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Queen Anne residents start tree care project State grant helps in maintenance of avenue�s trees By Jessica Smith Take a stroll down Queen Anne Avenue in January, and you might wonder why neighbors there care so much about their trees. The hundred or so silver maples lining the street have shed their fall colors, leaving naked, spiritless branches pointing crookedly toward the sky. All that will change in a few months, when the trees spring to life and canopy Queen Anne, a scenic east Medford street. "The trees make the ambiance of the whole neighborhood. In the summer, they make this tunnel," explains resident Vicki Arthur. "You turn off hot Crater Lake Avenue into this cool tunnel ... it�s just beautiful." It�s that summertime beauty Arthur and her neighbors want to protect from the fate that has befallen some older trees in Medford that were cut down to accommodate new sidewalks, curbs and gutters. With a recently approved $3,000 state grant, Queen Anne residents may be able to do just that. Nearly two years ago, rumors that the city planned to remove the 70-plus-year-old boulevard trees for a pavement project on Queen Anne caught the attention of neighbors and pushed them into action. They banded together and paid for a $500 inventory of 100 trees in their neighborhood, learning that about 10 needed replacing and the rest could stand to be pruned. In the meantime, the city hasn�t touched the trees. "We got past that crisis, but still the trees need some attention," says Arthur. "They need some TLC." Problem is, pruning trees can be expensive. Removing a tree and its root system can cost even more. And though the trees live in the city�s right-of-way, it�s the responsibility of home owners to maintain them. "People don�t like hearing that bit of information when we pass it along," admits Greg Jones, the city�s parks and recreation director. "But trees in a neighborhood benefit just the residents." According to Arthur, who sits on the city�s tree committee, just pruning one of the larger maples on Queen Anne could cost a home owner $200 to $500, depending on the amount of work to be done. For home owners who have several trees on their property, the cost of pruning can be prohibitive. "Like a lot of people, I�m trying to pay the grocery bill," says Arthur. "So (taking care of) the tree is at the bottom of my list." After hearing the same types of concerns from her neighbors, Arthur persuaded the city to apply for a state grant that helps communities tend to their urban forests. In December, the City Council agreed to create a pilot program for Queen Anne using the $3,000 grant to give residents an incentive for pruning or replacing trees considered hazardous because of dead wood. The state grant won�t give the city enough to attend to every tree on Queen Anne, but officials say they hope the pilot program will be a jumping-off point for future work on the street and in other neighborhoods. According to Arthur, neighbors and the city must determine how to prioritize tree projects and distribute the funds. Katie Kause, a community assistance forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry, says Medford�s trial program on Queen Anne is just the kind of project the state grant is designed to support. The Queen Anne project is one that involves residents with the maintenance of their part of Medford�s urban forest, where trees are dominated by humans and human-made structures, Kause says. "So the urban forest, even more so than any infrastructure in the city, needs to be intensely managed," Kause adds. "It�s an asset to the community ... that needs to be considered important to the quality of life." Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.