HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-06-TREE-min
Lexington Tree Committee
Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
201 Bedford Street, Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, Room 125
Minutes, Meeting of January 6, 2011
Attendees: John Frey (Chairman), Gerry Paul, Anne Senning, Jim Wood, and Jewel Kuljian.
David Pinsonneault (Tree Warden) also attended. Absent: Karen Longeteig, Nell Walker, Deb
Mauger (Selectman’s liaison). Gerry Paul took his turn as scribe.
Minutes of the December 9th meeting were approved as amended.
Tree Warden's
agenda items: David Pinsonneault
removal activity
a) Tree under the Bylaw since 10-01-01: 739 sites/626 closed; 2249 trees
to be planted/1477 planted; 932 trees to be removed/751 removed. Fees levied for removal
of trees, and collected under regulation of 8-4-08, are $31,260 (from 3126 DBH inches of
trees removed).
DCR Grant
b) application: no word yet whether granted or not.
Inventory
c)
i) Transfer of tree data
The inventory will reflect the transfer of 48 trees from Tree Nursery to landscape
in Town of Lexington (schools, parks, roadside) in spring 2010.
Anne worked with Dave & Judy Seppala to develop a system to track trees data as
trees are moved to retain characteristics including at least a species, a unique
nursery ID #, planting date and harvest date and location.
Anne described the process of list and locating trees on maps.
The next step will be for Anne to enter the trees on the computer using the maps
that Joel has filled out and the list of trees that Anne has which show which trees
have been planted in those locations.
It was agreed to keep all data on trees in the nursery which have been moved to
the landscape.
ii) Editing recent collection of data in tree database.
Data collected in field is done quickly on the handheld computer. It does not
match uniquely the overall dataset. The editing gets done on the laptop computer,
where all the new pieces of data are made to match the overall database. Anne
edited the data for consistency. For example Senning was spelled in the field with
a capital ‘s’. Anne changed it to a lower case ‘s’ in the database to match all the
other fields which are lower case.
iii) Jim will investigate a tool which can create durable, permanent tags for trees
in the nursery which will also be used when trees are moved to the landscape.
Gerry suggested that the only item needed on the tag would be a unique number
which would identify the corresponding record in the inventory. Some felt that
there was a need for additional information on the tag (e.g. species).
Amendment of Tree Bylaw
d) Gerry reported that he sent the proposed Warrant Article to
Deb who will submit it to the Board of Selectmen.
TreePlanting Protocol
e)
-
Dave suggested and the committee agreed that, if necessary, roots be pruned before
trees are planted in the nursery (as well as pruning when they are harvested from the
nursery and planted in the landscape).
-We agreed that using larger bags to minimize root problems would be inappropriate due
the resulting heavier weight of the filled bag.
-We discussed the need for reliable volunteers for nursery and landscape planting. Ideas
included: Lexington High students, Concord MCI trustees, Garden Club members,
Friends of Trees volunteers, in kind donations of time by local landscape companies. Jim
and Anne will schedule a meeting with the appropriate person at Minuteman Tech to
explore their participation.
-Dave presented a task breakdown of the process of planting into the landscape which
should optimize the efficient use of both DPW and volunteer personnel. The tasks are:
-Identify planting locations -volunteers
-Dig safe approval (72 hrs)
-Remove trees from nursery -DPW
-Transport trees to planting sites -DPW
-Prune roots of trees if necessary -volunteers
-Transport compost to planting sites -DPW
-Dig holes (day before planting) -DPW
-Plant trees with compost/hydrogel/
watering tubes -volunteers
- Drive 2” stakes -DPW
- Attach stakes to trees (wire/hose) -volunteers
-Water trees -DPW
) Tree City USA
f Dave has reapplied for Tree City status and is exploring the creation of
smaller “Tree City USA” signs.
Selection of Tree Species for Spring Planting at the Nursery.
3.
rdth
a) Spring planting is scheduled for April 23 and May 7.
b) We agreed to plant trees in the nursery at the current level (100-120 trees) and if
resources are not available for planting as street trees we would make them available for
planting by home owners.
c) Jim raised the need for trees which exhibit more color. We agreed that trees of this
type which are not suitable as street trees (e.g. Sugar Maples) could be ordered for the
nursery and planted off berm.
d) We came up with following list of trees to plant as a starting point
100 trees for the Nursery planting
Nursery planting to Town public places or off berm 50-55 in the Spring
50-55 in the fall
We need to identify what trees might do better in the fall.
Trees Selected by the Tree Committee
Number Type of Tree
10 Shagbark Hickory
10 Magnolia acuminata
10 Red Oaks
10 Sugar Maple (with an off berm program for this tree)
10 London Plane
10 Magnolia virginiana
10 Single Trunk Eastern Redbud
10 Red Buckeye-PAVIA (Available Garden in the Woods/NASAMI
10 Carolina Silverbell
10 Scarlet Oaks
The following trees were alternates if the above were not available:
10 American Sycamore
10 Sweet Gum "Liqiudambar styraciflua"
10 Carpinus caroliniana ( under telephone or other wires)
There was no remote participation and no audio recording at the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Gerry Paul
Next regular meeting: February 10th, 2011, 7:30 a.m. at DPW