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Commission reports 39 trees planted this fall; setbacks and neighborhood requests rising
Summary
Staff and volunteers reported 39 trees planted so far this fall, roughly 10–12 setback requests in progress, replacement planting successes at Village Hill and plans to clear the nursery before winter. Commissioners also discussed internship outreach and a neighborhood application seeking assistance to plant 10 trees on E Sherman Ave.
Jen Warner, who coordinates planting, told the commission on Oct. 15 that the city completed four planting events and had planted 39 trees so far this fall, with approximately 10 to 12 setback plantings prioritized for the season.
Warner said crews and volunteers completed a 10-tree planting at the Armoury Street parking lot to address a heat-island area where many ash trees had been lost. She reported replacement plantings in Village Hill (sweet gums planted as succession for ash) showing strong growth and noted smaller plantings in multiple neighborhoods including Hubbard Street and Sojourner Truth Park.
Warner said the crew planned to clear the nursery inventory before winter and that a remaining DigSafe marking involves two properties. She also described outreach to local schools and students: a Northampton High School junior, William Brady, is pursuing an unpaid internship and is interested in winter pruning training.
Commissioners discussed logistics for setbacks, confirming that staff handle the outreach, scheduling and dig-safe coordination and that volunteer leaders sometimes lead planting days when staff are unavailable. Warner said she tracks plantings in a spreadsheet that will be consolidated into the commission’s master dataset; Kent Johnson maintains an interactive map that can be filtered by planting year.
The commission received a Neighborhood Tree Planting application from resident Robert Bruno (29 E Sherman Ave.) requesting assistance for 10 trees; staff said most trees would be in the public right of way and that the application will likely move toward a spring planting. No formal vote or budget action was taken at the meeting regarding plantings.
