Drive down just about any tree-lined street in Du Page and the chance of encountering the graceful beauty of a weeping willow is slim.
More likely, you`ll find stately red oaks, Norway maples, burr oaks or hackberry trees.
This state of affairs is partly due to nature`s manueverings, but it also reflects choices made by people trained in the strategic placement, nurturing and maintenance of urban or, in this case, suburban trees.
”There is a very large number of municipal foresters in the Chicago region. There are a number of villages that have trained foresters on the staff,” said George Ware, research administrator at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.
And some muncipalities have taken the care and feeding of their trees one step further with the hiring of entire departments devoted to forestry.
”In 1965, there was a separate division created. It started out with a couple of people,” said Elmhurst`s Harold Hoover, the city`s superintendent of forestry. Originally incorporated under the Public Works Department`s umbrella, the Elmhurst Forestry Department became a separate entity, with 15 full-time people on its current staff.
”We remove, trim, plant and care for trees, whatever is needed,” Hoover said. ”Nothing is contracted out for tree care. The town felt early on they wanted their people on it.”
Downers Grove, which does contract for some tree services, has had a forestry department since the early 1970s. Steve Ruffolo, a forester with a degree from the University of Wisconsin in Steven`s Point, heads a staff of seven.
Ruffolo said he`d like to see forestry departments become established as a primary village service.”We try to get the word out that we`re here.
(Forestry programs) are luxury programs for the most part. By getting the word out, we`re trying to show people what we`re doing.”
Ruffolo`s current department budget is about $225,000, not including most personnel costs. About $175,000 of that is divided among contractors, Ruffolo said. ”We feel it`s more cost effective for us. We don`t have to have the larger equipment needed.”
Jack Mitz, formerly an arborist for the Morton Arboretum, became Naperville`s forestry supervisor a year and a half ago. A graduate of the University of Illinois with a forestry degree, Mitz oversees eight forestry crew members.
Mitz` department rarely hires outside contractors to care for Naperville`s trees, he said. ”We have plenty of equipment for doing all the tree work in town,” he said, including a 55-foot aerial tower and three chippers.
The following 11 tree varieties, recommended for planting in Naperville, are commonly found throughout Du Page: bradford pear, burr oak, ginkgo, hackberry, Kentucky coffee tree, little leaf linden, Norway maple, red maple, red oak, sugar maple and zelkova.
They`re selected, Mitz said, on the basis of ”what`s a hardy tree and what`s suitable.”
”Willow trees aren`t desirable. It`s very fast growing and very brittle. It can get into sewers and sidewalks. Certain species are a maintenance problem,” Mitz said.
Species` resistance to disease is an important criterion, Mitz said, particularly in light of the spread of Dutch elm disease that began in the 1950s and substantially diminished elm populations in Chicago`s suburbs.
”It was thought to be immune to just about everything. It was a very hardy tree,” said Meredith Risum, Hinsdale`s tree crew supervisor. ”Some were over 100 years old. Many towns used them. They were the ideal tree, quite majestic, very strong.”
But the disease spread, ignoring village and city boundaries. Hinsdale, one of many towns that had a sizable elm population in 1955 with 7,900 trees, had 3,643 elms remaining by the end of last year.
”Towns that didn`t have a program are virtually wiped out,” Risum said. ”Hinsdale has a little less than half its elms. We do detection and surveillance. We have the guys out on a block-by-block surveillance looking at public trees and private trees. If you can spot them immediately, there`s a chance you`ll save it by amputation.”
Elmhurst, said Hoover, has had an anti-Dutch elm disease program in place since about 1959. ”We`ve got probably a little less than 40 percent of the original elm population,” Hoover said. He credits the program`s aggresiveness with its successful preservation of the remaining trees. ”Elmhurst has jurisdiction over diseased elms on private property. The philosophy is you`ve got to control Dutch elm disease everywhere.”
To prevent a disease from snuffing out a large segment of a town`s trees, most municipal foresters see to it that a variety of species are planted.
”We plant maples, we plant ash, we plant lindens and we plant locust and hackberry, ginkgo and Kentucky coffee,” Risum said. ”We try to replace at least on a one-to-one basis. This past year we planted 250 trees in the parkways and parks.”
Downers Grove is among about a dozen Du Page and western Cook County towns that have joined the Suburban Tree Consortium, a group of municipalities that purchase trees in bulk, and therefore at a savings, through the West Central Municipal Conference.
The consortium provides trees with higher branches and thicker trunks, trees more suitable for suburban use, said Ruffolo. ”Good quality nursery stock is getting more and more in demand. We can get, for example, a certain type of tree that isn`t highly available on the open market.”
Suburban foresters are also charged with getting rid of the dead wood:
trees that have succumbed to disease, old age or a ravaging storm. ”Mainly, they have to decide on the management of what needs to be removed,” Ware, of the Morton Arboretum, said.
This can mean approaching homeowners who have trees that have become hazardous to the surrounding environment. ”The forester has to be somewhat of a diplomat and get along with people,” Ware said. And, ”the forester has to assure that the proper trees are planted to avoid a financial burden.”
Naperville is among several towns that actively encourage residents to improve their property with trees. ”It`s a fifty-fifty cost sharing program,” said Mitz. ”If a resident loses a (parkway) tree the city will remove the tree. Then the city buys a tree and they pay half.” New plantings are typically 14 feet tall, have a 2 1/2-inch diameter trunk and cost between $180 and $200, Mitz said.
Before a tree can be planted, residents must get a parkway tree planting permit from the city. Before applying for the permit, residents are required to check on the location of underground utility locations and stake out the intended site of the tree with a label indicating the size and variety of the tree to be planted.
A list of planting standards issued by the city states that permits won`t be issued for the planting of Chinese elm, box elder, silver maple, tree of heaven, catalpa, willow or poplar trees. The standards also state that trees must be 40 feet apart and be at least 1 3/4 inches in diameter.
”Our mission 10 years ago was just to maintain on a limited basis,”
said Steve Kaar, Naperville`s superintendent of operations and maintenance.
”(Since then) we took a more aggressive approach. It makes much more sense to be proactive rather than reactive. We`ve expanded to remove dead wood and replace trees that died. Years ago, if a tree died, we would cut it down and that was it.”
The city recently sponsored a tree sale in conjunction with Arbor Day and Earth Day. ”We had trees for sale for as little as 50 cents. Our most expensive was a bradford pear at $25,” Kaar said.
”If an owner requests a parkway tree we`ll put it in free,” said Ruffolo, of Downers Grove. ”If space exists, we`ll schedule a tree at the next available time. A call today would get a tree planted in the fall.”
Ruffolo said that certain species thrive in older sections of town while others are more suitable for new housing developments. ”In the new subdivisions, it`s harder to grow trees. The subsoils have been very compacted by machinery. Conditions are just harsher; it`s drier and windier in those areas,” Ruffolo said.
But foresters agree that including trees in the landscape of old or new subdivisions and in commercial areas is important for several reasons.
”Parkway trees actually pay for themselves because there is an inherent value,” said Kaar, who estimated that a single parkway tree can add $2,000 to $5,000 to a property`s value.
Shade, economics and esthetics aside, Ware offers more ecologically based reasons trees are important. ”Every concentration of building is a heat island. The heat island is buffered by the greenery and the trees absorb the heat,” he said, and the leaves themselves are air conditioners because they remove moisture from the air. ”It has been said that one big shade tree is equivalent to three to five air conditioners in a house.
”Trees, in general, tend to intercept rainfall and lessen erosion,”
Ware said. Trees also use up carbon dioxide. ”Of course, carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming.” And trees act as filters, accumulating particulates and thereby contributing to cleaner air, he said.
The trend toward hiring municipal foresters is a healthy one, said Ware.
”It would be timely to say we need more urban foresters in Du Page. I think that there is a growing awareness of the importance of trees and with the growing population, this is an aspect of our infrastructure. They should be considered not a nuisance or cosmetic appurtenance but an integral part of the towns.”
