Written by Becky Pobst, Director of Forestry
While planning for our two largest planting events of the year, ArborFest in the Spring and Neighborwoods in the Fall, we focus on our most important step: finding out who doesn’t want a tree.
Something we hear often in our work is, “Who wouldn’t want a tree?!” It’s meant with good intentions, often from folks who understand all the intricate benefits a tree can provide. There’s a lot of social pressure right now to love trees, but even as an arborist who loves trees, I completely understand why some people don’t.
For all the benefits a tree provides, it can also cause stress, especially if it wasn’t well cared for throughout its life. Most of the largest trees in our city pre-date the urban forestry profession, so we have some big, stress-inducing old trees. Limbs come down in storms, causing property damage and power outages. Many trees are the wrong species to be so close to houses and pipes. Leaves will cover the yard in the fall.
While we work hard to plant the right species and care for the tree, especially when young and easy to prune in a way that promotes healthy growth, sometimes that’s not enough to win over someone who’s had a bad experience with a tree.
I remember driving an old car around when I was younger. It kept breaking down and costing a lot of money to repair. It finally broke down on the freeway in the middle of rush hour, and I called it quits. It was a few years before I felt ready to get another car. If someone has spent a lot of money, time, or energy cleaning up after a very old tree, they won’t be ready for a new one soon.
To ensure we’re reaching everyone, we send out a mailer to every home in the neighborhood, whether they’re getting a tree or not. A week after that, we will walk around and leave flyers on the doors for everyone who has space for a tree, letting them know about the event and to contact us if they have questions or concerns. Usually, with this flyer, we begin receiving calls either enthusiastically requesting extra trees or letting us know that they aren’t interested in receiving a tree—and both responses are important!
About a week before the trees are delivered, we leave a flag with another flyer on it in the spot where we plan to put the tree. This is another opportunity for residents to let us know if they’d like a tree in that spot or not—or, in some cases, they may request a specific tree, which we do our best to get for them if it’s an appropriate site for the species.
Finally, the tree is delivered a week before planting in case the residents missed any previous flyers (we notice this is common during an election year when residents are already overwhelmed with mailers). We usually receive a couple more denials and requests at this stage, and our team is happy to drive around with our trailer to shuffle trees around before the planting begins.
Some folks may think it’s frustrating for us to get tree denials, especially after the tree is already waiting on the ground, but that is not the case. We appreciate it when residents tell us if they don’t want a tree. Of course, our goal is to increase our city’s tree canopy and ensure everyone in Grand Rapids has equal access to the benefits trees provide us. However, if a tree causes stress to a resident, that’s not a benefit. And we’ve learned over the years that for every person who doesn’t want a tree, we have a person who does, so it all balances out in the end.
Questions about trees? You can reach me directly at becky@friendsofgrparks.org.
Becky Pobst is a Certified Arborist and the Director of Forestry at Friends of Grand Rapids Parks.
