Dead trees and the Forest City

July 11th, 2008 at 09:59am Linda Grist Cunningham

Dead trees paid for my childhood and my education. My dad was a forester and dead trees paid the bills. Dead trees run through the Register Star press every night to make the newspaper you get on your doorstep. My husband is a forester; so are all three of my brothers. I love dead trees that serve a purpose: wood working, logs for the fire, house building, news print…

I do not, however, love dead trees that fall on power lines and interrupt my electricity, nor the ones that fall on houses, cars and across roads. Dead trees in the country are one thing; dead trees in the city another matter altogether. And, Rockford has a lot of dead trees.

I drive Spring Creek Road to work every day and on Sundays for church. It’s clear that between homeowners and the city public works folks, not a lot of effort is going into maintaining trees. There are dead trees by the dozens, almost-dead trees by the hundreds, and stressed trees by the thousands. One doesn’t notice them so much in the winter, but in full-blown summer, those dead and almost dead trees are skeletons among the leaves. And, those trees are going to come down on power lines, across the road and on someone’s house. For sure. Not a chance they will miss.

In fact, one rainy Sunday a month ago, one of those stressed (not dead mind you) trees just flopped itself across Spring Creek minutes before we reached it.

So, who has to do something? Start with the homeowner: If the trees are on your property, you’re responsible. Cut them down. Take care of them. Whatever it takes because they’re your job. Then, to the city: You need a city forester or someone totally committed to trees. You used to have one and I won’t get all involved in the politics of this, but without someone who knows trees — with the authority and the budget to manage them well — the Forest City won’t be more than Dead Tree Town.

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