Peoria Times
February 10, 2022
FEATURES
17
For more features visit peoriatimes.com PeoriaTimes.com
/PeoriaTimes
Peoria’s arborists keep the community green
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Peoria Times Staff Writer
Peoria’s municipal logo features a saguaro cactus, but the city is also home to many trees — 15,884 just on city-maintained land, according to a 2020 inventory. These public trees spread their branches over city parks, campuses, trails and rights-of-way. Many more trees on private property contribute to the city’s “community forest” — the totality of the trees providing the city with shade, wildlife habitat and, many believe, a better place to live. Two city employees in the parks and recreation department—landscape coordinator Ryan McCartney and field operations and planning services manager Brandon Putman — are responsible for overseeing the care and maintenance of Peoria’s 15,884 public trees. “One of the big challenges of growing in an urban environment is the ground is altered,” McCartney said. Sandwiched between slabs of pavement, the soil may be warmer or more compacted than it is naturally, and urban dirt often has less organic material than in nature. Some challenges are posed by human behavior. McCartney said there’s a right way and a wrong way to prune trees in the desert, and part of his job is making sure the city’s contractors know what they are doing. “Trees here are often pruned so they have less protection” from the sun and wind. In the wild, for example, many desert trees have branches lower to the ground, which shades the root zone from sunlight and helps direct wind gusts up and over the top of the tree. McCartney said one of the city’s philosophies in its tree programs is diversity. “The importance of that is, if a disease
sues, support developers on tree species and age diversity, and foster partnerships with nonprofits or local businesses on mission-compatible objectives,” he said. The goal of these efforts is to “increase citywide tree cover to provide shade, reduce temperatures, and improve the attractiveness of (Peoria’s) neighborhoods and the city as a whole,” a Benevilla will host its annual Dinner in the Desert city website states. McCartney visited Piofundraiser on Friday, March 25, at Barn at Desert Foothills in North Phoenix. (Photo courtesy of Benevilla) neer Community Park last week, where a landscape comes through, we’re not losing a lot of crew was planting 15 trees in the parking lot next to the park’s 5-acre lake. trees.” The new trees are part of a joint projAnother prong of the city’s approach is drought tolerance. To conserve wa- ect between Peoria and Salt River Projter, Peoria city code stipulates that ect called Right Tree, Right Place. As only low-water trees can be planted on part of its routine maintenance, SRP city-managed land, though exceptions removes trees that pose a risk to elecare allowed with permission from the tric lines or service reliability, such as tall-growing trees planted directly unarborists. Often these low-water trees are native derneath powerlines. Through Right species, but the city also uses non-native Tree, Right Place, SRP partners with desert-adapted trees. McCartney said municipalities to either relocate or rethis is necessary because in developed place the problem trees to better locaareas, a non-native tree can sometimes tions throughout the city. The current initiative, which started handle the altered environment better Jan. 25, aims to replace 166 problem than a native. trees with 500 trees by April, or about three trees for every one removed. Community forestry Crews hired by SRP will continue While McCartney and Putman are directly responsible for the city trees, Mc- planting trees through April. The iniCartney said the arborists also want to tiative will culminate with a commuwork with residents to enhance Peoria’s nity planting event at the Skunk Creek community forest, which includes all Trailhead, a regional birding hotspot, during the city’s Earth and Arbor Day the trees on private land. McCartney described the effort to celebration. McCartney said volunteers engage residents and businesses in en- will help plant the last 19 trees at the hancing the city’s total greenery as trailhead. “community forestry,” using a newer ‘Nature’s air conditioner’ term from forestry science. Thanks to modern technology, McCa“(Community forestry) programs assist citizens with tree and landscape is- rtney can pull up info on every public
tree in Peoria from an app on his phone. The map pinpoints the location of each tree with a bright green tree icon. When McCartney taps an icon, a page with vital stats on the individual tree pops up. One of the data points attached to each tree is an estimated value. A medium-sized tree McCartney selects at Pioneer Community Park is worth about $1,400. McCartney emphasizes that these numbers represent the tree’s replacement value — what it would cost to plant a similar tree if it were lost. The replacement value of Peoria’s trees is $28,576,613, but McCartney said the actual social and economic value of the city’s trees is hard to calculate — and likely much greater than the replacement value. One benefit is cooling, and McCartney called trees “nature’s air conditioner,” helping counteract the heat island effect in cities. The heat island effect is the phenomenon of urban areas experiencing higher temperatures than outlying areas. It’s caused by urban features like pavement and concrete absorbing heat from the sun then re-emitting it more than natural features like water or vegetation would. Scientific studies have pointed to other quality of life and health benefits from being around trees, such as lower blood pressure. One study found that patients with a view of trees from their hospital room had faster recovery times from surgery. Mayor Cathy Carlat pointed to some of these social benefits in a statement unveiling the Right Tree, Right Place partnership. “Trees enhance the overall well-being, livability and character of communities,” Carlat wrote. “The addition of 500 trees, thoughtfully placed in our city, is a tremendous addition to Peoria, and I am pleased to partner with SRP as we work to elevate our community.” PT
