“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago—the second best time is today.”
(The following is a Letter to the Editor submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Peter Worthington. The views expressed are his own and are not representative of North Penn Now or Lansdale Borough.)
If you want to improve Lansdale but aren’t sure what to do or how to get involved, consider planting a street tree. You can do it yourself in an afternoon, and it will have far-reaching positive effects for your street and the town. Trees improve air quality, lowering carbon dioxide and ozone levels. Trees lower ambient air temperatures and can save on cooling costs. Trees absorb storm water runoff. Trees absorb sound. Trees slow down traffic. Trees even improve property values. According to the USDA, every dollar spent on trees returns $4 in benefits.
Find a street in Lansdale that you think is pleasant to walk down, I suspect that it will be one flanked by mature trees providing shade. Perkiomen is a street that comes to mind for me. It has trees that tower over the street and give the street a unique feel. These trees are starting to get so old that they need to come down. This is normal, but if we want to keep Perkiomen and Lansdale green with trees, we also need to consistently plant new trees that can stand tall in 20 years’ time.
As an individual, you can go to Philadelphia’s or Montgomery Township’s list of approved street trees to find a tree that will behave itself close to sidewalks and streets as well as be able to grow in this less than hospitable environment of hot asphalt and car exhaust. Then purchase a tree from one of our local tree farms, some will even deliver and plant the tree for you.
However, there is only so much you can do as an individual, and we would benefit from some collective action. As a town, we should endeavor to become a Tree City. This means forming a Shade Tree Commission, having a tree ordinance, spending approximately $40,000 per year ($2 per resident) on tree planting and maintenance, and celebrating arbor day. Two of the four requirements do require work from the town. $40,000 is real money. And a successful tree ordinance puts restrictions on what property owners are allowed to do with their own trees.
With that money we could plant 40 trees in town every year, year after year, and have plenty left over for maintenance and care. The town could have a request form for residents to ask for a tree to be planted on their property. Any remaining trees would be planted at the discretion of the Shade Tree commission, which could include in parks or through conversation with property owners.
Once the trees are planted, the property owner becomes the steward, responsible for their long term health and growth. And because trees require consistent long term commitment to flourish, we would impose a restriction along the lines of “you can’t remove or damage a tree that’s within 10 feet of a right of way, except for reasons of safety, its diseased, or dying”. You might say it’s my tree on my property, I should be able to do what I want with it. However, trees
take a long time to grow, property changes hands, aesthetic ideals shift. If we are going to invest in the long term growth of Lansdale’s trees, we should protect that investment and allow it to grow.
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second-best time is today.
Peter Worthington
Lansdale, PA
