HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-02-26-TREE-min.docx
Lexington Tree Committee
Meeting minutes Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026 at 1:00 pm
Attending: Rachel Summers, Pat Moyer, Ben Fein-Cole, Gavin Grant, Nancy Sofen. The remote meeting was
held via Zoom and called to order at 1 pm.
The purpose was to update and consider consolidating the Tree Committee’s recommended tree lists. In
particular, the committee was asked by the Tree Warden to create a “recommended tree list” to aid
developers in choosing trees for bylaw mitigation.
Recommended Tree lists in the Tree Management Manual include many trees that are not native to the
Northeast. Our evolving understanding is that while some of these trees are useful options here because of
their disease or salt tolerance, others offer little advantage over natives and lack the native species ecosystem
benefits. It is time to review and update the lists. It may also be helpful to better align Tree Committee
recommendations with the Lexington Preferred Planting List used by the Planning Board. The current
system of multiple, uncoordinated lists is inefficient and confusing for both the committee and the public.
The committee agreed that a single, generic list is ineffective because cultural or aesthetic suitability and
planting success depend on context (e.g., private property vs. prominent public site, post-construction sites vs.
conservation areas). We set out to create a comprehensive database from which to generate simple, context-
specific handouts. Rachel had collected several tree lists (Lexington Tree Management Manual lists
including Large Shade Tree List, Lexington Preferred Planting List, and lists published by Cambridge DPW,
Arlington Tree Committee, Fresh Pond Reservation, Eversource, Bedford and Belmont) into a single
spreadsheet that includes species, size, native range, tolerance ratings (e.g. soil compaction, salt), ecological
value and special considerations (e.g. thornless cultivars). The database was shared as “Rachel’s Tree
Database” via Google Drive and is attached to these minutes as the Excel spreadsheet ‘Lexington Tree
Committee Tree Database 2.26.26.’
The committee reviewed the database, making decisions to include, exclude, or flag trees for further research.
At Gavin’s suggestion, low/med/high tolerance ratings will be changed to 1, 2 or 3 checkmarks.
Excluded:
o Cottonwood, Aspen: Short-lived, structurally weak, and colonizing.
o Concolor Fir, Grand Fir: Non-native with poor local growing conditions.
o Pitch Pine: Scrubby, shallow-rooted, and unlikely to be planted.
o Black Walnut: Native but locally crowds out other plants.
o Little Leaf Linden: Non-native with limited unique value.
o Snowbell: A viburnum shrub, not a tree.
Included (with notes):
o Ginkgo: Non-native but tough; note its low ecological value.
o Hawthorn: Recommend thornless cultivars (e.g., 'Viridus').
o Wild Plum: Note its thorns.
o Flowering Cherry: Non-native but popular and tough.
o Low-Tolerance Trees: Include with a note on required soil remediation.
o Thuja occidentalis (Eastern White Cedar), with notes specifying that this is the
native straight species tree, not small, shrubby cultivars (like ‘Emerald Green’) that
function as hedges, not trees.
Flagged for Research:
o Post Oak: Native to the Southeast, but local availability is unknown.
o Catalpa: On the 4x credit list, but recent concerns about suitability require
investigation.
o Silver Linden, Swamp Tupelo: Unfamiliar species requiring more info.
The committee also clarified the arborvitae policy:
As stated above, the straight species Thuja occidentalis (Eastern White Cedar) is a
recommended native tree
The only other arborvitae allowed for mitigation planting is Thuja standishii x plicata ‘Green
Giant’.
Action Items:
Update tree database: replace L/M/H with 1-3 checks + X; add keep/drop,
evergreen/deciduous/special care, highlight low tolerances (Rachel Summers)
Email Planning staff regarding removing concolor and grand firs from LPPL (Nancy Sofen)
Research Post Oak, Catalpa, Silver Linden and Swamp Tupelo availability/suitability and update
spreadsheet (Rachel Summers)
Email Dave Pinsonneault a draft builder list for feedback (Nancy Sofen)
Another meeting on this topic will be needed. The meeting was adjourned at 3:17 pm.