Most “06880” tree stories involve cutting them down.
This one is about planting more.
Westport’s Tree Board is gearing up for Arbor Day with 3 days of free giveaways.
Bartlett Tree Experts is providing 100 red maples and 100 smaller native variety trees. They’re small enough to carry away yourself. After you plant them, they’ll grow large.
The red maples being given away are smaller than these.
Some of the trees will be given away on April 23, as part of the Westport Book Shop’s Jesup Green event.
On Arbor Day itself — April 29 — the trees will be offered at Town Hall.
The next day (April 30), the Tree Board partners with Earthplace. Following the 3-4 p.m. giveaway, there’s a “Toast to the Trees” educational talk.
But that’s just part of the Tree Board’s work.
At last week’s meeting, chair Monica Buesser says, they discussed a “tree inventory.” The survey of every tree on town property (parks, schools, rights of way, etc. — not private land) would allow warden Ben Sykas to figure out where trees should be removed and new ones planted, and the best maintenance schedule, among other information.
An inventory would also provide a record for possible reimbursement, when trees are destroyed in a natural disaster.
The computerized list would be updatable, and searchable. The Public Works Department is looking a different vendors, and costs.
Also in the works: updating the Tree Board’s webpage with more resources, and information on planting, mulching and more; creating a “Be a Tree” story walk at the Wadsworth Arboretum; planting red maple hybrids at Grace Salmon Park, and a “Mayple” spring event to complement “Oaktober” in the fall.
A 2019 storm downed trees at Grace Salmon Park. The Tree Board hopes to replace them. (Photo/Wendy Cusick)