Townsend’s Community Forest Part 4
 | Author:
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Townsend Tree Board Chair, Townsend Rotary Club |
Townsend’s Community Forest Part 4
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles from the Townsend Tree Board reporting on the status of the community forest in Townsend.
Last week, we reviewed how the number of public trees in Townsend has changed since 1990. The total number of trees more than doubled and increased to 1140 by 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!
This week, we will discuss how the number of tree species has changed since 1990.
Number of Townsend Public Tree Species Over Time
Diversification, desirability, disease and insect resistance, and hardiness are primary goals in the selection of tree species for a northern community. Communities dominated by only a few species are ripe for major losses and major removal and replacement costs as seen in Great Falls where they have lost thousands of American elms from Dutch elm disease. The Tree Board is always looking for new hardy (USDA Zones 2-4) tree species to try in Townsend. In 1990, only 16 tree species were identified (Figure 1). The number of species increased to 50 in 2005, to 62 species in 2011, and up to 79 species in 2020!
Since 2020, some of the experimental species planted in Townsend have died due to our winter extremes. But we still have over 70 species. Our community forest is diverse and the Tree Board is ready to plant more of the tree species that have done well in our plantings. The Townsend Tree Board is currently concentrating on planting medium and large tree species to help replace lost canopy cover because we have removed so many undesirable large trees such as hybrid cottonwoods, white cottonwoods, dying American elms, etc.
Small-stature flowering trees have their place under powerlines, in the city business district, and on boulevards with limited space for root development. There are new cultivars of tree species being developed all the time and the Tree Board will continue to try new species over time.
Next week, we will discuss how we have reduced the dominance of species that dominated our community forest in 1990.
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