News

New trees to spring up along Bassett

The Forestry Section of Madison’s Parks Division discussed plans for new trees to be planted in the Bassett neighborhood at a community meeting Monday.

The Forestry Section plans to put in a total of about 33 new trees this spring in the Bassett Street area. Brian Meiller, East Forestry Specialist for the Forestry Section, said they expect to begin planting the trees in May or June of this year.

“We usually start planting trees in April, but it will be a little bit later this year because of the snow,” Meiller said.

City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, said during the renovation of the 400 and 500 blocks of Mifflin Street last year almost all of the trees were damaged due to construction. He said 25 trees will be replaced and added to the area in this project.

“I was furious when I found out that all of these trees would die because of construction,” Verveer said.

According to Verveer, he has convinced the Forestry Department to put more mature trees in the area instead of saplings. This means the trees will be about two to three inches in diameter.

The maturity of the trees will also help to protect them, Verveer said. He said trees see a lot of vandalism during bar time, and intoxicated individuals sometimes think it is funny to snap the brand new trees in half.

The trees will be planted by a private contractor, and there will be a total of 10 different varieties planted in the area.

City forester Marla Eddy said having a variety of trees is extremely important to the community. More than 10,000 trees were inventoried in the city of Madison this year and of those, 20 percent are maple trees and 30 percent are ash trees, Eddy said.

According to Eddy, diversity is very important to the tree population because certain bugs, like the Emerald Ash Borer, can kill trees.

“This was first discovered in the United States near Detroit in 2002,” Eddy said. “We have been working with the Department of Agriculture and so far, we have not found it, but it usually turns up about two years before we start to see it.”

Eddy said there are about 30,000 ash trees on John Nolan Drive that could be affected by this beetle. She also said there are many ash trees along bicycle paths and in Madison parks. 

“We are trying to increase diversity, and we ask that people be very patient with leaf size and cycle,” Eddy said. “We have to accept these trees if we want a diverse urban forest.”

Potential plans to establish a child care center at 402 W. Wilson St. were also discussed Monday. The center, to be named Badger Babies, would cater to about 180 children from families in the area. Committee members said this could potentially be a reason for more new families to stay in the area.