The Decatur Minute announces that Trees Atlanta and volunteers will be planting trees in Decatur right-of-ways on Saturday, February 28th.

Through a partnership between the City of Decatur and Trees Atlanta‘s NeighborWoods program, volunteers will be planting trees on Saturday, Feb. 28 in city right-of-ways. Trees Atlanta has been planting and caring for trees in neighborhoods across metro Atlanta for about 30 years. The organization waters the trees diligently for two years, and mulch and prune the trees for three years after planting to insure that the trees are well-established.

If you’re interested in volunteering to plant trees in Decatur, gather at Glennwood Elementary, 440 East Ponce De Leon Ave., at 9 a.m. on Feb. 28.

If you have any questions regarding your right of way tree, do not want a right-of way tree, or would like to add an additional shade tree in your front yard, contact NeighborWoods Program Manager Susan Pierce Cunningham at [email protected] or 404-681-4896.

Atlanta tree sign photo courtesy of Trees Atlanta

From the Decatur Minute…

Oakhurst streetscape contractor CMES will continue preliminary construction activities and will begin removal of several trees in the project area on December 8. Three large trees to be removed have been repeatedly damaged by utility line clearance. Other trees to be removed are in areas that will be impacted by new, wider sidewalks and more generous outdoor dining areas. Because the off-street parking lot at Harmony Park will be removed to increase the size of the park, one large tree will be removed to provide an area for replacement angled parking.

Changes to the landscape are always dramatic. However, new trees will be planted throughout the project area as part of the streetscape improvements, including large shade trees where not in conflict with overhead utilities.

Chadwick sends along a picture of the mayor accepting the donation of a 30’+ Willow Oak from an donor Michael Jackson of Heirloom Tree and Garden as part of the kick off for the Decatur Arbor Festival tree display going on next to the Marlay starting today.  From the event flyer…

Samples of trees and experts who can help you select will be at The Gate Called Beautiful next to The Marlay Feb 21st, 22nd, and 23rd to kick off the ordering period which lasts through March 2nd. After the 23rd, order forms can be dropped off at participating local sponsors.

You can view the order form and tree selection list HERE.

Interested in planting a new tree on your property this Spring?  Chadwick sends along the Arbor Day “Tree Menu” (view the PDF HERE) for your perusal “sourced for the highest quality local growers” at “fantastic prices”.

As the menu states, the it was curated by local gardeners and landscapers Ryan Gainey, Deanna Pope Ozio, Cheryl Melton and Cooper Sanchez.

Care about the city’s direction with the currently under-review tree ordinance?  You must attend this meeting.  Ripped from the DecaturNext website…

How Decatur manages its tree canopy has always been a component of the Unified Development Ordinance initiative currently underway. However, recent community concerns brought an increased level of urgency to the subject, prompting city commissioners to pass a 90-day moratorium on tree removal and fast-track the UDO’s tree-related requirements. That effort is now in process and its work-in-progress will be presented and discussed Wednesday, December 11.

PLEASE JOIN US:

Trees! Crafting Decatur-Appropriate Regulations
Let’s find some common ground for a healthy canopy.
December 11 | 7-9:00pm | City Hall Commission Meeting Room

The meeting will begin with a 30-minute presentation by the city’s tree consultant, Connie Head of Technical Forestry Services, followed by an opportunity for attendees to consider various policy direction alternatives and provide feedback on their preferences.

Resident input will then be factored into the working draft and finalized recommendations will be completed. Those recommendations will be posted here for review prior to the Commission’s consideration, which will take place January 21, 2014 at 7:30pm in the City Hall Commission Meeting Room.

Join us at the meeting then check back often for updates. And in the meantime, provide your own considerations in the comments below or submit more general comments and questions directly to the city here.

Photo courtesy of Decatur Minute

You know when you find a clean $10 in your pocket after your jeans have been through the wash?  This is sorta like that.

An inventory project by the Georgia Urban Forestry Council has discovered that the original estimate of 3,200 city-owned and managed trees inside the Decatur city limits is likely too low.  Here’s the blurb from the GUFC’s newsletter…

When data collection was completed in downtown and the NW quadrant, it became clear that there were many more city trees than the 3,200 originally estimated. With only 40 percent of the area completed, we had inventoried nearly 60 percent of the budgeted number of trees! While this abundance of trees is a very good thing, we had to discuss with city staff options for how to complete the inventory since the total budget was for 3,200 trees maximum.

Some other interesting Decatur tree facts from the study…

• Of all 1,578 trees, 18 percent are flowering dogwoods, 15 percent are willow oaks, another 15 percent are crapemyrtles, and 9 percent are red maples; water oaks, flowering cherries, and Chinese elms account for an additional 4 percent each of the tree population in these two (2) sections
• 41 percent of the  trees are less than 6 inches DBH, and 76 percent are less than 12 inches DBH, verifying that there have been a lot of new trees planted in recent years, and that many of the trees are small maturing varieties; many of these new trees have been established through the efforts of Trees Atlanta, a strong advocate for increasing tree canopy cover in the Atlanta area
• The largest tree inventoried is a 49 inch DBH water oak located on West Ponce de Leon Avenue

Photo courtesy of GUFC newsletter

h/t: Patch

Pastor Todd Speed writes in…

Attached is a photo of a beloved Decatur tree at the corner of Church and Sycamore that is reaching the end of its long life cycle. This black walnut is at least 150 years old and has graced the Decatur Presbyterian Church landscape for all of those years.

Sadly for all of us, the city arborist agrees that the time has come to take it down before it comes down on its own.

…the wood will be available for local woodworkers. This is a special tree that could result in some beautiful works of art.