05-06-2025 PK Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Davey Resource Group, Inc. Tree Inventory Analysis & Maintenance Strategy ● Street tree planting is currently sufficient to maintain the recommended age distribution. However, sustained planting efforts over time will be necessary to retain this age distribution. ● Routine, proactive maintenance, such as young tree training and routine pruning, may help improve tree condition, particularly among maturing and mature trees. Tree Benefits ● Large-stature, deciduous trees tend to provide the greatest benefits. The city of Orono should plan to plant these types of trees wherever possible to increase the benefits provided by the public trees. This may require enlarging existing tree planting spaces or creating large new tree planting spaces to accommodate large street trees. It also should include preserving existing large-stature trees and providing proactive care to young public trees to ensure they achieve mature status in the future. ● The protection of existing park trees should be a priority, and succession planning to replace park trees and increase tree cover in parks will have a large positive impact on tree benefits in Orono in the future. ● Oak were often among the largest contributors to tree benefits and are not currently overabundant in Orono. Planting oak will help to increase the benefits provided by public trees. ● The public trees in Orono account for only a fraction of the total benefits provided by the City’s trees, indicating that many of the trees which provide benefits to Orono are located on private property. The City of Orono should consider methods to preserve existing trees and promote new tree planting on private property throughout the city to increase tree benefits. Priority Maintenance ● Trees with Dead or Poor condition ratings recommended for removal should be removed as soon as reasonably possible and prioritized based on their condition rating and size class. Tree removal is recommended when pruning will not correct the tree’s defects, will not eliminate the risks caused by defects, or when pruning would be cost-prohibitive. Routine Pruning Cycle ● Orono should aim to prune 1/5 of its public trees each year during a five-year routine pruning cycle. A five-year cycle would see around 482 street trees and around 290 park trees assessed and pruned, if needed, each year. ● Young trees (1-6”) which grow out of the young tree training cycle (see next section) should also be included in the routine pruning cycle. ● The number of trees to be assessed and routinely pruned each year will vary depending on the number of trees which are planted and the number of trees which are removed in future years. ● Not every tree in the routine pruning cycle will need to be pruned each cycle – thus, the actual cost to maintain a routine pruning cycle will likely be lower than projected in the budget table at the end of this section (Table 7). 43