By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
Three summers ago, a 65-feet-tall maple street suddenly fell across Second Street near the corner of Sycamore Street, in Liverpool. Nobody was injured, but traffic had to be diverted, and power cables repaired. It appeared that a rotting root system had toppled the old maple tree without warning.
Two months later, village Trustee Christina Fadden formed a four-person advisory committee to assess the village’s tree population. Now, in recognition of Liverpool’s renewed arboreal commitment, the village has been named a 2019 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation based in Lincoln, Neb.
The Village of Liverpool earned its Tree City USA designation by meeting four requirements: establishing a tree board, passing a tree-care ordinance, maintaining an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and organizing a local Arbor Day observance.
“The element of the Tree City USA application requiring the most time was enactment of a modern, comprehensive local law that provides for a board for the guidance and stewardship of our beautiful trees,” Fadden said. “Our village public trees and shrubs enhance life for all of us and are a wonderful resource that belongs to all of us in the village.”
Fadden estimates that some 1,800 trees grow on village property here, including some 70 century-old silver maples.
At the village board meeting on March 16, Fadden thanked the volunteers who serve on the village Tree Committee, chairperson Yvette Hewitt, Lisa Ballantyne, Diane Recor and Adam Woodburn, a professional arborist. Last July, the village board officially established the committee and appointed its members to three-year terms.
The effort behind the passing a village tree law included examining model laws provided by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, consultation with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County and a review of existing tree ordinances around the state. Village officials such as Codes Officer Bill Reagan, attorney John Langey and DPW Superintendent Mike Neverette also contributed to the creation of the local law.
In the past two years, the Tree Committee has collaborated with students at Liverpool Elementary School to celebrate Arbor Day by planting a new tree on village property near the school. This year’s planting is on hold, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve all greatly enjoyed celebrating with the students, who inspired us with their enthusiasm the last two years,” Fadden said. “We also hope to have a fully developed community forest-management plan soon.”
With its Tree City USA recognition, the village has demonstrated that it’s doing its part to help address issues such as air quality, water resources, personal health and well-being, energy use and protection from extreme heat and flooding, said Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation.
The Arbor Day Foundation is a million-member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees; arborday.org. In New York State, Arbor Day is celebrated on the final Friday of April, this year on April 24.
