Oswego may have to dig up about 1,600 Callery pear trees in the village because they are aging and susceptible to disease, officials said.
The trees are also considered invasive, meaning they have a tendency to spread and out-compete native plants, according to officials.
The village recently commissioned certified municipal arborist Phil Graf to do an evaluation of the Callery pear trees in Oswego.
There are an estimated 1,600 of the trees, ranging from 4 inches to 26 inches in diameter, planted on village-owned property, according to the arborist’s report.
“They are pretty much all around town but there are pockets where there is a heavier distribution,” he said.
The Callery pear trees were once desirable ornamental trees but are now showing signs of fire blight, an internal bacterial disease, Graf said.
“The general observations are not good,” he told trustees.
Fire blight is difficult if not impossible to treat once it advances to the level seen by the village’s Callery pear trees, Graf said.
Graf said the purpose of his initial evaluation was to “get an idea on the magnitude of this problem,” and help village leaders decide on a possible plan to manage it.
Aside from the poor condition of the trees, Graf suggested the village consider diversifying the types of trees around Oswego.
There are some areas of the village where nearly 100% of the parkway trees are Callery pears, he said.
Municipalities are moving away from having a single species or “monoculture of plantings,” he said, because diseases that are specific to one species will spread much faster in those conditions.
Callery pear was an attractive tree for both homeowners and large-scale developers as well as the village, he said.
“It’s the one tree that has tremendous spring flowering and awesome fall color. It’s a tough durable tree for poor soil which our parkways typically are and they are inexpensive,” Graf said.
On the downside, the trees do not age well.
“With weak branch unions they split during storms. We definitely have seen that throughout the village,” he said.
The average Callery pear tree in the village is roughly 12 inches in diameter and in the 25- to 30-year-old range, which likely coincides with the timeline for a surge in housing development in Oswego.
The average lifespan of the trees in favorable conditions is 30 to 35 years.
“We are approaching a time when they are aging out,” he said.
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The municipal arborist suggested the village update its Callery pear tree inventory so that it can begin to manage the issues associated with the species and develop a strategic removal plan.
It’s important that when the removal program reaches an end that the village begin a plan of reforestation to increase species diversity, Graf said.
“(The removal of) 1,600 trees is going to be noticeable. One of the beauties of Oswego is its greenery,” Trustee Brian Thomas said
Oswego Grounds Operations Supervisor Russ Garcia said there should be a discussion to develop a possible removal plan for the trees.
“If we inform residents that the village is taking these trees down there most likely will be resistance because people like their flowering tree. It’s something we need to think about,” Garcia said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.