Even as Northwest Indiana continues to hack away at the backlog of fallen trees from the derecho and earlier storms this summer, environmentalists and others believe tree-hugging is still warranted. So is some tender loving care for trees still standing.
Matt McBain, a professional arborist on Valparaiso’s payroll, keeps an inventory of trees on city property. Those 11,011 trees offer benefits worth $1,022,765.74 over 20 years, the city’s website said. That includes sequestering more than 4.2 million pounds of carbon, avoiding 26.3 million gallons of stormwater runoff, intercepting 162.2 million gallons of rainfall and removing a long list of air pollutants – carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.
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Then there are the energy savings that come from shade on homes, businesses, and air conditioning units.
McBain urged property owners to have post-storm assessments done on larger trees.
“There are sometimes hundreds of trees that aren’t obvious, but they’re still failing because of a storm,” he said. The leaves might still be green, and the branches still there, but a huge structural defect may be hidden to property owners who don’t know what to look for.
Having a certified arborist conduct an inspection could cost about $100, he said.
McBain works on the city’s trees, not ones on private property.
“There were quite a few public property trees, a lot of uprooted trees and broken limbs and branches,” after the Aug. 11 derecho, he said.
“The majority of them were silver maples,” McBain said. “The black walnuts got hit pretty hard as well.”
There was less damage to city-owned trees than McBain expected because of preventative maintenance. “Having an inventory done on your trees is very valuable to municipalities for sure.”
“There’s not an awful lot of preventative maintenance done on private property trees,” he said.
After the storm, pruning might be in order. Some trees still standing might pose a danger and need to be removed. Consult a qualified arborist, McBain urged. “There’s arborists, and then there’s certified arborists.”
“A lot of these arborists aren’t certified,” so they might not understand deeper physiological aspects of tree care, he said. The www.Treesaregood.org website has a wealth of information, including how to contact a nearby certified arborist, McBain said.
“It also has a lot of literature there that is simplified, short and sweet, and beneficial to homeowners,” he said.
Jen Birchfield, natural resources planner for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, oversees the CommuniTrees program, which has planted around 15,000 trees so far in Northwest Indiana. “We’ve been trying for about 10 years to get new trees planted and try to maintain older trees,” she said.
After the derecho, CommuniTree partners began discussing how hard the region’s tree canopy was hit. “I’m not aware of any estimates,” she said. “Certain communities got hit harder than others.”
Assessing the new state of the canopy coverage will involve using aerial imagery.
Like others, Birchfield is curious about which species came down. “There are certain tree species that tend to be overplanted or tend to be structurally weak,” she said.
Birchfield also serves on the Michigan City Tree Board. That city has a lot of aging silver maples, which have shallow roots and are more susceptible to being uprooted when strong winds hit.
A U.S. Forest Service grant paid for removing about 350 trees, she said, mitigating the damage from storms.
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Birchfield praised the benefits trees bring. “The benefits of trees for storm resilience and climate resilience are amazing. They take up so much stormwater.”
“They shelter your house from those winds. They save energy, they cool your house, improve air quality, all those benefits,” she said.
“If you have a tree through your roof right now or are without power for two weeks,” those benefits are less obvious, Birchfield acknowledged.
She stressed planting the right tree for the right space. “We tend to focus on planting native tree species, native to Northwest Indiana,” she said. “They’re acclimated here. They provide all of those benefits. They like our soil; they like our conditions.”
Portage has a tree ordinance that specifies which species of trees should be planted for new developments. That list takes into account the height of mature trees along with other considerations.
Birchfield likes pin oaks and catalpas, among others. “We have really high success rates with some of those resilient trees,” she said. “Oaks get big, and they have so many more benefits.”
“Redbud is a wonderful tree. It’s a smaller tree. It’s a beautiful tree,” Birchfield said. “It’s a native tree. Everyone loves the flowers.”
Bradford pear is on the naughty list. “It is structurally weak. It is very easy for it to split and drop limbs,” she said.
“Make sure you plant a diversity of species,” Birchfield also said. If you have a monoculture, a disease or pest could have an outsized impact.
When trees are given away under the CommuniTree program, recipients are trained not just how to plant but where to plant. “I drive around and I see people have planted a white pine or an oak under a 25-foot power line,” she said. When the tree matures, it will grow far taller than the power line and will either need to be pruned or will fall into the power line. Plant taller trees a safe distance from homes and power lines.
“There are general trees that I would recommend myself, but it does vary by community,” Birchfield said.
Some trees are more tolerant than others of road salt. Some trees are wonderful but not near a highway.
Leo Sawyers is the Student Conservation Association’s community program manager for Northwest Indiana. “A lot of our work in the area is focused on urban forestry,” especially in communities like Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Whiting. In those cities, maintaining older trees that pose hazards is a higher priority. “The last thing on their list is planting new trees,” Sawyers said.
“We have all the impervious surfaces and all the impact from the highways and industry,” he said. “It’s a very tough life for urban trees.”
The Student Conservation Association provides paid opportunities for young people who want more experience in conservation. Participants identify plantable areas and conduct site assessments that factor in soil quality, how the land is used and whether the aim is beautification, stormwater management, habitat for wildlife or shade for residents and park visitors.
The SCA has planted a little over 6,000 trees in northern Lake County since 2017, he said.
“We focus on the long-term care and maintenance of those trees. Every tree we plant, we have a commitment to watering those trees in the establishment period,” hand-watering with 10 gallons per tree, Sawyer said.
“We’ve kept busy, that’s for sure.”
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Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.