Maumee tree subcommittee says contractors planted more than 600 trees this spring; members press for watering plan

The Maumee Environmental Tree Advisory Commission tree subcommittee reported on June 26 that contractors have completed spring plantings of more than 600 trees across city corridors and neighborhoods, and members discussed follow-up maintenance including stump grinding, replacement and new watering options for trees that cannot use standard water bags.

Bill Berry, a tree subcommittee member, said the contractors expect the spring planting to be finished the next day and that crews worked in two main sections: Arrowhead Business Park and Ford Street, and along the Anthony Wayne Trail. "Section 1 is the Arrowhead Business Park area and Ford Street. There's over 300 trees being put in there," Berry said. He also said the street-tree component of the project was smaller: "The street trees, there's only 25, I think, total." The group reported additional plantings of red cedars around a pump station off Valley View Drive to screen the facility from neighbors.

Mark Erman, a subcommittee member who presented the dead-tree list, said members have compiled a list of trees that city service crews have been asked to remove and noted how each removal should be completed. "Some of them are young trees that just didn't make it through the first or second year, and they can just be pulled and filled," Erman said. He said other removals will require cutting, stump grinding and backfill; a double asterisk in the list indicates items already completed. Erman said he performed a drive-around to compile the list and urged members and residents to report struggling or dead trees so the list stays current.

Members noted the subcommittee's survival rate for newly planted trees so far is low for losses: the group estimated the percentage of dead trees relative to plantings is "probably less than 1%." That tally came from exchanges with city service staff and the contractor reports provided to the subcommittee.

Discussion turned to watering. Members said many of the new trees along the Anthony Wayne Trail are evergreens or otherwise cannot be fitted with standard tree-watering bags (the "doughnut" style). The subcommittee described an unsuccessful trial using a doughnut-shaped bag on one specimen and urged staff to evaluate alternatives, including using a watering truck with a hose or temporary flood watering, and to quantify crew time needed to water hundreds of trees. Erman said he personally hauled water to a struggling street specimen last year: "I probably had 20, 25 gallons each time." Subcommittee members asked city service staff to review whether a truck-mounted attachment or other equipment could water the trail plantings efficiently.

The subcommittee also reminded residents to use the sign-in sheet at meetings and to alert either Erman or city service if they spot dead or struggling trees that are not yet on the removal list, so the maintenance log can be updated.

The group adjourned at 5:41 p.m.; a motion and a second to adjourn were recorded but the transcript does not record a formal roll-call vote or the names of the mover and seconder.