Salem Completes Street Tree Inventory Pilot
The City of Salem recently completed a pilot program for a City-wide public street tree inventory. Working with New England Civil Engineering, the City cataloged the size, species, condition, and additional details of 350 trees along parts of Bridge Street, Lafayette Street, Boston Street, and North Street. The data from those 350 trees has been added to an existing database of 375 City trees, bringing the total database to 725 trees, which is only a fraction of the estimated 150,000 City trees along Salem’s streets and in its cemeteries, parks, and open spaces.
The corridor work was a pilot program that the City hopes to expand City-wide to all neighborhoods and streets, if it receives an Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation this fiscal year. A tree inventory has also already been conducted by National Grid along their cable replacement project installation route and that data will be incorporated into the growing inventory.
“The data we collect from this inventory can help set the foundation for what we hope will be an on-going tree management and maintenance plan,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll. “Once we have assessed our existing conditions, needs, and inventory, we can better plan for managing our public trees in a thoughtful and strategic manner. We are excited to get the effort underway and invite residents from all neighborhoods to help with the inventory.”
Salem residents will shortly be able to add the data for their own street trees in front of their residence. A simple guide is available at www.salem.com/trees to help residents identify the species of tree they have and explain how to measure it in just a few quick steps. Residents can then fill in the online form that will soon be available at www.salem.com/trees, to automatically add their trees’ data into the City-wide inventory.
A copy of the report from the corridor inventory pilot program is also available online at www.salem.com/trees.