ITHACA- Besides the famous gorges the city of Ithaca is known for, the community is dealing with a different feature of nature, trees, which are causing hazard to the citizens of the city.
Ithaca is part of a group called “Tree City USA,” meaning that it’s a city that belongs to an organization dealing with the management of forestry projects in the area.
According to the meeting minutes of the Ithaca Common Council, the program is one of the better ones, as the city has been in the organization for 26 consecutive years now and has received the “Growth Award” for 17 of those.
However with many trees in the area, there has been some issues lately regarding public safety.
The city has launched a new project called “Right Tree, Right Place,” involving the pruning, removal and replanting of trees that are causing safety hazards to citizens of the community.
These trees, which City Forester Jeanne Grace said are becoming tangled in the overhead electrical wires on the streets of Ithaca, could be a hazard to the public.
“It is a safety issue,” she said. “Any tree making contact with an electric line has the potential to transmit electricity. Imagine touching a tree and getting zapped.”
Grace said that there is a history of the pruning of the trees causing a decay in the sturdiness of the branches. These weak branches then get entangled in the electrical wires and can cause serious dangers like fires or downed live wires.
An Ithaca resident, David Kay, whose street is being affected by the removal of the trees, said he has always had some safety concerns when it comes to the trees.
“Trees on our own property have been of greater concern, and we have had them trimmed several times,” he said. “We have for some years been aware of related issues with the tree in front of our house that has been marked for removal.”
As for the project this year, Grace said the city will be removing 20 trees with the focus being on the areas of the 600 block of West Green Street, the 200 block of Hook Place, the 500 block of North Cayuga Street and the 100 block of North Corn Street.
Unlike the 100 trees the city usually removes per year, this year the city will take down about 20, which are mostly Norway Maples, a species especially prone to respond poorly to the pruning process, and Ash trees.
As for the trees replanted, Grace said they are replanting approximately 35, with the main species being service berry, prairie fire crab apple, dwarf horse chestnut, hawthorne, and yellow wood.
These new trees will be planted at a much lower height so they will no longer interfere with the electric wires.
The project is part of the city’s regular tree maintenance. However, this year the city is being provided a $5,540 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
This grant will help the city tackle the estimated $11,780 project, according to the Common Council meeting minutes.
The grant would “assist in the replacement of damaged trees with low growing species, provide neighborhoods with the aesthetic and ecological benefits of street trees and avoid safety issues,” according to the meeting minutes.
Mayor Svante Myrick will decide how to use the remaining amount of money for the project.
As much as the project is impacting the residents, its also having affect on the businesses who own the electrical wires.
One company, New York State Electric and Gas and city forester for the Ithaca region, Paul Paradine, said the tree project is greatly benefiting the company.
“These [replanted] trees assist NYSEG with our maintenance and safety and reliability objectives in that they eliminate the risk of tree-to-wire contact and therefore improve the safety and reliability of the Circuit,” he said.
“A large percentage of power outages are tree related, so replacing non-compatible species with compatible cultivars is a great urban forestry practice.”
The project is ongoing and will continue into the summer.
Corey Fuller 