Louisville’s Trees… Why Should You Care?

By Jacob Murphy
Communications Coordinator

“You can always tell a tree person just by the way they walk down the street,” said Dr. William Fountain, Extension Arboriculture Professor at the University of Kentucky, “Most folks are looking down when they walk. They look at their phone, the sidewalk, their feet, etcetera. But a tree person always has their head tilted up towards the tree tops.” 

Dr. William Fountain is the Extension Arboriculture Professor at the University of Kentucky

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve never really thought in depth about trees.  Sure, I’ve climbed trees, read a book under a tree, raked leaves from a tree, collected firewood from a tree, etc., but until recently I hadn’t taken the time to understand the effects of trees and the impact they have on our lives.  Trees are like people;  they live, they grow, they die… and sometimes, just like people, looks can be deceiving.  I got the opportunity to tag along with Dr. Fountain and the city’s Forestry team during an inspection of trees managed by Metro Parks and it opened my eyes, to say the least.  

 “It looks healthy,” I said naively, “There are no dead limbs and there are even buds starting to appear.”

“Just because it looks healthy, doesn’t mean it is,” said Kevin Bold from the Division of Forestry, “Trees really are like people. They can be ill with a disease and no one would know until they were examined and diagnosed.”

The tree we were looking at had been diagnosed with a disease called Ganoderma. Ganoderma, which is often referred to as “Ganoderma butt rot,” is a tree disease that kills a tree from the inside out.  Once a tree is infected with Ganoderma the fungus begins to digest the wood, making it soft and sponge like.  Over time, the wood – so important for providing the strength necessary to hold the canopy upright – becomes  increasingly likely to fall during any sort of mild to severe weather, meaning high risk for injury to folks or homes that are nearby, in the event the tree would fall.

A parkway tree taken down due to Ganoderma. You can see the lines where the fungus had begun to digest the wood.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for Ganoderma.  It is a disease that we see after trees have been subjected to environmental stress, and we have had plenty of that in recent years, said Fountain. We have had a number of droughts and these are mature trees in confined growing conditions.  Unlike trees growing in a natural environment our urban trees are forced to grow in areas where their roots are confined.  The airborne spores that cause the disease are everywhere and it spreads by infecting any wounds trees may have.

Displayed above is a sample of wood taken from a tree infected with Ganoderma. The wood becomes very weak and spongy.

Fredrick Law Olmsted, often considered the father of American landscape architecture, designed our parks and parkways. The pin oak was the species most commonly used in the Olmsted design and it seemed an obvious choice at the time.  The tree is easy to transplant and grows fast.  It gave a nice canopy cover for carriages and later, automobiles, as they moved through our city.  While lining the parkways with similar tree species of similar age creates an aesthetically pleasing visual, we have learned a lot about tree biology since Olmsted’s day and we now know that it is unwise to landscape with just a single species or with trees of all the same age because, typically, plant diseases spread only between closely related species. 

As with all other living organisms, trees eventually succumb to old age.  This happens a little more quickly when drought and the urban environment cause the trees to become stressed.  As you see trees disappear from our urban landscape, you will notice that they are being replaced with a diversity of different species.  This makes for a healthier urban forest and more interesting city.  This diversity of species will support an even greater number of wildlife species than we currently have.

“We have found 15 pin oaks in the past year that have been infected by Ganoderma,” said Landscape Manager, Dr. Mesude Duyar Ozyurekoglu, “Unfortunately, if a tree doesn’t have 30% or more of dense healthy wood, it has to come down.”

Displayed above is a tool used to measure tree density. A tiny (non-damaging) hole is drilled into the trunk of the tree, and the tool can sense how dense the wood is and indicate the density onto slips of pressure sensitive paper.

“Are we replacing the trees we take down?” I asked.

Mesude replied, “Yes, but not immediately.  The soil takes time to replenish nutrients after tree removal. And while we can take trees down year round, it’s best to plant trees during the dormant season – in the fall after leaf drop or early spring before budbreak.”

Mesude and her forestry team are responsible for over 15,000 trees in the parks and along the parkways in the city.   Metro Parks spends about $600,000 on the maintenance of these trees in an attempt to keep up with the damaging effects of storms, invasive pests, disease, neglect and age.

James Bruggers, environmental writer for the Courier-Journal, wrote an article in October of 2011 about the poor health of Louisville’s trees and the lack of effort there seems to be to protect and preserve the city’s urban canopy.  Bruggers mentions that Margaret Carreiro, a University of Louisville biology professor who has been studying Louisville’s trees with her students for 10 years,  estimates there are still as many as 3 million trees in the city’s residential areas alone. So, if $600,000 is barely enough for every 15,000 trees the city has, what would it take to provide sufficient care for Louisville’s entire urban canopy?

On November 11, 2011, Mayor Fischer announced the creation of the Louisville Metro Tree Advisory Commission with the goal to plant more trees and take better care of existing ones.  This is tremendous for tree health in Louisville, but the tree commission will need support from citizens to be effective.  Louisvillians have to make our city’s tree canopy a priority, or our future won’t have one. 

The Tree Commission will help in:

• Advising city leaders on issues affecting Louisville’s urban forest;
• Providing input in the selection and placement of trees on all city-owned property and public developments;
• Educating the community and departments and agencies of Louisville Metro regarding the value of trees and proper ways to plant, maintain, and remove trees;
• Serving as an advocate for the ongoing renewal of Louisville’s urban forest;
• Creating a public tree fund with private donations;
• Monitoring and gathering data and publishing reports about the status of Louisville’s tree canopy.

With no offense intended for our canine friends, it is often said that a city without trees isn’t fit for a dog.  Trees add scale to our urban infrastructure.  They provide shade on our hot summer days and cool and purify the air that we depend on for life.  We only seem to notice these giants as they begin to decline and leave our city.  The trees that we are losing were a gift to us from previous generations.   The best way for us to thank our great grandparents is to provide our grandchildren and their children with a healthy and beautiful urban forest… and the knowledge that these gentle giants hold must be cared for.  Trees are like people, our companions, and they deserve our appreciation. Have you thanked a tree today?

(It would not have been possible to write this article without the help and support of some kind and talented people, to only some of whom it is possible to give particular mention here. A special thanks goes to Dr. Fountain for his wisdom and guidance. Also, Mesude Duyar Ozyurekoglu for allowing me the opportunity to shadow her Forestry team. I would also like to thank Kevin Bold, Mike Blankenship and the entire Metro Parks Forestry Division for their never-ending hard work.)

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The Family Tree

 

Acorns Don’t Fall Far from the Oak

By Walter Munday

Community Outreach Supervisor

In April, Louisville and cities throughout America celebrate Arbor Day, and 2012 marks the 140th anniversary of this holiday which encourages individuals and groups to plant and care for trees in their communities.

Arbor Day originated in 1872 in Nebraska City, Nebraska, by J. Sterling Morton. The first Arbor Day was held on April 10th of that year with an estimated 1 million trees planted that day. One hundred years later, in 1972, on the Arbor Day centennial, the Arbor Day Foundation was founded, and since then, it has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with over one million members, supporters, and valued partners.

Louisville and the suburban cities of Anchorage, Bellemeade, Kingsley, Lyndon, Prospect and Watterson Park are among 25 Kentucky cities recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation as Tree City USA Communities. Louisville has long recognized and appreciated the value of trees. Our community understands that trees help make our city a greener, healthier place to live. One such example was the concentrated effort to plant trees along the Olmsted Parkways in the late 1800’s. Many of those trees still stand today.

One of the contributing factors to the longevity of a tree is regular maintenance. Metro Parks has long applied regular maintenance to its trees through its Forestry Division. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with a unique family who have worked on trees in our parks for nearly forty years – let’s meet the Blankenship boys (pictured above).

The setting for this story took place at 528 Eastern Parkway just east of Crittenden Drive at the site where the Division of Forestry unfortunately was forced to remove a huge red oak tree, one of the largest and oldest trees along the entire 15 miles of Olmsted Parkways. The tree measured more than 60 inches in diameter and was approximately 130-plus years old. It was forced to be removed because it fell victim to Hypoxylon Canker, a disease which greatly affects oak trees, and is most widespread in the southern regions of the United States.

Earl Blankenship started with Louisville Metro Parks in 1973. Earl’s father was a logger, so his love for trees came naturally. When Earl began working for Metro Parks, the city didn’t own bucket trucks, so maintaining trees required using a technique called “footlocking”, a process of using two parts of a rope to ascend up/down a tree. At this time, the forestry division was called upon not only to service trees, but also to change light bulbs on city street lights and ball fields. Earl remembers being able to climb a 100 ft. light pole in 15.4 seconds.

While chatting with Earl, he quickly pointed out that the one day he’d never forget was Wednesday, April 3, 1974, when the Super Tornado Outbreak tore through Louisville. Earl vividly remembered working in the trees in Cherokee Park earlier that day, and returning back to the office about 20 minutes before an F4 tornado destroyed many of the same trees he and his team had worked on less than an hour earlier. Thousands of trees were lost that day, and Earl was part of the crew which undertook a massive replanting to help restore the park’s tree canopy.

Notice the discoloration on the branches. This is known as Hypoxylon Canker disease which had spread throughout the tree.

 

 

 

On several occasions during the interview, Earl talked about the people with whom he worked. He went further to say that that was one of the things he loved about working for Metro Parks – the people. He specifically talked about Bob Howell, his former boss and Bob Kirchdorfer who was the Director of Metro Parks through the late 1970s and 80s.

Earl was loved, too. In fact, before we had completed the interview, one of Earl’s old co-workers – Jack Gaddie – stopped by just to say hi, and to chat a few minutes after learning about the interview.

Earl retired in 1999 after working 26 ½ years for Metro Parks. When asked, if he could do it all over again would he change anything, his response was, “not a chance”.

Although Earl has retired, he’s not too far from the action. I guess you might say that the acorn didn’t fall far from the oak in this family as Earl’s son Mike joined Louisville Metro Parks’ Forestry Division in 2000.

Above is a picture of Earl in front of a “slice” taken out of the big Oak on Eastern Parkway.

“I’ve been working around trees my whole life,” Mike said while standing next to his dad.

“I started working with my dad at age six.”

Mike, a Forestry Supervisor II, admits he had big shoes to fill when coming to work in the same place his dad did. Mike remembered going out with his dad at night when Earl would return to a park to remove a hornet or bee hive from a tree the forestry staff had planned to work in the following day. Mike said he would sit in the truck and hold a flashlight on the hive’s hole so his dad could take a large trash bag, and with his bare hands swoop it over the hive and remove it from the tree.

“No way was I going to get out of that truck,” Mike said laughing.

When I asked Mike what was one of the things he loved about his job, he quickly pointed to working with his boss Mesude Duyar-Ozyurekoglu, Manager of Metro Parks’ Forestry Division, to annually pick the city’s holiday tree which is displayed downtown in Jefferson Square.

“Being part of something that big which impacts and creates memories for so many is very cool,” Mike explained.

Six years ago, another acorn fell, this time it was Mike’s son Matt who began working for Metro Parks as a seasonal. One year later, Matt came to work full-time as Park Worker II, later transitioning to Horticulture I at Jefferson Memorial Forest. Matt is in the Natural Areas Division which is focused on trail maintenance and land management. Like his dad, Matt began working with trees at age six.

“I love working for Metro Parks. Ultimately though, I’d like to follow in the footsteps of my dad and papaw and work in the Division of Forestry,” Matt acknowledged.

Matt, 26, is married with one daughter named Khloeigh. Although Matt and his wife plan to have more children, maybe even a boy next time, Matt is confident that either way, the Blankenship Family Tree will live on as illustrated by a picture of Khloeigh recently snapped while sitting on a tree limb.

Mesude, as mentioned earlier, oversees the Forestry Division. She and Mike came to Forestry within a year of each other. She said that Mike is always ready to do anything asked of him regardless of how difficult the task. Mesude went on to say,

“Mike is one of the most valuable assets at Metro Parks and a great friend.”

As we celebrate Arbor Day this year, we not only pay tribute to our forefathers and mothers who designed, planted and protected our beautiful trees, but also to all of the individuals today who work hard to ensure that our beautiful tree canopy survives for generations and generations to come.

Happy Arbor Day!

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Louisville’s Urban Forest & A Remarkable Metro Parks Employee

By Jacob Murphy
Communications Coordinator

Ah, the urban forest. It may sound like an oxymoron, but its greenery brightens and breathes life into the Louisville tapestry that otherwise would be smothered by dulling metal and concrete.  There are few people who understand the benefits of the urban forest more than Metro Parks’ own, Dr. Mesude Duyar-Ozyurekoglu.

Mesude is the Metro Parks Forestry and Landscape Manager. She is responsible for the care and attention of over 15,000 individual trees in the Metro Parks System.  Mesude developed her knowledge and appreciation for forestry in Turkey at the University of Istanbul.  After she received her bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Mesude worked for the Turkish government for ten years and eventually earned her PhD in Forestry in 2005.

Mesude’s education and experience alone are enough to make her standout, but it’s her foresight and understanding of people in relation to nature that make her truly remarkable.  She is even trusted with the daunting task of picking out the city’s Christmas tree for the annual Light Up Louisville event.  This may seem like a simple enough task, but not even Santa’s Sleigh could haul all of the emotions attached to those twinkling lights. This tree is important to folks.  The sanctity of the holiday spirit may not depend solely on the perfection of the city’s Christmas tree, but one could certainly find a correlation.  Thankfully, every year our city tree is beautiful with gorgeous lights woven midst lush green branches. Mesude and her work are both something the city can be proud of all year-long. 

Too often extraordinary people doing amazing things go unnoticed.  On behalf of the Metro Parks team I would like to publicly thank Dr. Mesude Duyar-Ozyurekoglu for all she does.  Because the truth is without the passion from people like Mesude, Louisville would just be another city lost amongst the map dots.

Urban Forest Facts:

Trees Improve Quality of Life – Trees create relaxing, beautiful, healthy spaces, absorb traffic noise and increase privacy.

Trees Strengthen Communities – The involvement of people in the planting and care of local trees can help build a stronger sense of neighborhood and civic pride.

Trees Increase Property Values - A row of mature street trees has been shown to increases property values between 5- 18%.

Trees Save Energy - A recent study at the Center for Urban Forest Research found that strategically planting shade trees could reduce the need for power plants in the long-term.

Trees Clean the Air – According to the U.S. Forest Service research, through photosynthesis the average tree in a residential neighborhood will annually clean about 330 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air as well as provide enough oxygen for a family of four.

Trees Help Reduce Global Warming – Trees reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (by decreasing energy needs) and then absorbing the carbon dioxide released from our cars, homes, and power plants. Too much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is the primary cause of global climate change.

Trees Decrease Flooding – Trees reduce flooding by helping to reduce runoff. A typical community forest of 10,000 trees will retain approximately 10 million gallons of rainwater per year (United States Forest Service Research).

Trees Reduce Stress – Urban residents and workers suffering from stress have been found to experience less anger, sadness and insecurity when viewing well-treed surroundings.

Trees Help Kids Learn – Studies have shown that students’ attention spans are increased when they have a view that includes tress.

Trees Grow Business – Research from the University of Washington indicates that “…healthy and well-maintained trees send positive messages about the appeal of a [business] district, the quality of products and what customer service a shopper can expect.”

Source: Friends of the Urban Forest

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