Tree warden gets his day in the sun
Will hand out 300 seedlings for Arbor Day
If a tree falls in Arlington, Jim Dodge hears about it.
As the town's tree warden, Dodge and his staff will mark the
''No two trees are the same," said Dodge, who graduated from the Franklin Institute in Boston with an associate's degree in automotive technology. ''Say you're going to do a brake job on a car. Most brake jobs are pretty basic. You do this, you do that. Doing trees isn't like that, it's a challenge. . . .
''You know after a storm, or something like that, you never know what you are going to run into with a tree on top of somebody's house. There's no way you can write a book on how to do this stuff. You can fly by the seat of your pants. I kind of like that challenge."
Downed trees are just one of the challenges facing a municipal tree manager, whose job has grown in importance as communities become more savvy about the environment. It's a delicate balancing act for the officials who have to mediate residents' needs, economic development, and limited finances to maintain these vital, and valuable, community resources.
For Dodge, those resources amount to 20,000 curbside trees on publicly owned land near homes and businesses, as well as 6,000 trees in parks, cemeteries, conservation lands, and along Arlington's portion of the Minuteman Bikeway.
A 1998 state urban forestry survey calculated the value of Arlington's curbside trees at about $61 million, according to the Arlington Tree Committee, a volunteer group that has been looking into the possibility of a tree-protection bylaw. ''People don't realize what the . . . financial worth of trees is," said committee chairwoman Patricia Thomas.
According to Jane Galvin, a state community forester who oversaw the Arlington tree count, communities need to move away from being ''tree-centric," focusing on individual trees. Instead, she said they should consider trees as a collective resource and what that means for property values, energy conservation, quality of life and neighborhood esthetics.
''There's so many benefits that come to having a quality urban forest in your community," said Galvin.
In a time of tight budgets, Arlington is hoping to bolster its spending on trees.
Last month, after a brief lapse, the town regained a ''Tree City USA" certification after rectifying some problems with applications for the annual designation, which is given to communities that have a tree department and meet other criteria. Sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, the designation gives communities a leg up on state and federal tree or forestry grants.
The added money would come at an opportune time.
The Arlington tree survey found 44 percent of town trees in fair to poor condition. The figure is even higher now, Dodge estimates. Despite last year's rains, drought conditions persist for trees, which take four to five years to show the effects of dry weather, he said. Sand, vehicle exhaust, and street construction work also take their toll.
ArborCare Tree Service owner Mark Bezreh, an arborist who works in Arlington and neighboring towns, agreed. Arlington's street trees are ''not in great shape," he said. Many are Norway maples (about 40 percent, according to the state tally), which have ''reached the end of life," he added.
But finances limit how much the tree warden can do. When Dodge, who also is Arlington's acting grounds superintendent, began working in the tree department 28 years ago, there were 11 employees; now there are five, forcing cutbacks in pruning and other tree care.
The town doesn't have the money to replace all of the 250 to 300 trees it takes down annually. By mid-May, tree department workers will have planted about 150 trees, which will be the total for this year, Dodge said. The plantings include pre-ordered saplings that were distributed to residents participating in the pilot Adopt-a-Tree program. In this program, residents can choose from a list of tree species, buy a tree for $40, then plant it on the curb strip in front of their property and maintain it.
Bezreh said most towns have budget issues affecting tree care.
''Unless a private organization does a fund-raiser, then towns don't do anything [about tree losses] except get dangerous trees out," he said.
According to John Sanchez, Arlington's public works director, funds for this year's tree plantings come from two sources. The town's ''Trees, Please" fund, a combination of donations and tree removal fees paid by residents, yielded about $8,000. Another $15,000 comes from the Arlington Reservoir Dam project, which includes money to replace trees removed as part of construction to reinforce the dam. The town pays about $60 to $80 for each new tree.
Once trees are established, Dodge prunes them seasonally, and his schedule is jam-packed.
Arlington gets about 400 to 500 pruning requests a year, ranging from branches too near gutters to trees casting too much shade to roots lifting up sidewalks.
Massachusetts regulates shade tree care on public land. No state resident can plant or prune a tree on publicly owned land without permission from the local tree warden. If a resident wants a healthy tree taken down, the tree warden posts a public hearing notice. If anyone objects, the tree stays. Arlington averages about 10 tree hearings each year.
''We do have a certain amount of control over what is removed, what isn't removed, what's replaced, what's not replaced," said Dodge. Arlington also controls certain trees on wetlands.
But the town has no jurisdiction over privately owned trees. Dodge recommends residents contact a reputable arborist or an attorney when disputes arise.
Trees on private property can create tension between preservation-minded residents and homeowners and developers wanting to build there.
According to Thomas, two residential construction projects on Gray Street have sparked local interest in tree preservation.
''I think a number of people have been shocked by the subdivision of house lots, the cutting down of major old trees," said Thomas. ''When I saw those developments, my thought was if we don't take steps to pass a tree protection bylaw soon, we won't have any big trees to protect."
However, Thomas said a 2004 tree committee survey of Town Meeting members showed little support for tree-protection legislation.
In Lexington, the first Massachusetts town to pass a bylaw protecting certain private trees affected by major construction or demolition work, regulation has worked ''fairly well," said David Pinsonneault, Lexington's public grounds superintendent and tree warden.
''Rather than having a company or homeowner just come in and clear the lot totally and start from scratch, [the town] wanted them to look at the lot, what could be saved, what had to be removed, " Pinsonneault said.
Howard Chandler, executive officer of the Builders Association of Greater Boston, said he is not aware of any conflicts between builders and communities resulting from trees. But he added that most builders of high-end construction projects try to be sensitive to the integrity of a site.
''New house: $2 million; swimming pool: $800,000; 200-year-old Chinese maple tree: priceless," he said. ''I think that's how most people would be looking at it." 