Trees line both sides of Main Street in North Wales, as a sign directs residents to sign up for the town’s “Savvy Citizen” notification alerts, in summer 2023. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Pilot project will tackle one of town’s three wards.
If you live in Ward 1, and see a scout or two in your neighborhood in the near future, they’re hard at work.
They’ll be working on an Eagle Scout project prompted by Troop 84 scout Isaac Rosen, who told council last week of his plans to traverse part of the town.
“My objective for my project is to create an inventory of shade trees in Ward 1 of the borough, and also to promote awareness of shade trees, and do that by developing educational materials and handing those out to residents,” said Rosen.
Back in February, borough council heard from the leadership of local Scout Troop 84, which asked for permission to “adopt” Hess Park and host cleanups there as the scouts perform service time hours toward projects that help their community. The first of those cleanups happened in late March, and town and scouts both said at the time that they looked forward to working on more projects together.
Enter Rosen, who told council that he’s been in touch with the borough’s staff and shade tree commission on his pending project to survey the southern third of the borough, largely south of Main Street and the rail line that bisects the town.
“Any shade tree is a tree that is within ten feet of the road, and a permit is required for any activities relating to trimming, removing, or planting trees within 10 feet of a road,” he said.
North Wales Borough ward map, with Ward 3 at north/top and Ward 1 at south/bottom highlighted in red. (Benefits of having shade trees include protection against heat and solar radiation, reducing noise pollution, and lowering air conditioning costs by providing shade, the scout told council.
“And it also just makes the borough look better. And that is what my project aims to do: protect them,” he said.
Materials required for the project include clipboards, papers, pencils, and tape measures, which the scout said “will be borrowed or supplied by me.” Phases would include creating an inventory of every address in the ward, then creating route maps for fellow scouts to pursue as they count and document the numbers of such trees at each address.
“What they’re going to be doing is measuring any shade tree on the property in Ward 1, and noting down the amount of shade trees per property on a chart. And then I’ll put those into a Google sheet, so I can give that information back to the borough,” he said.
Possible hazards include traffic, weather, and dog bites, the latter being a hazard Rosen said a fellow scout encountered firsthand: “One time, we were doing ‘Scouting for Food,’ and one of our kids did get bitten by a dog. He’s fine, but that’s why I have it on here.”
After a round of applause, council President Sal Amato asked if the scouts would identify specific types of trees during their inventory, and borough Manager Christine Hart said they had discussed doing so, but didn’t want to document any tree types incorrectly.
“This is something we have needed, and it’s very important for the borough. You’re doing something that’s really worthwhile for us, and I’m glad you’re getting the rest of the scouts involved, too,” Amato said.
Councilman Mark Tarlecki asked about the scout’s timeline, and Rosen said he hoped to have the count done by the end of October; Tarlecki then suggested the scout take video or share info beforehand, and the town cross-post that info on its website and social media channels, and borough Manager Christine Hart said staff could do so.
Councilwoman Sarah Whelan asked if the scouts could tag trees with identifying info, and solicitor Greg Gifford said doing so would require written permission from the owners; Hart said the borough has applied to the Montgomery Count Planning Commission for grant funding for a similar project, and was denied on that application, but “we’ll try each time there’s funding.”
Councilwoman Wendy McClure said she and fellow Ward 1 councilmembers Sherwin Collins and Brittany Kohler would be glad to help any way they can.
“If you need a walking partner, or whatever, let us know, and we’ll be happy to hold a clipboard,” she said.
Kohler said she thought the project was “really awesome,” and Collins asked if the scouts would note any invasive insects of problems with the trees; Hart said the scouts could take notes as they survey and provide that info to the borough.
“We wanted to use this as a pilot, because the shade tree commission has been tasked with helping to identify a shade tree inventory. We’re hoping this project, with Isaac leading it, that we’ll be able to work out all of the kinks, and then we can mimic this in wards 2 and 3,” Hart said.
