Hartford
Brad Goedkoop volunteers for the town as tree warden, a position created under a state statute that charges every town to appoint a person to care for trees “within the limits of public rights of way.”
Much of the 200 or so hours Goedkoop puts into the job every year is spent responding to residents who are concerned that a tree might pose a public safety hazard, or checking in on any of the hundreds of trees the town has planted in beautification efforts.
But in mid-March, while reporting to the town’s Tree Board, Goedkoop “expressed increasing frustration with his position due to the fact that there are no resources available to him,” according to minutes of the meeting.
Goedkoop, who has since drafted a proposal seeking a working budget of $15,000 a year to pay for active management of the trees, said in an interview that the time has come for Hartford to take the next step in managing its arboreal landscaping.
“They need care now. That’s how you get those beautiful environments in Hanover and Lebanon,” Goedkoop said. “They look like that because they had early guidance.”
He estimates that about $275,000 has been spent on planting municipal trees in Hartford over the past decade, including in central village areas, school properties, parks, downtown White River Junction, and a large set of plantings on a stretch of Route 5 near Tafts Flat that were installed by the state but are the town’s responsibility to maintain.
“The way it is right now, I just think we end up squandering all the efforts that have been done so far,” he said.
One example of the behind-the-scenes work that leads to trees can be found in one of the Tree Board’s most recent projects.
The Tree Board gets most of its money from donations and fundraisers — the biggest fundraiser of the year is often its Arbor Day celebration, which includes a tree and shrub sale from 9 a.m. to noon today at the Bugbee Senior Center.
In April, the Tree Board voted to spend $500 to have Hartford-based Henderson Tree Service provide and plant a sycamore in front of the recently reopened West Hartford Library.
When Goedkoop describes this as an investment that must be protected, he’s not just throwing shade — his assertion of the value of trees is well-rooted, according to Elise Schadler, community forestry outreach professional at the University of Vermont Extension.
“They provide all these benefits: environmental benefits, community building benefits, shade, economic benefits,” she said.
Schadler pointed to an online tool used by tree advocates to calculate the financial benefits of trees depending on the species, size and placement. According to the calculator, for example, when the sycamore is 10 inches wide, it will provide $89 in benefits each year to the surrounding community, most of that coming from increased property values, with lesser amounts from things like stormwater runoff, improved air quality and carbon dioxide sequestration. That same tree, if properly cared for, will provide $139 in annual benefits when it reaches a 20-inch diameter.
But without proper care, Schadler said, planted trees are in danger of developing twin trunks that tend to split down the middle, or grow into unsuitable areas like power lines, pedestrian walkways or traffic lanes. They also are much less likely to develop that classic shapely look and brings the aesthetic pleasure that boosts property values.
That’s not to say that Hartford is behind the curve in caring for its tree infrastructure.
Hartford is well ahead of many communities when it comes to tree care, according to Schadler, thanks to its active Tree Board and engaged tree warden.
“The role of the Tree Warden is more important today than ever in Vermont’s history,” according to information published by the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program, which says “the presence or absence of a municipal tree warden can often be noticed by how aesthetically pleasing a town’s landscape is.”
The Tree Board did the legwork necessary to get the community a “Tree City USA” designation from the Arbor Day Foundation — a distinction held by just six communities in the state.
“We’ve definitely used Hartford as an example for other communities as a model,” Schadler said. “Hartford is good.”
Schadler said only three communities in Vermont — Burlington, South Burlington and Rutland — have paid tree warden positions. In most communities, the title is either given to an existing municipal employee, or to a volunteer like Goedkoop.
But many have line items in their budget for planting, maintenance and removal. Just this year, she said, Essex Junction’s tree board successfully lobbied to establish a $10,000 line item in the municipal budget to care for its trees.
Schadler said she encourages communities to branch out into other areas of tree care, such as by developing a cycle that allows them to check in on each tree once every several years — three, five or seven, depending on the resources available.
Goedkoop says he would only spend about half of a $15,000 budget on the care of young trees.
The remainder, he said, would go toward addressing hazardous tree removal, which typically costs between $1,000 and $2,000 per tree.
Currently, when Goedkoop is called out to inspect a potentially hazardous tree, he completes an assessment and rates its level of danger on a scale of one to 12. He then makes a report including that assessment to the Public Works Department.
“Then they decide whether they can devote resources to removing the tree,” Goedkoop said. “All I can do is give a recommendation.”
Goedkoop said the work would be done better if someone with his expertise was able to map out a long-term strategy that addressed hazards, and also did active management to nip potential hazards in the bud.
“That whole field of arboriculture is really out of the scope of public works and the highway department,” Goedkoop said, adding, “They’ve been very good with me. They’ve helped as much as they can.”
Richard Menge, director of Hartford’s Public Works Department, said he feels the department has done a good job with meager tree removal resources.
“We have a very small budget for removing trees,” he said. “We’ve been successful at getting most of the trees people are complaining about in the town’s right of way.”
Menge said that, when trees threaten power lines, the town often is able to get the power companies to foot the bill.
The outcome of Goedkoop’s proposal won’t be known until the budget cycle picks up this fall.
“I think that’s probably a noble goal,” Menge said.
He said he had received the proposal, and that it would be weighed against other competing demands when Menge drafts the fiscal year 2018 budget with incoming Town Manager Leo Pullar.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.