GREENFIELD — Thirty new trees will be planted in two Greenfield neighborhoods as a result of a grant from the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, which also includes an educational component on the benefits of trees and an analysis for a town-wide street tree management plan.
A public input meeting for the Hope and Washington streets neighborhood will be held Wednesday at 159 Hope St. and a meeting for Oak Courts will be held in early June at the Oak Courts community center. Both events will run from 6 to 8 p.m. and include refreshments. Volunteer tree planting events will be held on the first two Saturdays in June.
Two years ago, the Greenfield Baseline Tree Inventory drew attention to the need for planting more trees on tree belts and other public places.
“What was striking about the inventory maps was how easy it was to see differences in the density of trees from neighborhood to neighborhood,” said Mary Chicoine Praus, land use planner for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and primary author of the Tree Inventory, in a news release. “This project gives us the opportunity to focus on planting trees in a couple of neighborhoods where there looks to be fewer trees.”
She added the tree planting events will be staffed by volunteers, including those who live in the neighborhoods where the trees will be planted, and neighbors will be given information on caring for the trees. This, she said, will help avoid placing additional demands on the Department of Public Works and will help neighbors become more invested in seeing their trees thrive. Nancy Hazard, member of the Greenfield Tree Committee, said in the release that the grant comes at an opportune time.
“We have had quite a lot of attention on trees in the last couple of years,” she said. “The town’s 2014 Master Plan calls for planting more trees to make our town more beautiful, as well as cooler in the summer, a recommendation which is in agreement with the 2014 Tree Inventory.”
According to DPW Director Don Ouellette, in Greenfield’s urban core, half of the 750 street trees will likely need replacement over the next 10 years due to aging and deterioration.
“The only way to counteract the impacts of the loss of so many trees is to pursue an aggressive tree planting plan,” Hazard said. “In 2015, for the first time in over 10 years, the DPW actually planted more trees than they removed. This is a trend we’d like to see repeated year after year so that we can increase our tree canopy.”
To request a free tree for your front yard or tree belt, or to express an interest in joining the Greenfield Tree Committee, contact Janine Greaves, Greenfield DPW, at 772-1528, ext. 106.