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On Friday morning, the city of
Lincoln Forestry Department hosted its annual tree planting ceremony
as a part of the city’s designation as a Tree City USA.
The Forestry department is managed by Lincoln Street and Alley
Superintendent Walt Landers. As the head of forestry Landers is
tasked with the responsibility of keeping a tree inventory in the
city, checking the health and wellbeing of the trees, making
decisions on when and how to prune or trim trees, and making
decisions about when a tree is unhealthy and needs to be removed
from the landscape. After removing trees, it is then important to
plant replacement trees to maintain the landscape and also as part
of the Tree City program.
Each year, new trees are planted in
a special ceremony and typically at a new location. This year new
trees were planted at the city park on Eighth Street which is also
the home of the city dog park and the LHM outdoor gym.
During the ceremony Landers read a script concerning the planting
event, saying that the two new trees are Autumn Blaze Maples. He
said that the trees will mature and provide a shady resting place
along the city’s walking path.
Landers noted that the city of Lincoln has been a designated Tree
City for the past 24 consecutive years.
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Landers read the following from the
script, “The Lincoln Street Department staff oversees forestry
operations in the city of Lincoln and participates in the Tree City
USA Program because it provides direction, assistance, and
recognition for our community. It also helps us manage a healthy,
sustainable forestry program so we can all enjoy the benefits a
healthy urban forest provides our community and a beautiful
landscape for the residents we serve.”
Landers and the street department
staff then proceeded to set the two trees in the ground and cover
them with soil.
[Nila Smith with photos by Karen Castelein] |
