TREE ALERT !!!
Public Works of the City of Livingston plans to cut down 4 mature and very vibrant silver maples on the southeast corner of Geyser & K Streets, on the K Street boulevard. The four trees are somewhere between 100 and 150 years old. Roots have broken the concrete sidewalk along K Street. No other damage from the roots to city infrastructure other than the sidewalk displacement is apparent. Saplings would be planted in their place and the concrete replaced. In another thirty or forty years there will be some shade again – and roots trying to reach water!
Over the pass, Bozeman has made an active effort to conserve trees. In the past 18 years only one tree has been removed because of sidewalk problems. Bozeman uses several approaches to both protect and encourage their trees, including rerouting the sidewalk path in some locations. Walkway solutions, including a soft path or a boardwalk stretch over the roots, could be used to create a walkway and conserve the trees.
Secilia Marino, the property owner, and I testified to the City Commission on Monday, July 20 and I submitted a list of other possible solutions, with web sites for referral. We will be on the agenda again on Monday, August 3. Consideration of other possible solutions may be underway but until another solution is determined and declared, the trees are imperiled.
The extreme effects of climate change are already evident in our region. Trees, in addition to adding beauty and cooler temperatures at their location, are extremely important in reducing the effects of CO2. Livingston must conserve its mature trees and live up to its designation as an Arbor City.
This issue is an agenda item again at the next City Commission meeting, Monday, August 3 at 7pm. Your presence and comments can help save these trees. Your phone calls to the City Commission, City Manager and the Livingston Public Works Department can also help.
For more information, call Charlotte Trolinger, 222-4704 or Secilia Marino, 556-8102. Thank you!
City Commissioners: 823-6004
Steve Caldwell, Chair
Vicki Blakeman, Vice-Chair
Mary Beebe
Juliann Jones
Rick VanAken
City Manager, Edwin Meece: 823-6000
Public Works, Director Clint Tinsley: 222-1142