As I looked over the 2014 numbers, I began to wonder what the larger picture looked like. So I went back and tallied all the trees planted for the past five years, 2010-2014.
This came to 1,925 trees and 48 species. The top 10 species planted over the last five years break down like this: honeylocust (8.2 percent), hackberry (7.5 percent), swamp white oak (7.4 percent), London planetree (6.3 percent), red maple (5.7 percent), red oak (5.5 percent), serviceberry (4.7 percent), sugar maple (4.6 percent), red bud (4.6 percent) and bur oak (3.7 percent).
We are also planting increasing numbers of elm, sweet gum, basswood and Kentucky coffeetree. The largest genii are oak (19 percent) and maple (10.5percent).
There are several factors beyond needing to increase our non-maple diversity which drive decisions about what species to plant. Urban settings are tough environments, so we need tough trees that can survive. Climate change is another factor — needing to think carefully about which trees will fare better and which will fare worse over the next 50 to 100 years.
We also have to consider that there are some trees which we simply can’t plant anymore, such as ash, because of pests or disease.
As I look at the five-year numbers I think we’re on a pretty good course as far as planting and diversifying our urban forest for the next generations. There are certainly some adjustments that can be made: honeylocust and hackberry do not need to be our flagship trees (though they are very important); small understory trees like dogwood, red bud and serviceberry can be featured more; the maple genus can actually be favored somewhat more over time. But the overall take-away is that the Maple City’s urban forest is moving in some healthy directions.
As evidence, take a look at the Goshen Urban Forest Benefits videos on the city of Goshen website link or athttp://www.goshenindiana.org/content/goshen-urban-forest-benefits-videos. You can also find the Annual Forestry Report for 2014 on the city website, under Park and Recreation Department.
A previous version of this post appeared in the Goshen News.
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