Tribune/Dan McGee - one casualty of the city's budget cuts will be the traditional Arbor Day week tree planting at an elementary school. The ceremony gives ownership of a new tree to the students, who are then invited to throw handfuls of dirt on the new addition.
Tribune/Dan McGee - with the elimination of the Sparks' forestry department, the city could well lose its being named a “Tree City.” Due to budget cuts, tree-planting like this at the Sparks Marina might be only a memory until the city's financial woes are overcome.
The budget cuts to Sparks’ urban forestry program made on Jan. 6 were not only a sign of shedding leaves and taking root for tough times, but the reductions essentially left bare the proactive maintenance of 20,000 city trees, as well as educational programs for tree and lawn care.
“We are on an ‘as needed basis,’ ” Sherer said. “We are going to be reactive as opposed to proactive.”
Parks and Recreation will maintain trees only when necessary, tending to sick trees and pruning less aggressively than before.
“The trees will not die,” Sherer said. “We just have fewer resources so we need to prioritize.”
Prior to the budget cuts, there were three urban forestry specialists who now have been given more generalized duties for the Sparks Parks and Recreation department.
That doesn’t mean the city’s trees will soon become food for the chipper, Sherer said. But it does mean the short-handed staff may only be able to respond to those trees that grow long enough to block a driver’s vision of a stop sign or create other hazards to residents.
“We’ll deal with urban forestry as we can with the economic conditions,” Sherer said. “But we simply could not afford a specialty crew.”
According to the Sparks Municipal Code, the city’s parks and recreation director is responsible for tree care via hired contractors or urban foresters and the planting, maintenance and removal, if necessary, of trees in any public place.
“It’s good for cities to have a structured maintenance program,” said Mark Derowitsch, public relations representative for the Arbor Day Foundation. “Like anything else in a city’s infrastructure, trees need to be maintained.”
The loss of an urban forester and dedicated crew also doesn’t mean the city will lose its status in the Tree City USA program. For 14 years, Sparks has been a recognized member of the Arbor Day Foundation’s program through which the city is best noted for planting more than 20,000 trees in the community.
Sherer said he doesn’t anticipate the city having to lose that status and that it will seek to continue being part of the various Arbor Day celebrations within local schools.
One former Sparks urban forester, Dale Carlon, is confident the city will not give up on its trees.
“The health (of the trees) is generally good,” he said. “I know for a fact that Sparks is not discontinuing the caring for its trees. (Sparks Parks) has all the equipment and intends to keep trees safe and healthy.”
Carlon started the urban forestry program and one of the first things he did was to establish the public relations program “Spotlight on Sparks.” He also helped lead public workshops and provide Christmas decorations for Victorian Square.
Most trees are fairly self-sufficient, Carlon said, even in the city’s development.
“They have to have irrigation maintained by the parks staff,” Carlon said. “We used to have to try to rely on homeowners to try to irrigate the trees. When the downtown core became rentals, we’d try to replant new trees and people wouldn’t provide the water for them.”
In Carlon’s mind, some of the challenges on limited resources for care could include tree growth that impedes on school zones, prohibits street sweepers because of low-hanging branches or hinders traffic control devices, he said.
Carlon said trees should be considered friends of humanity and the environment, and not just because of the shade they provide.
“One thing a lot of people don’t realize is city trees, especially street trees, actually slow down the recycle rate of asphalt,” he said. “If we have shaded trees, we don’t have to tear up those streets as often. They slow down the degradation of asphalt. And everybody loves to see trees.”
Despite cuts, Sherer remains optimistic.
“We hope to return the program to its previous status when the economy rebounds,” he said.
Until then, Parks and Recreation will be working with limited funds to maintain the lives of the city’s trees.
“This isn’t a move we wanted to make,” Sherer said. “It is a move we have to make.”
Tribune reporter Ruth Anderson contributed to this story.
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