The tree warden and the head of the Elm Commission are of the same mind: “Neither of us wants to cut down trees,” said Bill Calderwood, chairman of the town’s Elm Commission, in a phone conversation this week.
However in the past couple of weeks, three trees known to be short-lived (a combination of ash and serviceberry trees) near the Unitarian Church, and a fourth tree, the old elm by the water fountain on the Common, were determined to be “unsalvageable” by Christian Bilodeau, the town’s tree warden, and were professionally taken down in a planned removal backed by the Elm Commission.
When asked if this was the result of this summer’s drought, Bilodeau, who is both a certified arborist and horticulturist, spoke of the many linked stresses that weaken trees over time, including drought, sometimes age, insect damage, and issues of soil compaction. Calderwood seconded this, explaining that the Elm Commission takes the long-term view: “We’ve been in an eight- to 10-year drought. Trees have been under stress for a long time. The current drought has made things worse.”
Reminiscing about the old elm that was taken down, which he referred to as number 14, Calderwood said that 10 years ago he and Denis Wagner, an elm commissioner and local licensed horticulturist, installed copper pipes into a cavity in the tree to drain off water and save the tree. Calderwood joined the Elm Commission more than 15 years ago and continues to oversee the outsourced professionals who treat and prevent Dutch elm disease by using a fungicide injection for the town center’s 20 elms through a three-year rotation of treatments. The cost is approximately $3,500 per year.
A shared responsibility
The planting, pruning, care, and removal of the village trees is overseen by the elected, though unpaid, tree warden and the four Elm Commission volunteers (there is an open fifth slot). The tree warden’s annual operating budget for at least the past four years has been $14,000. This money is for trees in the “town corridor”—that is, from Pond Road to the police station, including the Little Common on Fairbank Street.
Roadside tree removal is the purview of the Department of Public Works, but only with approval from the tree warden, as was decided by residents at this past Annual Town Meeting.
“We plant for 20 to 30 years out,” Calderwood said. “We try to plant two to five trees a year. But it’s a matter of priorities. We do the best we can within our bandwidth. And considering the complexity of what we do, we do a pretty good job.” The “bandwidth” Calderwood refers to is the limitation of both volunteer time and allotted funding. Over the past 15 years, many people have volunteered to plant more than 65 new trees, he said.
In his future plans for the Common, Bilodeau includes using a steel cable to shore up another large elm tree (number 26) near the old library to keep it from further splitting.
The Elm Commission’s minutes of May 2015 detail what happens after tree removal: Stumps are ground, material is removed and replaced with loam, a new tree is sited, procured, and planted. “We plant with diversity in mind,” said Calderwood. “We preserve old trees and work to maintain a good-looking Common.”
