| Home | Gateways | Academics | Admission | Directories | Site Index | SEARCH: |
Picking the Right Tree
Going Green
Going Green: Picking the Right Tree
Nothing enhances an urban neighborhood like healthy trees and the New York DEC wants to help cities across the state plant more of them. Trees not only help beautify communities, they’re also very effective air filters and can dramatically reduce temperatures during the summer. The key is to plant the right tree in the right place as Dr. Don Leopold at SUNY-ESF explains.
“Some of our favorite trees, like our state tree, the Sugar Maple, a beautiful tree but when it’s in an urban setting it just cannot handle the compacted soil, the rather extreme conditions in terms of drying conditions and they especially can’t tolerate salinity.”
And size is a very important factor.
“Well if you’re not really sure about the size of the tree in relation to your lot it’s probably not a bad idea to compromise and go with a typically medium-sized tree like the River Birch for example. It never gets to be a monster tree that yellow poplar does.”
This is a River Birch, one of the trees Don suggested that adapts very well to an urban setting. There are other trees however that can cause real problems as he explains.
“There are a lot of trees that one should stay away from regardless of how much room they have and no matter what they want and those are the trees that are ending up on the invasive species list of many states, including New York, and a great example is the Norway maple. It certainly provides excellent shade but little else and it’s invading all our woodlands.”
Now if you would like additional technical information about adding trees to your community please visit the SUNY-ESF Urban Forestry website. Also, keep in mind that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Urban Forestry Grant deadline is coming up this June 4th.
I’m Terry Ettinger for Going Green.
