Tree planting is at a five-year high in Downers Grove, where the idea is to increase the urban forest and plant about 650 new and replacement parkway trees this year.
The village is renewing its membership in the Suburban Tree Consortium (STC), which has 42 municipal members. The cost is $216,000 which will cover the purchase of the trees and plantings. The group provides trees of the species and varieties typically requested for municipal parkways.
The consortium has contracts with several northern Illinois nurseries and purchases more than 10,000 trees a year.
Nan Newlon, director of public works, said in a memo to the village board that the number of trees planted each year is determined in part by the number of removals. Other factors include construction of new subdivisions, residents’ requests for additional parkway trees, and locations where staff has identified a need for new trees.
Most of the plantings replace parkway trees that were lost due to storms, decline, death or disease, such as the Emerald ash borer.
Over the years, there’s been an increase in the number of trees planted and the money dedicated to trees. In 2011, 347 trees were planted and $106,000 was spent, compared to 643 trees planted at a cost of $199,000 last year.
Some of the species the village plans to plant include Sugar Maple, River Birch, Gingko, Red Crabapple, Bur Oak, White Oak, Catalpa, Honey Locust, American Linden, Silver Linden, Catalpa, Hackberry, Planetree, Shingle Oak, Triumph Elm, Swamp White Oak, Baldcypress, and Miyabe Maple. Plantings are done in the spring and the fall.
Newlon said the consortium can provide species that are more difficult to obtain and those often requested by residents. Membership enables the village to order trees that are more interesting, such as the Miyabe Maple and hybrids that are more resistant to diseases, such as Dutch Elm disease, she said.
Staff works with residents to identify locations for new trees and to honor requests for specific species when practical, Newlon said.
The village has been a member of the tree consortium since 1987. It has been a member of Tree City USA, for 31 years. The status is bestowed by the Arbor Foundation which makes the designation based on a community’s meeting several standards of urban forestry management, such as maintaining a tree board or department, having a tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.