“Together, we were fortunately able to apply for and receive support from TreeVitalize for the project. My students and I are now working on a street tree inventory, from which we will develop tree-management plans for Yardley and Morrisville.”
The $13,225 grant was one of 12 awarded to area municipalities from the TreeVitalize Municipalities Program, which partners with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Penn State School of Forest Resources Cooperative Extension, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
This spring, the grant program awarded a total of $100,000 for 12 projects in 19 different municipalities in southeastern Pennsylvania to help them integrate trees into their municipal plans and projects. Funding for the grants was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the William Penn Foundation and Morris Arboretum.
According to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the project is the first time since the 1950s that the boroughs have taken an inventory of their trees to foster urban forestry programs. Many older trees in their streetscapes have been lost and not replaced. The goal of the survey is to track all of the trees in the boroughs’ public right of ways and land. The data will be used to create management plans for tree maintenance and potential replacement of any unhealthy trees.
“We have started by conducting a full-count street tree survey in the two boroughs. We are identifying the species of the tree, measuring its DBH [diameter at breast height], and evaluating its condition. Any hazardous trees are singled out,” Yang said. “For each surveyed tree, we’ll make a suggestion on maintenance, such as removal, safety pruning and so on. After the survey, we will analyze the data and come up with a management plan, which will summarize the current situation of the street trees. Tree species suitable for planting and management measures to achieve a sustainable street population will also be recommended.”
Yang said he and his students want to provide “an objective evaluation of the current street trees and provide a practical plan for those two boroughs.”
“The communities will benefit from the continued expertise that the university can supply — this is not a one-time project,” he said. “My students and I will follow the progress and provide technical support when needed.”
Real-world projects of this nature are extremely important for students in the Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, and Community and Regional Planning programs at Temple University Ambler.
“Students in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture have received extensive training in woody plants and arboriculture. Only when they go to the field and apply their knowledge, however, do they fully appreciate what they have learned in the classroom,” Yang said. “Rebecca Bakker, for example told me that she enjoyed going out and identifying the trees — she was very happy whenever she found a different tree species. I hope the field work can better prepare them for a career in urban forestry or arboriculture.”
TreeVitalize, a four-year, $8 million public-private partnership spearheaded by DCNR, aims to plant 20,000 trees in the five-county region and promote the benefit of trees. Incentive grants are offered to encourage municipalities to cross boundaries and work together to include tree cover in planning and budgeting. The program is designed to help communities overcome obstacles to restoring and managing their tree canopy. For more about TreeVitalize, visit www.TreeVitalize.net.
This story was originally published on the Temple University Ambler web site.
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