Trees New Haven Update

From the City of New Haven:
The City of New Haven Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees is continuing to sponsor the Trees New Haven Program. Residents are allowed to trim street trees with the permission or the Tree Warden, Christy Hass and the Urban Forester, Fernando Lage. Residents can also plant a street tree (I have included a list of recommended trees) in the tree belt area adjacent to their homes. We have applied for a grant from the New England Parks Association to fund this program so that we can purchase trees for families that would like to plant a tree.

A new tree planting program has been established during the fall of 2008. It is a Street Tree Replacement and Planting Program. Any homeowners interested in obtaining replacement street trees for the tree belt in front of their homes may contact Urban Resource Initiative. This Yale University-based program handles this effort for the stewardship for the urban forest. The Street Tree Replacement and Planting Program is also called the Green Skills Program. The Parks Department provides funds for trees to be planted throughout the city. The partnership with the city and Urban Resource Initiative is extended to include students from Common Ground High School. The students are taught the proper practices and procedures for tree planting and during the fall of 2008 planted more than 100 trees. Neighbors that have requested the Parks Department to replace their street trees are contacted by URI and thy can choose from the list of recommended trees. The neighbors must agree to care for the tree and they are also encouraged to help with the planting In a ceremony at the Carousel at Lighthouse Park in October, the mayor read a Proclamation that honored the work of the Green Skills Program and the Arbor Day tree planting in the Hill neighborhood. This Proclamation along with other information about New Haven's tree planting efforts was sent to the Arbor Day Foundation requesting that the City of New Haven be named as a "Tree City USA". We should hear by March of 2009 if we will receive that honor.

Recommended Street Trees for Adopt-a-Tree Program
Trees for planting under low overhead utility wires
Acer Buergeranum (Trident Maple)
Acer campestre (Hedge Maple)
Prunus Serrulata 'Kwanzan' (Kwanzann Cherry)
Prunus Sargentii 'Columnaris' (Columnar Sargent Cherry)
Syringa Reticulata 'Ivory Silk', 'Regent', 'Summer Snow' (Japanese Tree Lilac)

Trees for planting if there are no under low overhead utility wires
Acer rubrum 'Armstrong', 'October Glory', 'Red Sunset', (Red Maple)
Acer rubrum 'Columnare' (Upright Red Maple)
Acer saccharum 'Green Mountain' (Green Mountain Sugar Maple)
Carpinus betulus 'Fastiguata' / 'Columnaris' (Fastigate or Columnar European Hornbeam) Fraxinus pensylvanica "Marshall's Seedless", "Newport" Patmore (Green Ash)
Gleditsia triacanthos infermis 'Skyline', 'Shademaker', 'Continental', 'Green Glory' (Thornless Honeylocust)
Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer', 'Aristocrat', 'Redspire', 'Callery Pear'
Tilia Cordata 'Greenspire', 'Salem' (Littleleaf Linden)
Ulmus x 'Homestead' Homestead Elm (American elm)
Zelkova Serrata 'Village Green', 'Green Vase' (Japanese Zelkova)

Trees not to plant
Silver Maple
Norway Maple
Bradford Pear
London Plane Tree
American Sycamore

--Martha Alexander