Usually people get up in arms when they learn that the town arborist has plans to take trees down. But some residents of Myrtle Avenue in Montclair were steamed when the township planted a number of saplings there last week. A tipster writes:
Thursday the town planted several dozen trees on Myrtle Avenue. These trees were not requested but planted at the direction of the town arborist, Steve Schuckman. No one on our street was informed and several neighbors I spoke with were not happy with the planting. The neighborhood is already well treed and there are places on the sidewalk where you need to duck to pass under existing trees.
I returned home on Saturday afternoon to find 2 additional trees planted in front of my home. These trees are expensive, unnecessary and planted under power lines which will require constant maintenance. In these difficult economic times and hearing from our elected officials about how difficult it is to cut spending here is a glaring example of waste.
Another neighbor concurred.
I think these trees are definitely gilding the lily -- we have a beautiful street, full of gorgeous mature trees, as it is. If these threes are costing me money, I would rather not pay it. And if the trees are coming out of the town budget, in these tight economic times I'm baffled as to how they can justify such an expenditure. Whatever these trees cost, I would rather have that money in my pocket or in Montclair High School.
All this leaves arborist Steve Schuckman mystified. "I very rarely get people calling and complaining that we're planting [trees]," he said. "I wouldn't have put in trees if there was no place to put them."
He said that Montclair has hundreds if not thousands of "tree vacancies," due to trees lost to age or storms. "You could plant 500 trees in Montclair for the next 10 years," he said. "If we don't continue to plant trees and we continue to remove them, we'll have an unforested community."
A new tree, planted, costs the township about $200, Schuckman said. He said cherries and Japanese flowering lilacs were chosen for the side of the Myrtle with utility wires, while large-growing little-leaf lindens and hardy rubber trees were planted on the other side.
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Comments (32)
you know, if we're contemplating cuts in necessary services like Police or Fire or even library, how about a few years of no new planting.
So, if I go snag myself a tree from Myrtle St., none of the residents will complain or 'rat me out'?
I wonder if any of the complainers plan on being around in 20 - 50 years when the "plenty of mature" trees are all gone.
Trees have a life span and many of the ones in this town are coming very close to the end of theirs.
Bike Boy wants to make sure he has lots of shade when he bikes around town in the summer.
Remember, it is all about BIKES.
"You could plant 500 trees in Montclair for the next 10 years,"
= $1,000,000
Always complaining about something. Never thought I'd see the day when people would complain about saplings.
A lot of the trees are already "mature" and are easily damaged in storms. Claremont Ave. is the result of Dutch Elm and no thought to replanting. It'll take years.
ROC, you are beyond salvation.
Ironic, that, on a street named after a very nice kind of tree, people are bitching about trees.
From the obvious department, why didn't they bother planting any Myrtle trees?
seriously?
wow.
what a waste of air. get over it!
the trees are beautiful and the mature ones already there aren't going to last forever.
now, if they would only plant trees on the block of south park street that was recently repaved, i'd be happy. its only a few blocks away!
LOL, Puss...that actually crossed my mind.
What a ridiculous thing to complain about. Residents of Myrtle obviously can't see the forest for the trees.
Trees are great as long as they're trimmed. I sympathize with the resident who complained about having to duck while walking down the street. It's particularly annoying if you're going for a run. Between ducking the trees and jumping over cracked sidewalks, sometimes I feel like I'm running through an obstacle course. Not to mention the increasing trend of unleashed dogs ...
Good one, banana
This is something that they're doing right. You have to plant now to have beautiful trees in the future... Don't be "penny-wise and pound-foolish."
I am not sure I get moving April Fools Day to June 1st, but it was nice to see there is a creative sense of humor on Myrtle St. Bravo!
The Woodman area wants all the trees we can get. Bring them on!
..Reminds me of Mario back in Brooklyn who hated trees because trees encouraged the accumulation of bird poop and dog sh*t deposits way too close to his shiny Cadillac POS.
I'm in West Orange... dig 'em up and bring 'em here... I would LOVE new trees on my property for free..
This is further proof, if any was needed, that given the chance people will complain about anything.
Plant more trees, keep planting til RoC pops. If you don't want the trees, give them to GR...we got a top notch shade tree town.....PAZ in EWR
Seriously? Boo freakin' hoo! Don't like trees, move to Newark.
I agree with walleroo.
Thanks to all of you who support my work. I intend to build an excellent shade tree program, make Montclair a TREE CITY USA, and reforest our community for the future. Imagine if our early settlers had not planted trees, where would we be today? We plant not for now, but for the future. yes, we and I make mistakes, but all for the positive.
I look forward to my continued service to Montclair.
Stephen Schuckman
Township Forester
Thank you Mr. Schuckman - I'll take any trees that Myrtle residents don't want (all but one of the trees planted by the town over the past 18 years on my small street have died, and the last one doesn't look so good).
I am also looking forward to watching the newly planted trees on Grove Street develop over the next few years (God willing).
There's always something to complain about in Montclair! :)
Dear Mr. Schuckman, I'm delighted that your mistakes are all for the positive. What concerns me is that your successes would then be all for the negative. I suppose we should dearly hope that you are in fact utterly incompetent.
Planting trees is great - but will they be maintained?? Why should the homeowner have to pay to maintain town trees? Homeowners pay out of pocket because historically, the town has been unresponsive to complaints of dead limbs, etc.
Bloomfield planted a small, 10' Maple in front of my house to replace the large Swamp Maple that had to be removed.
That was 11 years ago. It's now over 20 feet tall, the trunk is 5 times the size from when it was first planted and it has a glorious, burgeoning canapy that has already been home some Robin's nests.
Of course I feed and water it every season. It likes the generic tree 'spikes' that I get at Ploch's. Just pound them in at the 'drip line' and the tree will get all the nutrients it needs.
ahhh. a tree grows in brooklyn-lite.
I think they people who are complaining should get what they ask for. dig em up and send em down the hill. as long as all their names are carved deeply into a plaque of concrete that is then installed in place of the uprooted saplings explaining that this little patch of urban habitat was a gift from them to the future generations.
Unbelievable the resentment over trees that "might" need to be maintained in the future. Really, no sense of shared responsibility? Now, a gripefest about neighbors' unmaintained trees (one back fence, one garage roof later...)? I'd pile on that one in a heartbeat.
Thanks, Mr. Schuckman, for your forward thinking. It boggles the mind to think that people can't see the benefit of planting new trees.
Tree maintenance isn't just about property damage and public safety - also, it helps ensure the health and longevity of the tree. If the town is going to plant them, they should also maintain them.
This reminds me of the 70-year-old wisteria at Van Vleck. It won't last much longer. I overheard someone saying it's a shame that they didn't realize this 30 years ago and plant then, so today you'd have a mature plant to replace the dying one.