Street Tree Inventory

Volunteer Richard Salas explains to a resident the purpose of tree inventory

   If you have noticed people wearing yellow vests wandering around your neighborhood, chances are that they are part of the the corps of volunteers working with the Tree Commission to complete the street tree inventory. Prior to 2017, at least half of the street trees had been inventoried for the purpose of their maintenance and future design and planning as trees become damaged or diseased. This year, volunteers working in teams of two have uploaded photos and data on 1500 more trees.

Richard Salas measuring the spread of a street tree's canopy

 Street trees are those that are within two feet of a sidewalk or curb. In the absence of either, any tree growing within eight feet of the roadside is considered a street tree. Volunteer Richard Salas is pictured above measuring the spread of the tree canopy. The tree's estimated height and diameter at breast height is also recorded.
     Our inventory grows each year at the Tree Commission completes its mission to plant as many trees as funds will allow. High Street gained eighteen trees this fall, raising its total inventory to 229, barely one fourth the amount of street trees that shaded High Street in the year 1853, but next spring, forty more are scheduled to be added. Twenty-one trees  were planted this fall on Carter, Temple, Oak, Washington, Merrill, Kent, Ashland, Merrimack, Ferry, Pheasant Run and Arlington Streets. Examples of a few are pictured below.

Princeton Sentry added in front of 62 Washington Street

Three Snowgoose Cherry Trees have new homes in front of 1 Pheasant Run

A leafless Zelkova Musachino at 8 Carter Street

Tree Lilac in front of 47 Ashland Street

A Sergeant Cherry at12 Merrill Street

Coming up from Toppans Lane, you might notice these two Sergeant Cherry Trees at 260 High Street.

Flowering Cherries at 22 Ferry Street

Japanese Tree Lilac at  6 Pheasant Run

.

The tree canopy in Newburyport continues to increase thanks to Friends of Newburyport Trees fundraising efforts reaching out to individuals and companies that share our vision of a greener city.  While one hundred and sixteen street trees have taken root across the city in 2017, many more trees are springing up on private property and industrial park land. Tree Commissioners Connie Preston and Dave Dylewski are consulting with school administration at the Nock Molin Middle School for an extensive planting project.  Using donations from The Newburyport Choral Society, Corliss Brothers Nursery and the Bodenrader Family for their Memorial Oak Tree, there are sixteen new trees already on the school grounds. A-W Airflow Industry Inc at 52 Parker Street recently added some trees to their property in the industrial park and a Community Preservation Fund grant of $13,000 will allow the Tree Commission to reforest Gateway Front Gate starting in the spring of 2018. This triangular shaped island at Three Roads where the existing trees and shrubs are in poor condition will benefit from a much needed facelift and create a beautiful western gateway to Newburyport. 

White Oak on the grounds of the Nock/Molin donated by the Bodenrader Family in memory of their beloved son, Andrew Bodenrader

   

The Friends of Newburyport Trees are your stewards to reforest our city. Please stand with us and give us your charitable support! 

www.fontrees.org
email: fontrees@gmail.org
P.O Box 1155
Newburyport, MA 01950

1.    

High Street Trees, 1888 and Now

High Street in the late 1800's with Newburyport Superior Court House on the left

    In 1902, Miss Harriet Colman produced a document, The Trees of Newburyport per request of the City Improvement Society's executive board. It provides a detailed and informative account of the most common tree species throughout the city dating from 1853. She lamented that in 1902 the tree count on High Street alone was down fifty percent from its 1853 count of 1147 street trees. Sadly, as of July 2017, the High Street inventory is even lower. There are only 211 trees between Atkinson Common and Marlboro Street, including the forty that were planted by the Tree Commission only during the last couple of years.
     Below are a few pictures of this year's High Street plantings and some photos of our High Street canopy in the late 1800's, courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library archives.  With an increase in municipal funding, the Community Preservation Act, other grants, donations from city groups and individuals, the Tree Commission hopes to restore High Street to its original magnificence while reforesting the rest of the city slowly but surely.

New Okame Flowering Cherry Tree in front of 25 High Street

A Sergeant Cherry Tree at 270 High Street

Ultimately, sidewalk repairs will be done around this new Hornbeam sapling at 253 High Street

Two Sergeant Cherry trees added in front of 287 1/12 High Street. Each new tree will have a gator bag for two years to ensure its survival.

308 High Street will have a little more shade in a couple of decades from this Ivory Silk Lilac Tree! In the meantime, the spring blossoms will delight. If you have a tree with a gator bag in front of your home, please fill at least once a week. 

One of twenty trees planted on High Street in 2017, a Gingko near apartments at #351.

2017 Hornbeam Tree planted at 323 High Street and corner of Twomey Drive. 

Hedge Maple at 351 High Street

Although these two Trident Maples were planted last year at 346 High Street, weekly watering is provided throughout the 2017 growing season. 

Princeton Elm in front of the Home for Aged Men at 361 High Street

Ice storms took their toll on trees in the 1800's adding to other natural causes. By 1902, there were only 580 trees remaining on High Street between Three Roads and Marlboro Street, down from 1147 fifty years earlier. 

Corner of High and Bromfield, 1880's

High Street just below Fruit Street

A man standing below High Street canopy with his rifle and hound. Maybe waiting for a street car to take him  turkey hunting in the west end? 

Some notable Willow trees once  thrived on High Street just west of Toppans Lane.

In the days of pre-growth of tree roots through city sidewalks?

Oak trees were plentiful yet slowly dying off. The most noteworthy Oak Tree was the Old Beacon Oak that sported a vessel atop a pole which guided mariners to port. It was located between Market Street and the Dexter House. 

Horse-Chestnuts and Maples were favorite staples for shade trees.

High Street boasted many Linden trees. One near Carter Street had a unique growth with nine trunks growing from the same root, forming a cone. Mulberry and Silver-leaved Poplar trees were also plentiful but were already in decline by 1902.

A row of Elms at Mt. Rural, current site of Newburyport High School. Elms were among the most notable trees on High Street.  

Ample shade from street trees provided adequate air conditioning for homes on hot summer days.

For more information about purchasing a tree in memory or honor of an individual, visit www.fontrees.org or message us on our Friends of Newburyport Trees Facebook page. All donations to FONT are fully tax-deductible. Also, be sure to contact Wayne Amaral, Tree Warden at the DPS to report a damaged or diseased tree. The Tree Commission is doing its best to replace any hazardous trees that must be removed as soon as possible.

And Thirteen More Trees....

Brand new Cherry Tree on Forrester Street

Since the previous post, I'm excited to report that thirteen more trees have been planted on Newburyport streets. And twenty more will be in the ground by June 16. Here's the lineup:

Oak Tree on Kent Street

Cherry Tree on Merrill Street

Three more Cherry Trees behind Trident Maple on Oak Street

Maple Tree on Roosevelt Circle

Weeping Cherry Tree at the Sullivan Building, Fair Street

Tree past its life span on Low Street. Fortunately, house appears to be unharmed!

 One of two Elm Trees donated to the Nock Middle School by Corliss Nursery

Corliss Nursery also donated these two Carolina Silver Bell Trees to Nock Middle School.

White Pines and White Dogwoods at a FoNT backyard nursery. Maybe they'll find their forever homes next month at the Farmers' Market?

This Maple tree was planted twenty years ago and now provides shade and a sturdy branch for tetherball! 

Friends of Newburyport Trees can be found on Facebook and at www.fontrees.org

Seven New Trees

Compliments of Saltbox Financials, two October Glory Maples planted at Low and Pond Streets

     At the May Tree Commission meeting it was reported that forty-seven street trees have been removed to date in 2017 while at least another forty-five are nearing the end of their life span.  Meanwhile, volunteers for Friends of Newburyport Trees and the Tree Commission are working hard to reduce the deficit in our canopy with new plantings. Pictured here are the most recent additions.

Joe Lamb, Jim McCarthy, Cris Miller and Andrew Shapiro planting one of the new maples on Pond St.

Cris Miller, Tree Commission chair and Jim McCarthy, Planning Board chair: dedicated to the beautification of Newburyport

\

This Copper Beech tree was donated by the Kudym family in memory of Don Kudym, Sr. Pictured from left to right are Noah, Ken, Dylan, Kim and Don Kudym Jr.

Two gator bags have been zipped together around the base of the tree. The memorial tree donation covers the cost of watering for two years. The bags are filled weekly and drip slowly into the soil through small holes underneath.

Don Kudym, Jr. admiring a mature Copper Beech tree above the Bartlet Mall Pond across from CVS Pharmacy.  It will take at least two hundred years for the Kudym's memorial tree to reach this size!

With a donation from the Horticultural Society, four more cherry trees joined the Eigerman's donated cherry tree from 2016. When these trees gain some height, their blossoms will be reflected in the pond. They've also been added to the watering cue, each one already sporting a gator bag.