Arbor Day 2017 at the Sommerville Community Growing Center with BTSE.
Somerville is celebrating TREES in a big and glorious way! The newly hired City Arborist, Vanessa Boukili, Phd., is growing the Urban Forestry Program with gusto. In her six months here, Somerville’s “Doctor of Trees” has streamlined the City’s tree data, facilitated training with the Department of Public Works staff, and taken over the Emerald Ash Borer Prevention Program. This week she has been busy tagging the 70 trees that will be planted in Somerville this spring. Vanessa has also helped organize two wonderful Arbor Day community events to exalt the urban forest that does so much for us city folk!
On Saturday April 22nd, an Arbor Day celebration took place at Quincy Street Park. The Tiny Great Outdoors Festival gathered people in sunshine to talk about trees, art and climate change, meet their neighbors and plant a new Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) in the park.
The second event, on April 28th, was a great tree trim at the Somerville Community Growing Center. The generous Barret Tree Services East, through the Massachusetts Arborist Associationand the Arbor Day Foundation, donated their time and expertise to prune the Growing Center’s trees. The Growing Center is such an important community resource in the Union Square neighborhood, and its trees certainly contribute to the sense of place, so we are all grateful to Barrett for taking care of them.
How are you celebrating your favorite tree this year?