When I was down at the Stamford Government Center the other day for peace rally, I noticed a sign on all the trees outside of the Government Center.

Public Notice: Tree Removal, originally uploaded by Aldon.

Public Notice
Tree Removal

In accordance with the provisions of Ordinance No. 814- Article 1B Sections (4) and (5), NOTICE is hereby given of intent to remove this tree 30 days from the date of this posting.

When I took the picture of the sign, a security guard came up and told me the trees had to come down because they had termites. I knocked on the wood and it seemed pretty solid to me. The trees looked fairly healthy, so I wondered what this was all about.

Later, I started to receive emails from various people asking why the trees were being removed. People talked about sending letters to the Stamford Advocate, to the Tree Warden, and the Mayor’s office in order to get a public hearing about whether or not the trees should be removed. One person wrote that a person from City Hall said the trees were dead or dying and that was the reason they were getting cut down.

I figured I’d make a few calls myself to see what I could find out. I called the number listed on the form, and got an answering machine. I also called the number of a person on the environmental protection board.

Later in the day, I got a phone call from Erin McKenna, who is a Senior Planner at the City of Stamford’s Land Use Bureau. She provided lots of valuable information. The trees in question, honey locust, are not diseased. They are fine, although they are planted a little too closely together which has hampered their growth. They had been planned to be taken down as part of a project to install a sculpture donated by Rubin Nakian.

The plan is to install the sculpture as part of an overall redesign of the entrance to the Government Center. The new entrance is to be designed by Wesley Stout Associates. They are an award winning landscape design firm, whom I was told are very environmentally conscious. The design should be more attractive and provide better shade.

The current schedule is to wait until the plan is received from the design firm. The plan will then be reviewed internally and then publicly. There will be a public hearing about the removal of the trees, but they are hoping to wait until then plan is available to the public before holding such a hearing.

It all sounds like a good plan to me, and I hope that people who are concerned about the trees get involved and make sure that the plan is environmentally sound and does truly improve the area in front of the Government Center.

Yet I hope things don’t stop there. I had a wonderful discussion with Erin. She graduated from Yale’s School of Forestry in 1996 and went to work in New York City at a Street Planter. She talked about her experiences in New York when the Asian Long Horn Beetle wiped out many of the maple trees in Brooklyn. Her job was to replace them, and in doing so, making sure that there was proper biodiversity established.

She came to Stamford and did an inventory of street trees in downtown Stamford and Shippan. She noted that there is a good variety of trees on Tresser Boulevard. She talked about what a fun project it was, talking to people about the trees, helping them understand how to identify and measure them. She spoke about preparing a manual on how to care for the trees.

Can we take this whole experience and use the energy for something positive, to promote our urban forest? Can we get people to be more concerned about street trees, and make sure they don’t get damaged from too much dog urine? Can we find ways to get people to contribute trees to fill up empty tree pits? Can we get tree pits to be larger so the trees will be healthier?

I look forward to seeing the design. Even more, I look forward to people talking about how we can make Stamford, especially the downtown area, greener.

(Cross posted at the Stamford Independent)