Parks and Public Landscaping Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2024 12 04

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A key strategy for long-term urban forest health is diversification of tree species. The Ash trees are being replaced with 13 different species of deciduous trees in varying sizes. It's also important to recognize that many trees in the right-of-way along both sides of the streets are also Ash species. The hope is that proactively replacing the median trees now allows time for growth prior to potential future loss of Ash trees of each side of the streets. This strategy creates a phased replacement as opposed to needing replacement an entire corridor's trees at once. Other common questions we're hearing: 1) Q: Why Via Appia and not X, Y or Z street? A: This is phase one of a multi -year project. The goal is to work through all medians in town as funding allows. Additionally, City forestry is already working on other streets and right-of-ways through separate funding. Phase one (88th, Via Appia, McCaslin) was identified as a capital funded project and made the priority due to fire damage, or proximity to fire impacted areas. 2) Q: Why not treat the Ash trees against the borer with trunk injections? A: Forestry is treating some trees in town to extend their life. Due to City commitments to strict pesticide regulations, treatments must be made with a more expensive version of the chemicals that make treatment cost prohibitive at a city-wide scale. While chemical treatments can offer good short-term benefits, the best long-term strategy for EAB (and other emergent threats) is the diversification of tree species. 3) Q: I didn't vote for this, why didn't you ask my opinion before performing the project? A: The project has been in the works since 2019. Multiple rounds of designs went through the citizen -led Parks and Public Landscape Advisory Board (PPLAB) and was ultimately approved and funded by City Council in spring of 2023. Sample E-Mail Response: Below is a copy of our standard email response, which attempts to summarize all of the above information. Dear <Resident>, The tree removal is part of the City's median landscape renovation proiect which has multiple aesthetic and sustainability goals. These include: removal of fire damaged landscape, conversion of bluegrass turf to native grasses, introduction of xeric and pollinator friendly plantings and diversification of trees species for long term canopy health. The antiquated irrigation systems are also being upgraded to more efficient technologies. The current phase of work includes medians along 88th near Dillon, Via Appia between the skate park and Church Lane and McCaslin between Via Appia and Washington Ave. All the trees being removed are Ash trees that were damaged (or susceptible to future damage) from the emerald ash borer. To stay ahead of the EAB, we are proactively removing of some currently healthy Ash trees for the purpose of replanting with more diverse range of tree species and to enable the other objectives of the project (turf conversion, irrigation upgrades, etc). In terms of project process and approval, this project has been in the works since 2019 in various forms. Most recently, plans went through the City's citizen -led Parks and Public Landscape Advisory Board (PPLAB) in 2022/23 with City Council approving funding in late 2022. The final plans and approval was issued by Council in May following a competitive bidding process for the work. If you're curious as to what the future installation will look like, you can check out the recently installed median on 88th and Dillon. Thanks for reaching out and let me know if you have follow-up questions. 10