Cincinnati, Ohio, Enquirer, January 21, 2021: Customs seizes mislabeled shipment of 21 small trees from China in Cincinnati
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati say they recently seized a deliberately mislabeled shipment of 21 small trees from China. Likely intended to become Bonsai trees, they were labeled as a bracket, a vacuum pump and a pamphlet in a shipment purportedly from an electronics company in Shenzhen, China, headed to an individual in Brooklyn, New York, a customs news release said. “Specialists noted the trees were layered with various coverings – fabric padding, black plastic, bubble wrap, and, finally, tightly bound with colored tape – presumably as an effort to circumvent inspection,” the release said. The trees did not have a certificate from China attesting to the health of the trees as required for their importation, the release said, and were destroyed by customs officials…
Boston, Massachusetts, Globe, January 21, 2021: Boston scraps plans for Melnea Cass Boulevard following uproar over potential removal of trees
Boston officials have discarded a plan to revamp Melnea Cass Boulevard in Roxbury following last year’s community uproar over a proposal to remove scores of trees that line the roadway. In a Thursday letter to the community, city officials said they remain committed to crafting a new plan to make the road safer, enhance its open space, and increase “resilience in an area prone to flooding.” “We are confident that this process will realize a final design that reflects the aspirations and needs of the communities abutting the corridor,” read the letter, which was signed by Chris Cook, the city’s environment chief, Karilyn Crockett, the city’s equity chief, and Chris Osgood, the city’s streets chief. The city’s decision came as welcome news to Tomiqua Williams, a community activist who said she wanted the area to be kept “as green as possible,” something that would help residents’ mental health. “That’s awesome that they’re listening to the community,” Williams said…
Spokane, Washington, The Spokesman-Review, January 21, 2021: Gardening: Late-blooming apricot tree varieties suited for Spokane region
I love apricots! My favorite way to eat them is as apricot pineapple jam. The sweet apricot blends beautifully with the tangy pineapple, especially on a piece of homemade bread. Unfortunately, apricots aren’t the easiest tree to grow in our region. They often bloom very early in the spring and get hit by frost which kills the flower. Take heart though, with careful variety selection, you can assure yourself of a good harvest most years. The key to selecting the right variety is to look for ones that bloom later than other apricots. Normally, apricots bloom at the end of April. Late-blooming varieties bloom closer to mid-May, a timeframe that can avoid the last of the killing frosts. Another characteristic to watch for is whether the variety is self-fertile or needs another apricot variety nearby to cross pollinate with. Here are a few late blooming varieties to look for. All are hardy to USDA Zone 4 and all are late bloomers. Canadian White Blenheim, as its name indicates, was developed in Canada, which is much colder than Spokane with later springs. This tree is partially self-pollinating, so it needs to be planted with another late blooming variety for a heavy crop. Any of the varieties listed below will work. The challenge is whether you have room for two trees in your garden. If fully pollinated, the tree bears a heavy crop in late summer and has gold orange skin around firm, sweet white flesh. The fruit can be eaten fresh, canned, dried or made into jam…
Wellesley, Massachusetts, Wicked Local, January 21, 2021: Real Estate Advice: Trying to save a screen of trees
Q: The association board in my condominium complex is planning to cut down a bunch of trees behind my unit. The trees are not especially pretty trees, but they do provide me with a lot of privacy and shade, and do not present any danger to the building. Since this decision mainly affects me, is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?
A: Before I discuss the recourse part of your question, have you talked to the board to find out why they are taking down the trees? Are the trees infected with something? Are they hosting pests of some sort? Also, is the board planning to replace the trees with some other type of trees, bushes, landscaping, etc., or just planning on leaving the area clear? If they are planning on replacing the trees with another type of tree, it might work out all right for you. Whatever the reason the board has decided to take down the trees, it should be noted that condo association boards, in general, have wide latitude in governing the association. But just because board members have broad authority to handle the affairs of the association does not mean that they are infallible or always make the best decision. Sometimes they make poor decisions…
Portland, Oregon, Oregon Public Broadcasting, January 21, 2021: Whither Eastside Screens? New guidelines allow cutting larger trees east of the Cascades
New federal guidelines allow cutting large trees that have been off-limits to logging for nearly three decades across 8 million acres of Eastern Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service last week approved amendments to what’s known as the Eastside Screens, a plan to manage old-growth forests, rivers and streams, wildlife habitat, and more for six national forests east of the Cascades. The amendments do away with the “21-inch rule,” which prohibited cutting trees larger than 21 inches in diameter and safeguarded many of the oldest trees. Rob Klavins, Northeast field coordinator for the conservation group Oregon Wild, said axing the rule removes “the only real meaningful protections for old-growth forests in Eastern Oregon.” “The logging lobby has been trying to kill old-growth protections for 25 years,” he said. “And the Trump administration just gave them what they wanted.” The Forest Service made its decision in the name of wildfire preparedness. Decades of aggressive fire suppression has left many Northwest forests overgrown with hazardous fuel. Ochoco National Forest supervisor Shane Jeffries said the 21-inch rule made it difficult to remove fire-prone species like grand fir and white fir without a lengthy regulatory process…
Entomology Today, January 20, 2021: The Warmer the Better: Gloomy Scale Can Be a Big Problem on Urban Landscape Trees
Few would dispute that scale insects are not exactly the “charismatic megafauna” of the insect world: They’re small, largely immobile, and often go unnoticed by the untrained eye. These insects feed by tapping their long mouthparts down into cells to extract plant fluids. Many different species of scale are common on trees, both in natural and more managed areas. In most cases—especially in natural areas—scales do little to no measurable damage. However, trees in urban landscapes are particularly susceptible to injury from scale insects for a variety of factors. To learn more about the implications of gloomy scale (Melanaspis tenebricosa), I spoke to the authors of a new article published in December in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management that highlights the ecology and management of this pest on landscape trees. Michael G. Just, Ph.D., now a research ecologist at the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center, is lead author on the paper and conducted research on gloomy scale while a postdoctoral research fellow at North Carolina State University (NCSU)…
Q: There are a lot of scale species. What makes gloomy scale stand out from the others?
A: The fact that they don’t stand out. I mean, they can be pretty hard to detect on red maples, as they are a similar color to the host’s bark and they don’t move much. (Female adults do not move at all). Also, when compared to some other insect pests, they are not very flashy when it comes to tree damage. They will not denude a canopy in a single season. Instead, they are a chronic pest and it takes some time before host damage is easily spotted. They are also notable because after being described as one of the most important enemies of shade trees in North Carolina, there was a pause on gloomy scale research for almost a hundred years…
Everett, Washington, Herald, January 20, 2021: Madrone tree to make way for bigger McDonald’s in Oak Harbor
An Oak Harbor woman had hoped to save a large Pacific madrone tree that is slated be cut down to accommodate planned demolition and expansion of the city’s McDonald’s restaurant. Despite being named a Tree City USA by The Arbor Foundation for the 17th year in a row, the City of Oak Harbor has no special protection in place for the native tree species, Arbutus menziesii, commonly referred to as the madrona. Carol Johnston works as a dental hygienist in a building next to McDonald’s and has watched the tree grow for the last 14 years. “I love this tree. It’s probably the biggest in Oak Harbor,” Johnston said, referring to the madrone. The large, orange-skinned madrone tree is next to the drive-thru line. Johnston can see it from her window and noted that many patients comment on its beauty when they come in for a cleaning. The multi-trunk tree is likely between 25-30 feet tall and has a diameter of more than 12 inches…
Mountain Home, Arkansas, Baxter Bulletin, January 20, 2021: Almost time to prune fruit trees
Fruit trees should be pruned every year just before the beginning of active growth to maintain their health, encourage balanced growth and productivity, and control their size and shape. When you plant a fruit tree, you should be dedicated to giving the tree proper care and pruning to maximize both fruit quality and quantity throughout the life of the tree. Understanding the principles of pruning and practicing them are important. The objectives of tree pruning are (1) to develop strong tree structure: This should begin when trees are planted and continue each year thereafter; (2) provide for light penetration: Good light quality throughout the tree increases fruit bud development for following years and increases the quality of the current crop; (3) control tree size: Most fruit trees require pruning to control branch spread as well as tree height. This also serves to encourage new growth that will result in new fruit-bearing areas; (4) remove damaged wood: Some wood damage occurs almost every year from such things as wind damage, fruit weight, winter injury and disease and insects…
Moraga, California, Lamorinda Weekly, January 20, 2021: Thousands of dead trees pose extreme fire risk in Lamorinda
You do not have to drive very far in Lamorinda before you see dead or dying trees. “I removed thousands of dead trees in Lamorinda last year,” said Brian Gates of Expert Tree Service in Orinda. “By summer, there will be thousands more.” And that is precisely what officials of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District fear: That thousands of dead trees, particularly Monterey pines, will mar the district landscape, adding yet another hazard to a potentially catastrophic fire season ahead. The problem of dead and dying trees is not restricted to the summer. Tom Smith of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection toured the Northern California region in December, stunned at the number of sick and dying bay laurel and Monterey pine trees. “There is a lot of death and destruction here,” he said. Residents of Moraga and Orinda have recently reported hundreds of these dead trees to the fire district. “There was enough of an uptick that we took notice,” said MOFD Fire Marshal Jeff Isaacs, who plans to ramp up enforcement of tree removal this year. “Dead trees equal dead fuel. Even a healthy Monterey pine drops a lot of material, and it can land on a roof. When Monterey pines are dying, it’s dead fuel dropping.” Adding to the nuisance value of Monterey pine trees, the U.S. Forest Service says that Monterey pine wood is light, soft, and coarse grained, with little commercial value in the United States except as fuel wood…
American Association for the Advancement of Science, January 19, 2021: Aphids suck: Invasive aphid found on Danish apple trees
The spirea aphid, Aphis spiraecola, an invasive pest, has been discovered for the first time in Denmark by University of Copenhagen researchers. The extent of its current distribution remains unknown, but in time, it could prove to be a troublesome pest for Danish apple growers. Whether the discovery of this aphid in Denmark is an isolated incident, or if the species has made itself at home due to a milder climate, remains unknown to the researchers. Closer investigation is needed. In a collaboration with colleagues at the University of Budapest, University of Copenhagen researchers have analysed and compared a number of samples of green aphids from apples around the world and discovered a new apple-loving pest in Denmark. The bright greenish yellow spirea aphid–Aphis spiraecola– which most likely originates in East Asia, has gradually become a widespread pest in tropical and temperate regions around the planet. While it is especially problematic for citrus and apple trees, it can attack many other plant species. The aphid has been in the United States for the last 100 years and was discovered in Mediterranean countries in 1939. However, the spirea aphid has never been witnessed in the Nordic countries before…
Coastal News Today, January 19, 2021: Houston’s Newest Heroes Are Native ‘Super Trees’ With Special Eco-Powers
Deer and bobcat have left tracks in the mud. Coyotes have dropped furry scat. Hawks soar overhead.The Port of Houston built the berm, a 2.6-mile-long, 20-foot-high ridge that curves from about Texas 146 to Galveston Bay, to buffer the communities of Seabrook and Jardin del Mar and preserve nearby natural areas from the sights and sounds of its busy Bayport Container Terminal. A massive land development is now under construction on the terminal side. But wildlife sights and sounds appear to be increasing, too. The berm sits along the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, an important stop for migrating and overwintering birds. Before heavy industry arrived, the whole area was a wildlife paradise. Patches of it still are. Armand Bayou Nature Center is nearby, and other surprisingly lush pockets of undisturbed marshland and woods lie between the berm and Galveston Bay.It isn’t so obvious yet, but volunteers have planted about 2,500 native tree saplings on the berm since July. And that number will double by the end of March, says Deborah January-Bevers, the president and CEO of Houston Wilderness, a nonprofit founded in 2002 to support and coordinate the work of many partners who want to preserve and promote the 10 diverse eco-regions that lie within the Houston metro region’s 13 counties…
Dublin, Ireland, The Independent, January 20, 2021: The Scots Pine is a native Irish conifer tree
The Scots Pine grows widely throughout Europe and Asia. Its distribution range extends eastwards from western Europe to the eastern extremity of Russia, northwards to Scandinavia and southwards to the chain of mountains stretching from the Pyrenees and Alps to the Balkans in central Bulgaria. Where the tree thrives, it often forms dense forests, an outstanding example being the old Caledonian pine forest of the Scottish Highlands where the species is the dominant tree; hence its name and its special link to Scotland. Pines are a family of evergreen trees distinguished by their scaly buds, the structure of their cones and the way their needle-like leaves are borne spirally. The number of needles is always two, three or five. Scot’s Pine is a two-needle species. It used to be believed that Scots Pine was not native to Ireland and that our pine trees were all imported from Scotland. From research carried out by scientists based in Trinity College Dublin we now know that that Scots Pine is native to Ireland and was living here thousands of years before the any trees were imported from Scotland…
New Orleans, Louisiana, Times-Picayune, January 18, 2021: Arbor Day: Plant trees for the environment and the senses
Events to observe Arbor Day are under way in St. Tammany Parish, with more than 1,000 tree seedlings expected to be distributed and planted this year. Arbor Day began in 1872 and has continued as an annual project that encourages people to plant trees. It is held during the optimal planting season, which varies across the country. In Louisiana, Arbor Day is observed the third Friday in January. Catherine Casanova, arborist and landscape inspector with the city of Mandeville, agreed that now is the time to plant trees. “When it’s so cold outside you don’t know if you can dig a hole,” it is time, she said. “We want people to take a tree and plant a tree wherever you can.” Mandeville, Covington and Slidell are among 12 designated as a Tree City by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Tree giveaways are held annually in each location, and more than 400 bare root seedlings have already been distributed during a drive-thru at Fritchie Park…
Flagstaff, Arizona, Associated Press, January 18, 2021: Predicted Arizona dry year could impact trees, cause fires
Experts have predicted another dry year for Arizona following 2020, when the driest year on record stressed forests across the state’s northern region. The dry conditions could have significant impacts on the health of trees and increase wildfire danger, Arizona Daily Sun reported Saturday. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Flagstaff experienced only 9.56 inches (24 centimeters) of precipitation in 2020. Coconino County, which reaches to the northern border with Utah and includes Grand Canyon National Park, experienced what was termed an exceptional drought. Ponderosa pine forests across northern Arizona are already stressed by overgrown forests and a warming climate. Adding drought can be “a little bit of a one-two punch,” said Andrew Sanchez Meador, executive director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University…
International Business Times, January 18, 2021: Oak Trees Take Root In Iraqi Kurdistan To Help Climate
Delband Rawanduzi spoke softly to her oak seedlings, as if willing them to grow fast and repopulate forests in Iraqi Kurdistan depleted by war, illegal logging and fires. Over the next five years, the 26-year-old aims to plant one million oaks — resilient trees that can endure both the cold of northern Iraq and the dry spells of one of the world’s hottest countries. Her plan is taking root in her native Kurdistan. In a pilot project late last year “we planted 2,000 oak trees. And in the upcoming autumn we will plant 80,000,” said Rawanduzi, a hiker and rock climber. She has mobilised visitors and shepherds who collect oak seeds from the mountains, which are then planted in two greenhouses donated by a private university in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil. Once the young seedlings grow into a saplings, they are re-planted in mountain areas selected by the Kurdish agriculture ministry…
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The Advocate, January 18, 2021: Lichens can be a sign a tree or shrub is stressed
Now that the majority of our deciduous plants have dropped their leaves, you may notice gray growths on the trunks of some trees and shrubs in your landscape. Most likely, these are lichens, which, while not harmful themselves, can be a sign a plant is being stressed. Lichens are rarely found on healthy, vigorous trees. But remember that lichens do not cause the problem; they just benefit from unfortunate situations. Because lichens photosynthesize, they prefer sunlight and moisture provided by trees that have suddenly lost leaves or branches. More light can reach the trunk surface where lichens have set up camp, encouraging them to grow. You can lightly prune damaged branches to stimulate new branch growth. This helps establish a fuller canopy. Try to identify and address stressors such as drought, poor drainage, plant competition, root stress, soil compaction, poor nutrition and improper soil pH. Insects and diseases as well as injury from trimmers, poor planting techniques and chemical injury from herbicides also can cause plants to decline…
Los Angeles, California, Times, January 17, 2021: Consortium wants to cut down L.A. County Arboretum trees to make room for storm water treatment
Officials at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden are in an uproar over a plan to manage storm water and boost climate resiliency by cutting down “specimen trees” — some 70 years old and more than 100 feet tall — to make room for groundwater recharge ponds and a pump station. The strategy was crafted by a consortium of five foothill cities and Los Angeles County Public Works. They believe a portion of the 127-acre paradise of flowering trees and shrubs in Arcadia, which draws more than 500,000 visitors each year, is conveniently located to capture, clean and store storm water pumped out of the nearby Arcadia Wash. Construction of the facility that would consume up to 4 acres of the arboretum’s Australia section could begin within a year or two, according to the group, which comprises the cities of Arcadia, Bradbury, Duarte, Monrovia and Sierra Madre, plus the county. In the meantime, opponents led by executives of the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1947 to raise financial support for the botanic garden, are sounding the alarm…
Springfield, Massachusetts, Masslive, January 19, 2021: Springfield police asked the city to cut back trees; lawyers claim it sabotaged a drug suspect’s defense
Terrence D. Gaskins and his lawyer Lisa J. Steele contend the police department’s request for the city forester to trim trees on Fort Pleasant Avenue — one day after the court ordered police to arrange a site visit for the defense team — amounted to the “destruction of exculpatory evidence” that could have been favorable to Gaskins’ defense at trial. Springfield police spokesman Ryan Walsh said the allegations are empty, and that the department’s request to trim the trees had nothing to do with Gaskins’ case. The tree work was done, he said, to improve visibility after a surveillance camera was installed in response to a string of shootings. Attorneys for Gaskins have made the argument twice before, and it has been rejected both times. Once was at Gaskins’ May 2019 jury trial, where he was found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail. The trial judge at the time expressed doubts about the timing of the police request and whether it was coincidental, but allowed the case to continue. The other time was last month, when the state Court of Appeals upheld the guilty verdict and rejected Gaskins’ bid to have it tossed out…
Chicago, Illinois, WBBM-TV, January 16, 2021: 311 Calls To Trim Dangerous Trees Are Being Marked ‘Completed,’ Sometimes With Claims There’s ‘No Tree’
We’ve reported on stories across the city of 311 requests being marked completed before the job was done – from trash cleanup to an abandoned car. Now, as CBS 2’s Tim McNicholas reported, a South Side alderman says the same thing has been happening in his ward with tree-trimming requests. “These are the ones that keep falling off,” said Selene Arroyo as she showed us branches on a tree. And Arroyo knows money doesn’t grow on trees. “I can’t spend my savings on unnecessary things,” she said. She said the tree at 56th Street and Hoyne Avenue in West Englewood is costing her money. “I have called several times because the branches keep falling,” Arroyo said. “They’ve actually broken two of my windshields already, and an antenna. Records from 311 show a June 10 tree-trimming request at Arroyo’s address. In November, the request was marked “completed” in 311, but she said no one ever trimmed the tree. In fact, a city worker even noted “no tree.” Arroyo wishes that were true…
Bangor, Maine, Daily News, January 15, 2021: Maine wants to pay landowners to fight climate change with their trees
Denis Gallaudet is a retired banker, so he knows the value of things. Take, for example, his trees. There is value in the carbon that his 25-acre woodlot in the town of Cumberland sucks out of the atmosphere and converts into lengthening branches and thickening trunks. That’s because large companies, including Amazon and Disney, are willing to pay landowners for tree growth in order to offset their own carbon emissions. But Gallaudet, a member of Sierra Club Maine, can’t sell his carbon because it’s not financially feasible. The markets where sequestered carbon are bought and sold, including California’s “cap and trade” market, are only available to forest landowners with tens of thousands of acres, due to the high costs of quantifying and verifying projected carbon sequestration in trees. That could soon change. A variety of groups are ramping up efforts to open up the multi-billion dollar carbon offset market to small forest landowners. They want their efforts to financially boost small landowners while also enlisting more corporate polluters to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change on the nation’s most forested state…
London, UK, The Guardian, January 15, 2021, One, two, tree: how AI helped find millions of trees in the Sahara
When a team of international scientists set out to count every tree in a large swathe of west Africa using AI, satellite images and one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, their expectations were modest. Previously, the area had registered as having little or no tree cover. The biggest surprise, says Martin Brandt, assistant professor of geography at the University of Copenhagen, is that the part of the Sahara that the study covered, roughly 10%, “where no one would expect to find many trees”, actually had “quite a few hundred million”. Trees are crucial to our long-term survival, as they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global heating. But we still do not know how many there are. Much of the Earth is inaccessible either because of war, ownership or geography. Now scientists, researchers and campaigners have a raft of more sophisticated resources to monitor the number of trees on the planet. Satellite imagery has become the biggest tool for counting the world’s trees, but while forested areas are relatively easy to spot from space, the trees that aren’t neatly gathered in thick green clumps are overlooked. Which is why assessments so far have been, says Brandt, “extremely far away from the real numbers. They were based on interpolations, estimations and projections…”
Berkeley, California, Berkeleyside, January 14, 2021: UC Berkeley removes hundreds of trees in the Oakland hills to ensure fire evacuation route
John Radke is a UC Berkeley associate professor who specializes in fire modeling. As part of his coursework, he likes to lead students into the winding thickets of Claremont Canyon in the Oakland hills, where the underbrush can reach chest-high, to show them the likely site of one of the next major East Bay fires. “I was up there one day in the fall and you could hear the leaves cracking they were so dry,” Radke said. “Going in, my students said they were doing great – this is wonderful, we’re out in nature. Then after describing how the fire would burn, I asked them, ‘How do you guys feel?’ They said, ‘We can’t wait to get out of here. Because it’s a fire trap.’” The funneled geography of the canyon and the vegetation that grows in it – vegetation that’s becoming drier each year in our warming climate – creates a natural chimney that’d be devastating in a fire. Winds blowing from the west would drive heat and radiation upslope in a ferocious purge. In Diablo conditions, with gusts surging over the ridge from the east, flames would pour downslope wiping out vegetation and homes – similar to what happened with the destructive 2018 Woolsey Fire in the L.A. region…
Anaheim, California, Orange County Register, January 14, 2021, Diagnosing why some fruit trees produce inconsistently
Lately I have received quite a few inquiries about inconsistent fruit production in citrus and other fruit-bearing trees. Why does a fruit tree produce so much one year, then hardly anything the next year? This phenomenon is called “alternate-year bearing” and is common to almost all fruit and nut trees. Tree branches have spurs, little twig-like growths that can produce either flowers/fruit or leaves. Not surprisingly, it takes much less energy to produce leaves than fruit. If the tree has undergone some sort of stress, it will reduce its fruit production in favor of leaf production. This stress could be environmental (drought, extreme heat, frost), pest or disease, or improper pruning. When a tree is happy and healthy (not stressed), its leaves produce plenty of sugars that are stored in the branch wood near the spurs. These sugars are used to fuel blossom and fruit production the following spring. Improper pruning can remove these food stores and result in diminished fruit production…
Bangor, Maine, Daily News, January 12, 2021: Bangor neighborhood complaint against Versant Power dismissed after tree-trimming
Maine’s Public Utilities Commission has dismissed a complaint against Versant Power from 13 residents of Bangor’s Fairmount neighborhood, though the commission found the complaint about power reliability in the neighborhood had merit. The complaint, sent Oct. 31, 2020, alleged that Bangor’s Fairmount neighborhood had experienced an unreasonable number of long-lasting power outages, and that the outages had grown worse over the last five years. There were at least three multi-hour or multi-day outages in large swaths of Fairmount in 2020, with other, smaller outages occurring in smaller areas of the neighborhood. The Fairmount neighborhood is roughly the area between Third Street, Union Street and interstates 95 and 395. Versant in October 2020 blamed the neighborhood’s high prevalence of tall, old trees situated near power lines. When a branch from one of those trees falls, it can knock out power to multiple streets, or even the entire neighborhood. Though Versant had already done work to improve reliability in the neighborhood, including moving most of the neighborhood off an old substation on Webster Avenue and onto a more reliable one in Hampden, outcry from residents on social media appears to have prompted an extensive tree-trimming effort by Versant last year…
Houston, Texas, Chronicle, January 13, 2021: ‘For our environment’ Branford tree planting helps offset carbon emissions
The town Community Forest Commission and Department of Public Works planted 55 trees on town property in 2020, helping to offset carbon emissions and preserve the environment, said Patrick Sweeney of the Community Forest and Conservation and Environment Commissions. Over their predicted lifetime, this year’s planting will sequester 422 tons of carbon, Sweeney said — equivalent to the carbon produced by more than 80 typical passenger vehicles in a single year. The town sets a goal to plant about 50 trees on town property each year. In 2020, it exceeded that goal, Sweeney said. “Planting new native trees and ensuring the well-being of those we already have is one of the most important things that the town can do for our environment and the health of our residents,” Sweeney said in a release…
Dallas, Texas, KXAS-TV, January 11, 2021: McKinney Resident Tries to Dispose of Christmas Tree in Fireplace
The City of McKinney is reminding residents to properly dispose of their Christmas trees after a fire damaged a McKinney home on Saturday. According to the McKinney Fire Department, officials responded to a call about a structure fire in the 4400 block of Rancho Del Norte Trail. Officials said firefighters arrived to find that a Christmas tree had been placed into a home fireplace. Only the top of the tree was in the fire, so the flames traveled down the tree and out of the fireplace, officials said. According to the McKinney Fire Department, the fire was quickly extinguished after firefighters arrived. The damage was limited to the area right around the fireplace, and one person was treated for minor smoke inhalation at the scene, officials said…
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The Advocate, January 11, 2021: Now is the time to plant a tree
Consider this Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” That is especially true in Louisiana. Planting during December, January and February provides plants with several months to develop a strong root system before they put out a new flush of leaves and flowers in spring. Nurseries are bringing in woody trees and shrubs to plant now. Tropical plants will be available later in the warmer season when they are less likely damage by colder temperatures. The National Arbor Day Foundation has started the “Time for Trees” initiative to highlight how “trees clean our air, protect our drinking water, create healthy communities and feed the human soul.” Founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872 in Nebraska City, Nebraska, where an estimated 1 million trees were planted, Arbor Day is celebrated every year. While much of the country celebrates Arbor Day on April 30, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, 4560 Essen Lane, will hold its annual Arbor Day event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 23. Free and open to the public, the event will feature educational talks on native trees given by experts from the LSU AgCenter. You can plant a tree while there and get GPS coordinates so you can come back and visit “your” tree and watch it grow for generations to come…
