Town tallies trees

Honesdale citizens conduct inventory

By SANDY LONG

HONESDALE, PA — “This could be the most important project to go on in Honesdale, environmentally and aesthetically speaking,” said Katharine Brown of Fox Hill Farm, a member of the Greater Honesdale Partnership Shade Tree Committee. The committee is compiling information to assess the current state of the municipality’s trees and will deliver its advisory report to the Honesdale Borough Council later this summer.

The purpose of the project is to assess the health of Honesdale’s urban forest and to select potential locations for new plantings, according to Gail Tucker, executive director of the Greater Honesdale Partnership. “Some of Honesdale’s trees are in distress, while others are flourishing,” said Tucker. “It’s been proven that a community with a healthy urban forest prospers. Environmentally, trees provide many benefits, such as preventing soil erosion and purifying air. People are drawn to their shade and beauty. They tend to linger and spend more money at area businesses, so there’s an economic benefit as well,” she added.

The committee is being assisted by volunteers who have received expert training on data collection from Penn State Cooperative Extension urban forester Vincent Cotrone, who has helped roughly 70 communities in Northeastern Pennsylvania to perform tree inventories. Honesdale will join Milford, Delaware Water Gap, Clarks Summit and other muncipalities that have already completed similar projects.

Recently Cotrone, taught Honesdale volunteers how to identify trees and assess their health. Over the next several weeks, teams of two people will collect data on tree location and species; take measurements of diameter, breadth and height; and note the tree’s condition, site type and visible defects such as dead limbs, signs of decay or damage.

Phase One will target the Downtown area from Fourth to Twelfth Streets on Main, Church and Court Streets, with connecting side streets. Phase Two will include North Main Street, East and West Streets, with connecting side streets. Both should be complete by mid-September. The remainder of the borough will be inventoried at a later date.

“We’re finding lots of Crimson King maples,” said committee member Barbara Lewis. “The sugar maples are suffering most. We’re losing a number of those.” One task will be recommending desirable tree species for future planting to increase variety and to target trees that do well in urban settings. Variables, such as light, adequate room for growth and parking impacts, will be considered.

“The inventory not only identifies declining/dying trees that could pose a threat, it identifies planting spaces and the condition and growing constraints for each site,” said Cotrone. “We want to know where the overhead utilities are, so we can plant lower growing trees in those sites, or how much space we have between the curb and sidewalk to grow a tree.”

According to Cotrone, typically 65 percent of the trees in small towns are maples. “Should we get a disease that affects them, like Dutch Elm Disease in the ‘60s and ‘70s, we will lose many trees. It is best to have a diverse population and the inventory will help us plan and build that into the tree population.”

The information will be entered in a database and provided to the Honesdale Borough Council to support future decisions related to Honesdale’s urban forest. According to Cotrone, the data can be used to place a value on the resource. “We can calculate the appraised value of the trees, or using new tools from the Forest Service, measure the amount of energy the trees conserve or storm water captured, which can be assigned dollar values,” Cotrone explained.

Jamie Strunkard, owner of Nature’s Grace, volunteered for the project because he considers it important for the community. The Honesdale businessman’s car bears the bumper sticker, “Trees are the answer,” revealing his unabashed admiration for trees. “They reduce carbon dioxide and improve the ambience in the town, among other things,” said Strunkard. “They’re a great natural resource.”

In addition, trees can reduce heating and cooling costs, increase property values, reduce stress, fatigue and aggression in humans, calm and slow down traffic, reduce crime and increase social ties, reduce exposure to harmful UV rays and more.

Lewis said the committee will take pains to recommend ideal locations for new plantings. “Ultimately, we’d like to create a good environment for each tree so that it will thrive and be welcome where it’s planted,” said Lewis.

An educational program on choosing and caring for street trees will be offered to the public this fall by the Shade Tree Committee on a date to be announced.

Volunteers are still needed for the ongoing project.

For more information contact Gail Tucker at 570/253-5492. Visit www.patrees.org to learn more about Pennsylvania’s trees and how to care for them, or www.na.fs.fed.us/urban/treespayusback/index.shtm for resources provided by the USDA Forest Service.