HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010--06-10-TREE-min
Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
Tree Committee
Minutes of June 10, 2010
A meeting of theTree Committee was held on Thursday June 10, 2010, 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the
Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, 201 Bedford Street, Room 125. A quorum of 6 was
present.
Members Present
: John Frey (chair), Nell Walker, Jewel Kuljian, Anne Senning, Karen
Longeteig, Jim Wood.
Also presen
t: Dave Pinsonneault (Tree Warden), Deborah Mauger (Selectman Liaison), and
Friends of Trees members Barbara Kent and Jane Beswick.
Members Absent
: Gerry Paul
Karen Longeteig was appointed as scribe, and the minutes of May 13, 2010 were approved as
corrected.
Tree Warden’s report:
Tree removal applications and activity: since 10/1/01, there have been
Total sites: 701 Total closed: 571
Total to plant: 2094 Total planted: 1352
Total to remove: 871 Total removed: 683
And since 08/04/08, total inches in diameter permitted to remove, 2165”, and total fees
collected, $21,650.
Nursery Tree/Planting Progress:
Street tree planting locations: Anne and Joel checked all the sites on the streets. Trees
were planted on Fletcher Ave last week and will be planted on Mass Ave and Winchester
Drive next week. There are 3 or 4 newly planted berm trees near the intersection of
Waltham Street and Marrett Road which will be lifted and re-located, as they will be
impacted by the reconstruction of the intersection.
The Jeanne Krieger Honor Tree, a Scarlet Oak, was planted today 6/10/10 at Tower Park.
Deborah will contact Jeanne and establish a convenient date for a short dedication
ceremony.
Maintenance of nursery trees after transplanting: the DPW will water trees planted in Right of
Way this summer, and fertilize in August. But they don’t take care of trees at the
schools, where the crabapples were planted. Jim suggested that the schools be divided up
and we each take responsibility for contacting the principals and ensuring plants are
watered. Karen is to send the spreadsheet to Jane Beswick, who volunteered to organize
this. Jim will be responsible for Diamond and Estabrook, and Karen for LHS. However,
it was noted that Shawn Newell, the assistant public facilities manager, should be the key
person.
Bare-root Basswoods: Dave reported that three were planted at Old Harrington, and two are
heeled in and are to go soon to Winchester Drive.
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Belfry Hill planting/seeding: On June 1 and 3 several Tree Committee and Friends of
Tree volunteers installed plugs from the Kurt Bluemel company: three types of sedges in
numbers of 112 Carex pensylvanica, 72 Carex plantaginea, 72 Carex stricta, as well as
72 Aster divaricatus. One sedge, Carex appalachia, is back ordered. The grant money is
now all spent; we are waiting for one more tray of plugs to plant, and then the lupine and
other planting mix seed will be scattered.
Weeders needed. The weeding, that is, making a place to plant, is more time-consuming
than actual planting.
Invasive species: The hill has some severe invaders, Black Swallowwort vine being one.
Control methods of herbicide spraying, vs. smothering with black plastic, were discussed.
Nell is going to look up the methods used in a successful meadow restoration project in
Concord that she knew of and report back. If it is not feasible, we will go ahead and
smother. In any case, we hope to stop this year’s crop before it sets seed.
Other plantings:
Replacement of 2004 Arbor Day tree that died at Meriam St. was done today (6/10/10)
with the largest Homestead Elm from the Nursery.
One crabapple for the National Heritage Museum was planted by the DPW.
Three crabapples were dropped off at Minuteman High School; they will plant.
One crabapple for the LF&GC traffic island project is ready, but DPW needs to remove
the dead tree currently occupying the spot.
Fiske school never got back to us with a decision, and all the crabs are now allocated.
The two American Chestnuts in the nursery might be good choices for the Estabrook
School, which requested some trees for a sheltered area. Jim will follow up.
NSTAR pruning: They are finishing up in the East Lexington circuit but they are using 8-8-12’
pruning ‘windows’, instead of 10-10-20’.
Tracking Commemorative Trees (Jane’s spreadsheet). Dave will email John, Nell and Jane all
information on new requests for Commemorative Trees which come to him.
Removal of dead trees adjacent to Ye Olde Burial Ground: There are two dead elms on private
property abutting the cemetery. John has informed owners Denise & Roland de Fillipi
that they must do all the work from the private property side to avoid impacting anything
in the cemetery.
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Other: Dave says he is interviewing to fill a 4 staff position vacant for several months, as well
as two cemetery maintenance positions.
Winter Moth infestations continue to do a lot of damage. Neither Town nor State is
spraying. Dave said that he would get the Tree Farm sprayed next spring, and would
consider putting a comprehensive spraying program in the 2012 budget request as a new
program item.
Friends of Trees:
Distinctive Tree Project: the “Mulliken Oak” article went in the Minuteman last month.
We have had an interesting letter from a former resident of 40 Prospect Hill Road who
related tales about the large White Pines there; Jane and Karen will investigate, measure,
and write up.
Website: It was noted that citizens are looking up the website and getting useful information
from it. It was also noted that we need to update it with our revised Tree Bylaw and
Manual.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Longeteig, Scribe (Chairman's note: There were no documents/exhibits used at meeting,
was no remote participation and no recording of meeting.)