City of Salem Successfully Relocates Street Trees from Canal Street

The City of Salem’s Department of Public Services and Engineering Department have recently successfully completed the relocation of ten mature street trees from along Canal Street to Forest River Park. The trees replace ones in the park that were removed previously due to their failing health or damage. The tree pits on Canal Street will be replanted with new street trees as a component of the $12 million Canal Street roadway improvement project getting underway this month.

“The normal practice would be to simply remove the Canal Street trees altogether before the roadway project begins,” points out Director of Public Services John Tomasz, “However, we saw an opportunity to make use of them in the park, where we had open spaces from previous removals. Replanting a mature tree is challenging, so I really want to give credit to the City crews and workers who took this job on and completed it successfully.”

“Instead of replacing the park’s trees with smaller young trees, having these more established trees in Forest River Park really adds to the park’s ambiance in a positive way,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll. “Families making use of Forest River now can enjoy the benefits of these more fully-grown trees and the aesthetics they provide to the park.”

As work begins on the new 17-space public parking lot on Bridge Street near the Old Salem Jail, five additional trees in the planned work area will be removed and replanted at a public park elsewhere in the City.