Coburg community education article

Managing Our I wanted to take this opportu- trees to be opened up in the center nity to reach out to Coburg citi- to different diseases. You can still Historic Trees in zens regarding our historic trees. see how the trees were topped and Coburg In Coburg we have approximately the long-term effects of that trim- From the desk of Brian Harmon 350 trees that the City maintains ming. City of Coburg Public Works Director — of which two thirds are Big Leaf Maples. A Big Leaf Maple can live The cost of maintaining these trees to be 200 years old and most of the is expensive and the available bud- Maples in Coburg are at the end of get for that maintenance is limited. that life cycle. More important than monetary concern is the safety of our citizens. Around the time of the Columbus The memory of the car smashed Day Storm of 1962, as the story flat in the Dari Mart parking lot is told, many of the Maples were last year left many concerned and heavily damaged. In a good faith well aware of the danger of old and More information: effort, the citizens of Coburg took diseased trees.

We ran this informational article it upon themselves to clean up the earlier this year in an issue of Our trees and “trim them.” While these On Father’s Day, a tree in the front Town, our quarterly newsletter. Given the questions that have efforts had the best of intentions, yard of a local family fell very close been raised regarding the historic this was not necessarily the health- to their home. This tree caused tree on Pearl Street we feel it is relevant to put this information iest solution for the trees. This damage to vehicles, as well as a out to you again. It has been up- caused several – if not all – of these small amount to their home. The dated with new information.

Staff Contacts

Anne Heath City Administrator 541-682-7871 [email protected]

Brian Harmon Public Works 541-682-7857 [email protected]

coburgoregon.org

A near-miss treefall on Skinner. follow-up investigation found seri- rather somewhere inside the City In the next few months, we will ous rot in the trunk of the tree. This that works for the tree and the pub- be asking for your input regarding supports our arborist’s reports lic. We use a Street Tree list from the solution to managing Coburg’s regarding the health of our Big Leaf the City of Eugene that historic trees. We hope that you will Maples. recommends trees that have low thoughtfully contribute your ideas impact on sidewalks, streets, and and concerns. Every year, the Public Works crew infrastructure in the ground. cleans up and removes debris from the trees that loose limbs and Coburg is an official “Tree City” branches. They work very closely and at the City we take that title with arborists to analyze the health very seriously. Beautiful trees en- of each tree that a customer rais- hance our community and contrib- es concern about. In the last two ute to a healthier environment for years, Public Works has spent many us all to live in. long hours and most of the budget- 2018 Arbor Day planting. ed dollars on storm clean ups. One storm event cost approximately Update to the original article: $15,000 for the cleanup effort.

“There are many In the near future, the tree in the Dari Mart parking lot will be removed. This tree has been deemed haz- tough choices that ardous and a danger to citizens. The tree on Pearl Public Works has Street in front of the new development is #1 on the to make on a daily Hazardous Tree list. The cost for the City to remove it is estimated at somewhere upwards of $15,000. ” basis. This is more than the city collects in any given year from the Street Tree fee. The developer will remove The majority of those choices have the tree and plant several new trees along the street. This follows the City’s policy of replacing trees re- to do with quality of life and health moved. of our citizens. One of those choic- es is whether a tree gets to stay and Management of our trees continues to be daily wor- be trimmed, or if the tree needs to ry of our Public Works Director. He cares about the historic trees as much as our citizens do. However, be removed. We consider the cost he is also aware that citizen safety must come first. of trimming compared to cost of Therefore, there will be times when he has to make a removal. Factors that go into these decision regarding a danger tree that might be un- popular to some. He makes them only after consult- types of choices are danger level, ing with professional arborists while considering health of the tree, and life cycle. the budget available for this work.

If a tree is removed, the City always We encourage citizens to share their questions and con- cerns with the City staff on this topic. replants a tree. Often times the tree is not replaced in the same spot, but