UTICA — The results of a street tree inventory in the city were presented to the Common Council during its March 4 meeting.
The inventory was completed by Davey Resource Group using a $50,000 grant award from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Arborist Lori Brockelbank explained the results of the inventory that recorded 10,779 trees.
Brockelbank said the Norway maple was the most prevalent tree in the city, representing about 43 percent of the total. All species of maple made up about 60 percent of the trees in Utica.
“Basically, what we’re recommending in the management plan is to stop planting maples,” Brockelbank said. “Start getting that variety out there.”
Maples are susceptible to spotted lanternflies, an invasive species from East Asia. Brockelbank said the lanternflies like maples, hops, grapes and other sweet plants, and leave behind a sugary excretion which encourages black mold growth.
“This is a serious threat to New York state,” Brockelbank said of spotted lanternflies.
Only about 26 percent of the trees in Utica are native species, but Brockelbank said climate change discourages planting only natives. Of the 10,779 trees, only 72 were found to be dead.
The results of the inventory are available to the public online at uticany.treekeepersoftware.com. A map of the city has green dots for trees, yellow dots for vacant spots and red dots for stumps.
The inventory also calculates benefits from the trees, including energy, water and greenhouse gas benefits.
The greenhouse gas benefits include 2.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide sequestered, 16 million gallons of water saved and 978,324 kilowatts of energy saved, according to the TreeKeeper site.
As the city looks to plant more trees, Brockelbank suggested creating better planting sites to encourage the growth of better trees.
“This is almost like a call to action for the municipality to see this and say, ‘If we want the best trees, the biggest trees, the biggest benefits, we kind of have to change what our planting sites look like and get them bigger,’” Brockelbank said.
