2008 flooding kills trees in Janesville parks
To help
The city of Janesville's memorial tree-planting program works like this:
A potential donor chooses a tree type, and city staff price it at a local nursery. Cost depends on the market but is generally $150 to $250 dollars. If the donor agrees on the price, the tree is bought and planted.
A donor may choose also to buy a plaque to honor or commemorate someone, but the plaque is not required. Bronze plaques typically cost about $150 and are embedded in a concrete block at the base of the tree, Presny said.
For more information, call the Janesville Park Division office, (608) 755-3025.
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A pair of dead arbor vitae in Janesville’s Riverside Park stand in stark contrast to a nearby living specimen. The trees succumbed to having their root systems constantly saturated during last summer’s flooding on the Rock River.
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Although this tree in Traxler Park is starting to leaf out, saturated root systems can slowly suffocate a tree. Janesville has lost dozens of trees to last summer’s flooding.
JANESVILLE — Janesvillians visiting their parks this spring might notice that the views have changed.
Something's missing.
It's the trees.
Last summer's floods—perhaps with the help of this spring's flooding—killed off about 50 trees and large shrubs, mostly in Monterey, Riverside and Traxler parks, said Tom Presny, city parks director.
Flooding cuts off tree roots' access to vital oxygen. But trees might die slowly, and the effects of flooding sometimes aren't known until the next year.
The local losses include oaks, maples, white pine and white cedar, also known as arbor vitae, Presny said. They ranged in age from 10 years to fully mature.
Trees that shaded the Rock Aqua Jays building at Traxler Park for 40 years or more are gone, for example, Presny said.
Presny estimated the loss would add up to about $1,000 a tree, at minimum. That's based on the cost to buy a 25-foot-tall tree and the cost of tree-transplanting equipment and work.
The city could go with smaller replacements. The smallest tree the city plants has a diameter of 2.5 inches at breast height. Any smaller, and they can be easily damaged, Presny said. The smaller trees cost $150 to $250 apiece.
While the city did get federal flood-relief funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA does not cover landscaping losses, Presny said.
Presny said one lesson from the flooding is that the city should select flood-resistant trees when it replaces those that were lost.
Some of the most flood-resistant trees are red maple, black ash, green ash, Eastern larch, black willow and baldcypress, according to an Iowa State University publication.
Speaking of flood-resisters, those massive cottonwoods at Traxler Park are doing fine, Presny said.
May 13, 2009 at 7:52 a.m.
Suggest removal
An important thing to consider now is that trees are living, and dying, things that need to be nurtured. When necessary they need to be replaced. Given current economic conditions a small dontation toward replacements would be an excellent way to keep our "City of Parks" beautiful. The Parks or J-STAC will put a small donation to good use repopulating these flood damaged areas.
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