Virginia City Tree Board Celebrates Arbor Day
 | Author:
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Townsend Tree Board Chair, Townsend Rotary Club |
Virginia City Tree Board Celebrates Arbor Day
Patrick Plantenberg
Tree Board Chair
Virginia City has reformed their Tree Board and celebrated Arbor Day on the snowy evening of May 5th. About 15 people attended the event hosted at the Virginia City Library.
The mayor and his wife, a city council member, the three Tree Board members, other interested citizens, a representative from Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), and two members of the Montana Urban and Community Forestry Association (MUCFA) were in attendance. The Tree Board provided Mexican food for the event on Cinco De Mayo.
Patrick Plantenberg of the Townsend Tree Board and Chair of MUCFA donated a Sensation Boxelder for the event. He demonstrated how to plant a young container tree correctly. He noted that over 70 percent of the trees he has seen planted over the last year across Montana are planted too deep and not pruned enough in the first five years to start to develop the structure the tree needs for the rest of its life.
He also demonstrated how to break up the circling root pattern observed in trees grown in pots before planting.
Hannah Payne, MT DNRC Urban and Community Service Forester, then showed how a city tree inventory is completed and what data is collected. She will be returning to Virginia City next week to complete a tree inventory with the help of local residents.
The tree inventory data can then be used to help develop a plan to guide future planting and identify which trees need to be removed or pruned. The inventory data can then be used to develop a tree care and maintenance plan.
MUCFA is offering some small grants to Montana communities to help develop what is called a continuum of tree care in communities. For information about the grants, please contact Kelly Franklin, MUCFA Executive Director at: mucfa.info@gmail.com.
