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You Like Trees -

Steve Goode

April 21, 2010

Then you'll like a tree ordinance that the city council is considering. And you'll like these interesting tree factoids.

Hartford has approximately 450,000 trees that cover about a quarter of the city's landscape.

That works out to about four trees per resident.

They remove 2,400 tons of carbon and 73 tons of other pollutants from the air every year.

Their replacement value is about $590 million.

As for the ordinance, the highlights incluude: Defining the role of the city forester; Establishing a tree advisory council; Enabling the forester to conduct a tree inventory; Creating a tree master plan; Establishing a tree legacy program; Encouraging the planting of trees in public places; Prohibiting damage to trees in the right of way or in public places and the removal of large trees in the right of way without the forester's permission; Mandating the protection of trees during construction and the replacement of large trees if their removal was not permitted by the city forester; Creating planting requirement for new development in the city and the establishment of a tree fund.

All good ideas that were thought up by council members, neighborhood activists, DPW and Knox Parks. It's too bad though that they actually have to make rules like these. You'd think it was a no-brainer.

Anyhow there is a public input session scheduled for tonight at 6 in council chambers if you want to let them know what you think of the proposed ordinance.

Thanks to Linda Bayer at Hartford 2000 for the factoids and skinny on the proposal.