The Yardener

It takes everyone in the village to plant new trees

Jeff Ball / Special to The Detroit News

L ast week, I reported on the results of a detailed study of the tree canopy in southeastern Michigan completed by the American Forest Association in 2004. The study revealed that a significant number of trees have been lost to development between 1991 and 2002, which was before the emerald ash borer took an additional 15 million ash trees from the same area. The analysis is that air pollution, storm water damage and other serious ecological problems get worse and cost more tax money as the tree canopy recedes. The conclusion of the study is that there needs to be millions of new trees planted in southeastern Michigan in the next few years if we hope to return our area to at least a minimum level of ecological health. In last week's column, I estimated that the city of Detroit needed to plant 2 million trees to get the canopy up to minimum standards of the American Forest Association. When I did a similar analysis of the data for Macomb County, I estimated that there is a need to plant more than 25 million trees to get the canopy in that county up to the 40 percent minimum goal. My first reaction to that number was complete hopelessness. How can we even begin to figure out how to pay for 25 million trees, much less find the means to plant them and care for them into maturity? After chatting with some helpful folks in the Macomb County Planning and Development office, I learned there were about 220,000 single-family dwellings in Macomb County. I believe most single family dwellings have some property around the house that could offer space for one or more trees. When you divide the 25 million needed trees by the number of houses, you have on average a need for each family in Macomb County to plant 12 trees in the next few years. Now that doesn't seem like a totally impossible situation; tough, but not impossible. When you spread the cost and workload for planting 25 million trees in Macomb County among homeowners with some space, plant some in the 130 parks and 40 golf courses, and get help from all the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H members, Rotarians, Lions, church members and elementary school kids, the goal seems almost feasible. All yardeners, please note that all the counties in Metro Detroit will have numbers similar to Macomb County. Every community in Metro Detroit needs to have a significant number of trees planted in the next few years. There are several confounding problems we all must deal with if we hope to return our forest canopy to an acceptable level. Perhaps the biggest problem when planting new trees is protecting them from the terribly excessive number of deer living protected in southeastern Michigan. If the deer nip off the top leader of a newly planted tree, that tree will never grow to its proper size and shape. Another problem is kind of subtle, but I believe it is a real issue. How does one decide which species of tree to buy? Some Web sites have a list of trees that have been approved by experts as being appropriate for Metro Detroit climate. Michigan state government also has a list of 25 trees that are not recommended, yet many of them are available for sale at retail garden centers. These long lists of good trees are divided into best trees as street trees, best trees as shade trees, best trees for wet areas, etc. In my experience, when I am confronted with too many choices, I tend to avoid making any decision at all. I think that will happen to lots of folks confronted with a list of 100 trees from which to choose. I figure that by now, it's probably too late for most of us to buy and plant any new trees this year. So I plan to discuss all of the problems, including deer, how to choose, and how to plant in my columns over the winter months. I'm hoping I will be able to give yardeners in Metro Detroit enough information so that come spring they all will be out there planting at least one new tree. In the meantime, check with your local community government and see whether it has any tree replacement program in the works. It's time to start getting their attention. Jeff Ball, a Metro Detroit freelance writer, has authored eight books on gardening and lawn care. You can visit his yard care Web site at www.yardener.com, and his blog at gardeneryarde ner.blogspot.com. E-mail him at jeffball@usol.com.