Inventory of Hudson’s public trees is under way

• Tree enthusiasts

Hudson Tree Board member Ken Holman, Public Works and Parks Director Tom Zeuli, forester Kelli Tuttle and Tree Board chairperson John Hoggatt, from left, meet in Birkmose Park to talk about the city’s tree inventory.

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By the end of October, the city of Hudson expects to have a detailed inventory of every tree on public parks and in street right of ways.

Kelli Tuttle of Bluestem Forestry Consulting has been working on the inventory off and on since August.

The Purdue University-trained urban forester is visiting each tree, recording its species and exact location coordinates, along with details about its size, health and maintenance needs, in a handheld global positioning system and computer.

When Tuttle is through with her work, the city’s Public Works and Parks Department will have an urban forest database that it can use to maintain records on individual trees. The database also will assist the city with budgeting and planning its tree-maintenance projects.

In addition, Tuttle is under contract to prepare a five-year management plan for Hudson’s urban forest, as well as an emerald ash borer readiness plan.

“I will have specific recommendations for them as far as how they should be managing their trees,” Tuttle said during an Oct. 10 meeting with a reporter and city officials in Birkmose Park. She’ll offer recommendations on planting, pruning, planting and more.

Public Works and Parks Director Tom Zeuli, city Tree Board chairperson John Hoggatt and Tree Board member Ken Holman also were present.

The emerald ash borer is a green beetle from Asia that was accidentally introduced to North America in the 1990s. Since then, it has killed millions of green ash trees across a swath of the eastern United States.

The ash borer is now in St. Paul and is working its way up the east side of the Mississippi from La Crosse.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is paying half the cost of Hudson’s 2011 urban forestry project, which has a price tag of $27,795.

At the urging of Zeuli, Hudson has applied for and received annual urban forestry grants from the DNR since 2009.

Zeuli was in charge of the removal of American elm trees the city lost to the Dutch elm disease. At last count, he had tallied some 11,000 elms removed, going back to the late 1960s or early ’70s.

He wants the city to be better prepared to deal with the loss of ash trees, which is a major reason why he asked for the tree inventory.

“You can’t really manage until you are aware of what you have -- how many ash you have, how many oak you have,” said Tuttle. “There are several diseases out there right now. You need to know your resource before you can manage properly.”

Zeuli has been working on the application for an urban forestry grant for next year. He’s hoping to receive DNR money to remove vulnerable ash trees, plant new trees and provide chemical protection of some high-value ash trees.

“We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve a little with the removal of some and the treatment of some,” Zeuli said.

Tuttle said there were standing dead ash trees on every street she traveled in Detroit during a visit there six years ago.

Zeuli said Detroit is still reeling from the ash borer invasion. Without proper planning, “It’s a liability, it’s an eyesore, and it’s a financial problem for years and years,” he said of the devastation.

Ken Holman, a Hudson resident who runs the state of Minnesota’s urban forestry program, noted that 90 percent of the trees in a typical city are on private property.

“So by inventorying and developing a management plan for proper care of the public trees, we hope to set an example for the residents in the 90 percent of the land that’s available for planting and maintaining private trees,” Holman said.

Tuttle’s and Zeuli’s advice for homeowners is to plant the right trees for their soil and location, and to plant a variety of species. Having a diversity of tree species prevents losing a majority of them to a single disease or invading insect.

The benefits of trees are well documented. They provide natural air-conditioning in the summer (conserving electricity), increase property values, allow rainwater to infiltrate the ground, reduce runoff and sequester carbon from the air.

“Each tree we have in the city has value,” Zeuli said.

Tuttle estimated that Hudson has about 7,000 trees in its parks and on street right of ways. She said the city is heavy on maples and that it wouldn’t surprise her if ash are the second-most plentiful tree.

Oaks, including some ancient ones, are found primarily in Birkmose and Prospect parks.

Tags: communities, hudson, environment