An overview of the status of town trees, past and present
By Lucia Gates
In Belmont, we hold our trees in esteem for their beauty, shade, and the value they add to our property. Our magnificent copper beeches grow throughout town. A wonderful example of these trees stands just east of Cushing Square, along Trapelo Road. Moreover, Belmont has all of the standard Eastern urban trees—callery pears, ginkos, Norway maples—as well as the standard Eastern forest trees—maples, oaks, and pines. One of the most notable trees* is the large dawn redwood growing in back of the town library parking lot. This tree has the potential to reach 165 feet, rising to become the tallest tree in Belmont.
What we often don’t consider when admiring this bounty of trees is the current status of our town trees and what might impact them in the future. As chairman of the Shade Tree Committee, I have had the opportunity to learn some of the answers to these questions firsthand, beginning with how Belmont’s tree history has informed our shade tree policies and canopied our streets.
The katsura trees that line both sides of Stone Street are included on the Shade Tree Committee’s Notable Trees in Belmont 2017 list.* (Sara McCabe photo)
History
Belmont has a long and rich history of tree provenance. Local lore has it that in the early part of the 20th century, workmen from the Arnold Arboretum drove wagons throughout Belmont hawking tree seedlings. Progeny of these trees can still be seen growing throughout town and in neighboring communities. Offspring of the original Waverley Oaks on the western border of town and in Waltham can be seen in the Beaver Brook Reservation. Branching out from there, the Olmsted workshop created plans for the original McLean property, introducing diverse urban and forest trees.
The Waverley Trail at the Beaver Brook Reservation honors the original grove of Waverley Oaks, which in the 1890s inspired the creation of the world’s first land trust and the country’s first public regional park authority. (Mary Bradley photo)
The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 had a powerful impact on Belmont and devastated the town’s trees. Following the storm, the town replaced many downed trees with Norway maples and American elms. By the 1950s, Belmont had a full and lush tree canopy. Many remember it as a time when town streets were shaded over. During this decade, the town halted tree replacement. Unfortunately, the first waves of Dutch elm disease took out many of the elm trees. Norway maples, in urban areas, proved to have short lifespans, often dying out after 60 years, and this die-off is currently affecting our tree canopy. For this reason, they are no longer planted as town trees.
Maintenance and Planting
Belmont has been a designated USA Tree City for over 40 years, and we were one of the first towns in our area to earn that designation. We have kept this honor by maintaining a Shade Tree Committee, providing an ordinance for tree care, funding an annual tree budget as voted by Town Meeting, and observing Arbor Day. We maintain this program through the hard work of the Highway Department, town committees, and the efforts of our town tree warden, Tom Walsh. Tom has been involved with Belmont trees nearly his entire life: his father owned a tree company with a contract to serve Belmont’s trees since the 1940s.
In 1981, when Walsh took over as tree warden, he established a tree-planting program based on diversified tree selections. A common concern of residents was avoiding monoculture tree planting, where only one variety of tree is used. As witnessed with the elms, if this variety fails, the whole forest is lost. Belmont needed to apply a localized method, such as the 10-20-30 rule: no more than 10 percent of any single tree species; no more than 20 percent in any single tree genus; and no more than 30 percent in any single tree family. While this method was not followed in earlier days—as observed in the overplanting of elms and Norway maples—Walsh has planted for diversity. Every year he plants four to five different trees and plants 12 different types of trees over a three-year span.
The Ruth Ippen Tree Walk honors Belmont resident Ippen for her dedication to trees and landscaping. It was created on the southeast side of Clay Pit Pond in 1971 when the high school was built.(Sara McCabe photo)
Copies of the Ruth Ippen Tree Walk map are available at Town Hall or the library. (Map courtesy of Belmont Historical Society)
Current Status
Currently we plant 130 new trees every spring, and in an average year we lose 90 trees to disease, aging, or storm damage. Even with some loss of new trees, we are still increasing our tree stock annually. The March storms of 2018 did extensive damage, and 80 town trees had to be removed, increasing the 2018 tree loss to well over 90 trees. Public safety dictated which trees to remove first. Public Works Director Jay Marcotte requested an additional $60,000 for tree removal by Asplundh (already under contract to the town), and this was approved by the Board of Selectmen as a reserve fund transfer.
Funding for forestry work has been included on town budgets for approximately 40 years. At the last Town Meeting, a total of $270,495 was approved for forestry services in the Highway Department budget. Of this amount, $222,205 is set aside for outside contractors to do the trimming, tree removals, and storm damage work. The remaining funds are used to compensate the tree warden, employ police details, purchase new trees, and cover professional expenses. Because we use Highway Department employees to plant new trees, the available manpower is limited.
In addition to the town budget, new trees are planted in state road replacement projects, such as the Trapelo Road Corridor and the Belmont Center projects. Both Walsh and the Shade Tree Committee consulted extensively with state tree planners on these projects. We were able to veto trees that scatter fruits, nuts, and seeds on sidewalks. We also added trees to their lists, such as the crabapples planted on the north side of the Concord Avenue underpass.
Challenges
Developments such as the current Cushing Square project also affect our urban forest. Removal and replacement of trees in development areas are specified by the Building Department’s permit process in consultation with Walsh.
The copper beech at the Beech Street Center is one of the notable trees from the 2017 list.* (Sara McCabe photo)
Belmont trees still face many challenges. For example, white ash trees, which were once planted extensively throughout the northeast, have suffered from diseases such as ash decline. Remaining ash trees are currently under attack from the emerald ash borer, a beautifully named bug that is fatal to the tree.
To combat the ash borer, the town injected an environmentally safe pesticide into a test stand of trees. These trees, along with all the town ash trees, will be monitored. This is proving successful in other towns, but it is expensive. If the results are positive, the Highway Department, on Walsh’s advice, will recommend that the Board of Selectmen adopt this strategy. The Board of Selectmen will have to decide whether to spend the money on treatments or on tree removal.
Norway maples continue to age throughout town and will continue to be removed as they die. We no longer plant these trees, but they will be with us for a very long time. They produce proliferous seed pods, as any gardener can attest, and they will continue to replant themselves. Another pest, the winter moth, continues to be of concern. Belmont has not seen the extensive damage that other New England areas have and has a long-standing policy of not spraying town shade trees. This problem will continue to be monitored.
In spite of all these concerns, Belmont’s trees, with town support, will continue to be one of our greatest assets into the future.
Lucia Gates is chair of the Belmont Shade Tree Committee and a member of the Belmont Garden Club.
* The Shade Tree Committee’s Notable Trees in Belmont 2017 list can be found on the town website at https://www.belmont-ma.gov/sites/belmontma/files/pages/venerable_trees_2017.pdf.
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