Downtown Main Street 2014 Tree Assessment
Susan Johnson, Rose Miller, Jim Kness and Wayne Kleckner of the Cottage Grove Urban Forestry Committee discuss the attributes of a cherry tree planted near the entrance to a public parking lot across the street from City Hall, May 5, 2014. Photograph, B. Zybach.
These photographs were taken on May 5, 2014 during an assessment of the street trees along the Historic Downtown portion of Main Street in Cottage Grove, Oregon, by the Cottage Grove Urban Forestry Committee (UFC). The purpose of the assessment was to better inform City planners and outside consultants currently engaged in a "Main Street Refinement Plan" regarding citizen concerns about the trees. These concerns have been a major focus of the planning process to date and are being specifically addressed as a result. During the assessment process UFC members also discussed basic criteria that could be quantified regarding the qualities and condition of trees currently in place in terms of their individual and general aesthetics, maintenance needs, health, potential liability, and hazardous risks:
1. Hazard trees. All of trees were visually and/or physically examined and none appeared to pose a current risk to human life or injury. Several were growing up into powerlines or had the potential to damage private property due to size, shape, location, and/or condition, however.
2. Sidewalk damage. Many of the trees had damaged adjacent sidewalks and curbs, resulting in unsightly and/or hazardous conditions for people traveling along sidewalks or crossing streets.
3. Tree health and physical condition. Many of the trees had gaping wounds, were poorly shaped due to bad pruning practices, or had bark discolorations due to possible diseases or parasites.
4. Apropriate species. Most of the trees were an exotic maple species planted about the same time approximately 20 years ago. General consensus was that the species had been poorly considered and were creating maintenance problems that had not been anticipated. Other species included at least one cherry tree and several native bigleaf maples that had volunteered along the riverbank in a profusion of other weeds, including exotic blackberries, grasses, and ivy.
5. Aesthetics. Many of the trees have been severely damaged by poor pruning practices, interaction with motor vehicles, and vandalism. Several of the trees are grossly disfigured or otherwise made to appear odd or unsightly due to these actions. The conflict in general appearance between rows of street trees and historic buildings was also noted.
6. Maintenance needs and responsibility. Almost all of the trees appear to have been neglected during much, or all, of their existence. Many of these problems appear to be related to tree species selection and placements; e.g., fast growing, brittle trees under powerlines, within narrow sidewalks, or next to buildings and awnings. All of the trees are deciduous, which means seasonal leaf fall also poses an ongoing maintenance problem. Needed sidewalk repair is another major problem related to tree maintenance. Weed species, including maple volunteers, blackberries, grasses and ivy, are growing in profusion along the riverbanks and presumably spreading unwanted propagules throughout the Willamette Valley and lower Columbia. It is unclear who bears legal responsibility for mitigating these negative conditions: whether it is the City, adjacent landowners, and/or local businesses.
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