Sisters checks school district’s tree-thinning work
City of Sisters and Sisters School District representatives walked a portion of the middle and high school campuses Monday afternoon and came to an agreement to resolve a dispute over what trees should and shouldn’t be removed.
Last month,, the city ordered the school district to stop the removal of trees on school property, saying too many were being removed.
The city’s Urban Forestry Board and school district regrouped to come to an agreement. The focus is on diseased or hazardous trees that are close to walkways or parking lots.
The school district had green bands wrapped around trees it thought it could be removed. If the city agreed that tree could be removed, a blue band was added to it, representing an agreement between both parties.
Sisters Community Development Director Patrick Davenport said the original tree removal plan was too aggressive, so they told the district to dial it back by half, but they still thought the school district was being too aggressive.
The school district’s director of operations, Ryan Stock, said the district thought it was thinning the correct number of trees. Both the city and school district walked the school grounds together.
“We just have to be in agreement,” said Dan Galecki, the contracted urban forester for Sisters. “There was some slight disagreement, but walking together, doing the marking together with the school district staff and the forestry board from Sisters, helped everyone in agreement.”
Galecki said the city and the district just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page.
Galecki also said removing certain trees can help the health of other trees. He said it’s good to have variability in size and age of trees. Too many trees in one spot can cause suppression, which means some trees will always remain smaller than others.
Stock said for the school district, it’s all about safety. The district wants to keep trees away from buildings because pine needles drop into gutters and clog them up.
He also said fewer trees help parents and teachers watch kids who are running around.
Galecki said the city and school district want to keep structurally sound trees.
“We are looking for ‘stress trees,” Galecki said. “There were indicators some of the trees, looking at the needles, the bark, the structure, dead limbs, defects, bugs, entry wounds, brown needles — all had signs of a possible diseased tree.”
The city approved going forward with this new plan. The trees will be counted and approved for removal Tuesday. The “stop work” order will be lifted so the district can continue thinning those hazardous trees.
