Over 100 public shade trees planted in Longmeadow

Nov. 24, 2020 | Miasha Lee

LONGMEADOW – This fall, the Longmeadow Tree Committee planted 102 trees of 18 species that local homeowners adopted. The species ranged from Paperbark Maple, Accolade Cherry, Autumn Gold Ginkgo, American Dream' Swamp White Oak, Blackgum, Redbud and Katsuratree.

“The Tree Committee and I are thrilled that so many residents requested trees and are committed to caring for them until they are established,” said Longmeadow Tree Committee Chairman David Marinelli. “We try to plant diverse species in order to avoid the pest and disease problems that result from monocultures and to enhance the beauty of the streetscape. In general, we plant compact trees under utility wires and tall shade trees where they will have room to grow without pruning.”

The Longmeadow Tree Committee was established by the town to provide education and advocacy on the benefits of trees through planting. Every year, the committee has an arbor day celebration where they go to several schools distributing tree samplings and educating fifth graders on the value of trees.

They work with the tree warden, who is responsible for all the trees along the street, all town departments, homeowners and businesses. They meet once a month at the Department of Public Works headquarters, studying what trees are doing well and advise the tree warden regarding the planting of new trees and moving trees that have become hazardous.
The committee also runs a Facebook page called Longmeadow Public Shade Trees to reach residents in publicizing what they’re doing to maintain the trees in the area.

“We started the Facebook page a year ago,” Marinelli said. “It’s important to us that the citizens of Longmeadow know more about trees in town, and how important they are to the environment and the health and well-being of the community.”

He continued, “We plant trees twice a year in the spring and in the fall. A lot of what we do is communicate with homeowners about what sorts of trees they might like to see in front of their house. We ask people to commit to watering the tree for two years. It’s one thing to plant the tree, it’s another thing to take care of it for the first couple of years until it gets established. We don’t just plant trees everywhere; we plant them where we have homeowners who are interested in adopting the tree and caring for it.”

Marinelli advise homeowners to fill their tree with water twice a week for two years as long as there are leaves on the tree.

“It’s a pretty significant commitment that we’re looking for, but the homeowner gets the benefit of having a shade tree growing near their house,” Marinelli added. “We have almost 10,000 public shade trees on the tree belts along the street. With 10,000 trees, if they live 40 or 50 years, that means that 200 or 300 trees are lost to storms or removed as hazardous every year. I think people are really happy that the town is making the effort to replace the trees that we’ve lost over time.”

The committee has finished their fall planting with 102 trees and will resubmit their reimbursement request, as they try to get a grant of money every year from the Unites States Department of Agriculture. This year, they received a $10,000 grant which they spent, and then they must apply to be reimbursed through the Department of Conservation and Recreation in order to have support for planting.

Right now, the committee consists of seven members. With that said, they’re thinking of expanding so more people can participate.  

If a homeowner has space in front of their house and would like to adopt a tree, they are encouraged to call the Department of Public Works at 567-3400 and asked to be placed on the list for planting and provide their contact information.

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