When a tree falls in Lake County, does the community make any noise? And if so, how much noise does it make? The answers to these questions will vary, depending on where the tree was rooted.
But tree preservation efforts in all corners of the county have picked up volume in recent years, as citizens have grown more concerned about the environment and as more open space gets eaten up by developments.
One of the most celebrated Lake County tree brouhahas took place back in 1987. Most people will recall when television star Mr. T, shortly after moving into a Lake Forest estate, hired landscapers to chop down a large number of trees in his front yard. The community was outraged.
Now five years after the famous Mr. T. tree encounter, some experts actually credit the actor with saving many more trees in the long run than were cleared from his Green Bay Road residence. Although many tree lovers still shiver at the sound of his name, there is little disagreement that Mr. T. had an impact on tree regulations. Several communities that passed a tree ordinance since 1987, or toughened an existing one, say they were inspired to do so by the highly publicized Lake Forest incident.
Although he offended some neighbors, Mr. T did nothing illegal because Lake Forest`s tree ordinance, 6 years old at that time, prohibited only tree removal from public property, said Lake Forest arborist Dan Reeves.
”He was caught in the act, but he wasn`t violating the law because the trees were on his own land,” he said.
Within a year, incensed Lake Forest residents toughened their tree law to require a permit to remove a tree from front yards and included a $500 minimum fine per violation. ”Even if the tree is on private property, it will affect the look of the whole streetscape if it comes down,” Reeves said.
Mr. T indirectly has ”saved quite a few trees,” Reeves said.
”Sometimes professional cutters see a little damage and advise the homeowner that the whole tree needs to be removed. They are out to make money on the job. Now that a permit is needed to cut down a tree, the city can advise people when there is no reason to cut them down.”
One of the toughest tree ordinances to rise out of the Mr. T. wood pile is Highland Park`s law that requires a permit to remove any tree, even in a back yard.
”This ordinance is working; we are saving trees,” said Highland Park forester Larry King. Any building permit, be it for a shed, driveway, deck or windows, must include a tree preservation plan, King said. Trained tree inspectors examine the site and have the power to alter the plan, or reject it altogether, in the interest of sparing a tree, he said.
One recent victory, King said, was when the city told a man to forget it when he wanted to build a second garage in a grove of oak trees. Before the ordinance, that decision would have been made by ”a building inspector who knew nothing about trees,” he said.
Enforcement is the key to the success of Highland Park`s ordinance, King said. Although it is only 18 months old, several highly publicized charges against alleged violators ”have made the public aware that we are serious,” King said.
”At first the contractors yawned, so we had to stop a few jobs,” King said. He said the city scored a big victory when it fined Hans Suljic, a builder from Niles, $10,000 for cutting down 20 trees that were large enough to require a permit for cutting, and the case was upheld in court.
Not every case has fallen so neatly in place for the city. An August 1991 incident in which a resident allegedly improved her view of Lake Michigan by having 50 mature trees cut from city land and a neighbor`s property still languishes in court, King said.
Sometimes the tables are turned, and citizens come to the aid of a tree that is going to be removed by a government agency. One such incident happened earlier this year in Deerfield when a village street and sewer project on Wilmot Road threatened the lives of two giant bur oak trees, about 60 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter at the trunk.
Orange markings on the trees` trunks alerted neighbors that the trees were targeted for removal, and citizens took on city hall. The fight was led by Deerfield resident Linda Cummens, who argued to village officials that a tree that size is worth $171,000, taking into account what it provides in pollution control, oxygen, shade, beauty and water control.
In the end, the citizens won. After consulting experts, village officials agreed to halt the ax and allocated $25,000 to move the sewers around the trees. The incident so riled Cummens that she almost single-handedly is waging a campaign to pass a tree ordinance in Deerfield.
”Trees are our heritage for the future, and people just don`t realize their value,” said Cummens, whose appreciation for trees has roots in her youth, growing up on an apple orchard in Michigan. Cummens is researching tree ordiances from other towns and said she plans to present an ordinance to the Deerfield Village Board.
Towns, such as Lincolnshire and Highland Park, that require homeowners to obtain permits to remove trees on their property learn about violations when neighbors or patroling police report that a tree is being removed. The address is checked to see if a permit has been issued. But policing private lawns is a boundary some towns, such as Gurnee and Barrington, say they prefer not to cross, even though developers in those towns are subject to tree-removal regulations.
”It`s hard to tell people what to do on their own property, agreed Reeves, who said that is why Lake Forest does not regulate backyard tree removals.
Officials also say they are careful not to be overzealous in their protection efforts. ”We tell people we are out to save trees, not to fine people. They`re beginning to understand,” Reeves said.
Even Highland Park, with its strict regulations, does not believe all trees will be spared the ax, King said. ”We are not trying to stop building in Highland Park,” King said. ”But we do want people to step back and look for a better way.”
”The beauty of our ordinance is that citizens wrote it so there is little objection,” King said. ”The movement began in the mid-`80s, but really got rolling after Mr. T.”
Chuck Stewart, president of Urban Forest Management, a firm that acts as a consultant regarding trees, said business increased after the Lake Forest destruction drew attention to trees. ”People`s reaction was proper: You don`t grow 80-foot oak trees overnight,” Stewart said.
But that one tree-downing incident is not solely responsible for increased tree protection in recent years, said Stewart, who is a consultant to several Lake County towns, including Bannockburn, Lincolnshire and Riverwoods. The trend is also a response to the development around
metropolitan areas. As urban sprawl cuts into open areas such as Lake County, communities have recognized that trees are an asset they need to protect.
For that reason, many local tree ordinances target developers. In Barrington, for example, developers seeking approval to build on a site must submit a tree survey and a plan for how the trees will be protected during the construction, said Barrington forester Mike Szymanski.
”Our level of expectations to protect trees is extremely high,” he said. ”A tree`s chance of surviving a construction project can range from 5 percent to 95 percent depending on how it is treated. A lot can be done to increase the odds.”
Preservation steps such as root pruning in advance of a project, and fertilizing and mulching at the end, have become common measures required on construction projects, according to Stewart, whose company helps communities develop and enforce tree ordinances. And trees are no longer ripped out to clear a path for heavy construction equipment, he said.
”But there is no perfect ordinance, because when it comes to trees there are a lot of gray areas,” Stewart said. One ordinance, for example, required developers to pay an assessment for each tree that would be cut down, no matter what size or type, he said.
When a developer wanted to build an apartment building at a seven-acre site that was filled with 3-inch box elders, the assessment turned out to be more than the value of the property, Stewart said. ”They rewrote the ordinance,” he said, weakening it because box elders are among a group of trees that are not considered prime trees.
Developers find that tiptoeing around trees and their roots presents them with a whole new challenge. Construction equipment gets limited access on wooded lots, said Russell McElwain, co-owner of Inverness Development, which is developing Chatau Bourn, a 10-acre wooded site in Barrington. ”It makes it difficult to get the spoil out and the fill in.”
”You have to have control over your subcontractors,” McElwain advised. ”They`re sloppy. They need to know up front what`s expected of them and that we`ll back-charge them if we are fined.”
Although it adds costs to a project, developers say time and dollars spent on tree preservation are good for their bottom line in the end.
”Homeowners want wooded lots, so we see trees as desirable,” Russell said.
