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Townsend’s Community Forest Part 3

 

Author:
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Townsend Tree Board Chair, Townsend Rotary Club


Townsend’s Community Forest Part 3

Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair

Note: This is the third in a series of articles from the Townsend Tree Board reporting on the status of the community forest in Townsend.

Last week, we described Townsend’s landscape character and why it is important to manage Townsend’s community forest. We need to manage the community forest to limit undesirable volunteers and to plant desirable species in desirable locations.

This week, we will review how the number of public trees in Townsend has changed since 1990.

There were 336 trees inventoried on Townsend Streets and in city parks in 1990 (Figure 1). The Tree Board was relatively inactive for many years after the 1990 inventory and started an active tree planting program beginning in 2004. In 2005, 808 trees were inventoried. Some trees were not inventoried in the 1990 inventory and the 2005 inventory included some areas not included in the 1990 inventory.

Based on the results of the 2005 inventory, the Tree Board received its first budget in 2006 and implemented a five-year tree care and maintenance plan approved by the City Council. The five-year plan included removing undesirable tree species and other trees that were identified as ‘High Priority’ or as needing ‘Immediate Pruning’ or ‘Removal’ to reduce the city’s liability risk. Over 125 large trees were removed as part of this 2006-2011 5-year plan for $25,000 using a contractor, city employees, and Tree Board volunteers. The Tree Board planted two to three new trees for each tree removed. As a result, the number of trees increased from 808 in 2005 to 1,001 in 2011.

The Tree Board planted 361 new trees or 36 percent of the total number of trees from 2004-2011. The number of trees planted by the Tree Board increased from 361 to 594 trees from 2011-2020. That means the Tree Board has planted 52% of all the public trees in Townsend between 2004 and 2020!

The total number of trees increased to 1140 in 2020. Based on Montana city tree inventory data the average city in Montana has one tree for every three people. Townsend has one tree for every two people!

Although not inventoried there are hundreds of planting sites left along city streets. All of the parks in Townsend have been replanted except McCarthy Park. McCarthy Park will start to be replanted in 2023.

Next week, we will discuss how the number of tree species has changed since 1990.

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