward of the land, I want to provide the best environment for trees to grow, so that they can in return provide the maximum benefits to our community. In a built environment like downtown, all trees will face the wrath of the backhoe at some point, since they live longer than the design life of the infrastructure that surrounds them.

Successful tree planting in the business district will require compromises. This will mean added costs up front to design proper tree-planting spaces and the use of construction materials that promote healthy root growth. Business owners will need to be patient while new trees grow above the line of sight for signage and we will have to accept the removal of some trees.

The benefits will be many. By creating an appealing environment that invites shoppers to linger longer, they will spend more money, cooling costs in summer will be reduced, and property values will increase.

Downtown is a high-profile area that gets a lot of attention when you start talking about removing trees. I believe the real threat to Amherst's canopy cover is the loss of trees in our neighborhoods and along our streets from development and natural mortality. The process of inventorying our public shade trees began this month. The inventory will provide data on location, species, age, class, condition and maintenance needs of public shade trees.

Once completed, the town will also be able to run an analysis on what kind of ecosystem services our public shade trees provide to the community and the dollar value of those services. I hope that this type of data will focus attention on the importance of Amherst's community forest and the role we all play living in it and caring for it.

Alan Snow is Amherst's tree warden.