Note: A prior version of this article ran in The Goshen News on 11/25/17.
by Aaron Kingsley
David Gerber helped the town of Hesston, Kansas plant trees when he lived there. This fall he helped his neighborhood in Goshen plant 18 new trees. And it wasn’t just David; it was a bunch of others from his neighborhood, too, who got excited about the possibility, saw the potential, and decided to make it a reality.
A year ago, Trees For Goshen (TFG) held a series of meetings with Goshen neighborhood associations. TFG is a non-profit organization which works to promote tree planting and tree care throughout the City, on public and private property. The meetings were designed to help neighborhoods understand more clearly the benefits of their urban tree canopy, and to also think about ways to promote tree canopy. Each neighborhood is unique, with different amounts of existing tree cover, different economic realities, different levels of interest in tree canopy. But all of them were presented with information derived from Goshen’s public tree inventory (2011), Goshen’s Urban Tree Canopy Assessment (2013) and Goshen’s GIS to help them become more aware of the trees in their immediate environment.
David’s neighborhood, College Farm, was one which brought a large contingent to the initial meeting. One of the things which was discussed at that time was the fact that College Farm has fairly mature existing canopy – that is, it has lots of trees already, and many of them are not small trees. The neighborhood was largely built in the 1950s and 60s, and many large trees date to the era of development – silver maples, red oaks, Norway maples, sweet gums, more silver maples, sycamores, more silver maples. Certainly, there are some open pockets throughout the neighborhood, including a more recently developed cul-de-sac, and a large interior area surrounded by homes – referred to by some residents as Central Park – which functions as a small commons. Even so, the neighborhood is not hurting for trees.
But one of the important notes which was discussed was the fact that mature trees won’t last forever. They can, and ought to, be cared for and helped to thrive as long as is reasonable, since mature trees provide the most benefits. Nevertheless, the time will come – for some, sooner than later – when they can no longer remain in place. And in that light, it is important – maybe even critical – to begin planting new trees.
The College Farm group seemed especially tuned-in to this message. While TFG worked with East Lincoln Crossroads and Chamberlain Neighborhoods to plant trees in the spring, and with West Goshen Neighborhood in the summer to demonstrate how best to care for storm-damaged trees, they kept contact with David and College Farm. David enlisted his neighbor, Cliff Bush, and early in the fall had some meetings with TFG to plan a fall planting.
With TFG providing consulting, organizational and fundraising support, interested folks from College Farm met three times at different properties to walk through and assess the existing canopy. As the consultant, this was a great opportunity for me to get to know the neighborhood’s trees and people. From these consultations people were able to get an idea about what kinds of trees could be planted on their properties, and how they would fit into a long-range project of building canopy into the future.
There were more visits to select sites and species. At one home I saw a magnificent silver maple in the back, and identified space for two dogwoods in the front. I met with a woman who had a spot picked out for a tree in the side yard and needed to choose the right one (a serviceberry). At another home we chose a beech, as well as at Cliff’s. Someone else chose a tulip and a hophornbeam. Others chose London planetree, crabapple, redbud. David chose a serviceberry for himself and a black gum for his neighbor. A fundraising committee was quickly put together to raise the money for the trees. Tree recipients decided to plant the trees themselves to keep costs down. The trees were ordered and the money was raised.
Two Saturday’s ago, with a threat of rain in the forecast, about twenty volunteers from the neighborhood, including five college students, gathered at Cliff’s house to plant trees. After a couple demonstration plantings, we split up into groups and moved from home to home. The trees were planted in time for pizza at noon; and when the pizza was gone the rain began to fall.
David said, “It wouldn’t have happened if TFG hadn’t instigated, pushed the idea.” Maybe. But neither would it have happened if David and his neighbors hadn’t decided to work beyond their own properties for community good. Growing the canopy grows the neighborhood.