Grosse Pointe City seeks donations to grow its reforestation efforts

GROSSE POINTE CITY — Grosse Pointe City’s Urban Forestry Commission continues to spread its roots.

Officials with the commission delivered their annual report to the Grosse Pointe City Council during a council meeting March 20.

“It’s been a fantastic year for the commission. … We’re starting to make some real progress,” Urban Forestry Commission Chair Rick Whitney said.

One boost came from a local club marking a milestone. As part of its 90 Trees for 90 years initiative — in honor of its 90th anniversary in 2022 — the Grosse Pointe Farm and Garden Club planted 21 trees in the City last year. The rest of the 90 trees were planted in Grosse Pointe Park and Grosse Pointe Farms.

Since the commission started in 2017, it has planted about 132 trees in the city, Urban Forestry Commission member Alaine Bush said.

Their new goal, starting in 2023, is to plant 150 trees over the next three years, City Forester Brian Colter said by phone.

“That’s a reasonable goal that’s ambitious but achievable,” Colter said.

It will take more money to make it happen. Colter said the City budgets about $10,000 annually for tree planting, which enables them to plant an estimated 28 to 29 trees each year. The cost to purchase and plant a 2.5-inch-caliper tree that’s 10 feet to 12 feet in height is approximately $350, he said. Residents who’d like to donate funds of any amount for tree planting can make a tax-deductible donation to the replanting effort through the nonprofit City of Grosse Pointe Foundation; Colter said they should note in the memo sections of their checks that the funds are for ReLeaf of Grosse Pointe.

He said the foundation maintains a separate account for the tree planting effort. Donors who use a form of payment other than a check should make it clear that their gift is for ReLeaf of Grosse Pointe.

Colter said ReLeaf of Grosse Pointe has raised “thousands of dollars” in donations since 2017, and they’ve also been able to obtain thousands of dollars in grants.

“It’s exciting to hear they have some plans to accelerate (reforestation),” said City Councilman Seth Krupp, the council liaison to the commission.

As of the commission’s last tree gap survey at the end of 2022, the commission determined that the City had roughly 250 trees in decline, most of them lindens and maples.

For some notable mature trees, Colter said, 2022 was a bad year. The city last year saw its greatest tree loss to Dutch elm disease since that condition decimated the elm population in the Pointes circa the 1960s and 1970s. The stretch of University Place from Jefferson Avenue to Maumee Avenue — whose residents had been carefully injecting their elms with fungicide for years — lost the majority of the 11 city-owned elm trees that succumbed to Dutch elm disease last year, Colter said. He said a 12th elm was lost to storm damage, reducing the city-owned elm population to fewer than 90. However, Colter said all of the trees on University were replaced with new ones in a variety of species.

“We continue to emphasize tree species diversity as well as right tree, right place,” Bush said.

Colter said residents who want to add trees to their properties should try to consult with a certified arborist to make sure the tree — or trees — they select will work for the spot where they’d like to plant them, as there are multiple considerations, including the amount of light in that location, how close it is to the house or above-ground utilities, how large that species of tree will get and whether that tree’s roots might interfere with underground sewage lines in the decades to come. Residents can find certified arborists in their area by visiting the website of the International Society of Arboriculture and putting in their ZIP code.

The City has a five-year maintenance tree trimming program in which every city-owned tree gets trimmed every five years, Colter said. This includes removing dead and suspect branches and thinning out the tree, which protects trees and property during storms by reducing the number of downed trees and limbs.

“By thinning it out, you allow the wind to blow through the top of the tree,” Colter said.

At press time, the Urban Forestry Commission was slated to mark Arbor Day in the City this year on April 25 by planting a tulip tree at Maire Elementary School.