Private money needed to maintain public trees, but post-storm assessment demonstrates value of the investment; Fort Wayne, IN

City needs help with tree care | The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.: "Last updated: May 15, 2009 8:34 a.m. City needs help with tree care
Benjamin LankaThe Journal Gazette
Clint Keller | The Journal Gazette
Despite city crews’ cleanup work after December’s ice storm, piles of limbs remain along Lafayette Street.

Private money is needed to keep the city’s public-tree canopy properly maintained, Park Director Al Moll said Thursday.
In providing a summary of last winter’s ice storm damages, Moll said city trees that had been trimmed recently suffered far less damage than those that had gone years without pruning.
Because of budget cuts, the city has cut how frequently it trims 80,000 street and park trees. Moll said trees are ideally trimmed every five to seven years, but recently the city has been able to trim them only every nine years. When heavy ice and wind hit Fort Wayne in December, trees without a recent trim lost more limbs and created more damage, he said.
But getting more tax dollars to help with the maintenance is unlikely because of dwindling resources, Moll said. That is why the city will likely begin talking with foundations and other private donors to seek money for tree maintenance."