If you want a greener city, come to ICT TreeFest Saturday to learn how | Commentary
With Arbor Day coming up, it’s time to ask that important question: “What is the best time to plant a tree?”
Answer: “20 years ago!”
That old (ahem) chestnut underlies the mission of a new Wichita non-profit. ICT Trees, Inc. was created to maintain, expand, and promote our tree canopy in Wichita.
To that end we are hosting a free “Urban TreeFest” from 1-5 p.m. Saturday at the Delano Green Space, along McLean Blvd. between Fern and Vine streets.
The TreeFest is a celebration of the preservation of green spaces and trees in our city.
The land it is being held on was left over from the widening of McLean Boulevard decades ago. Just a few months ago, it was slated for the development of 19 units of row houses, a development which would have removed all of the mature shade trees.
That land-use decision was wisely reversed.
There is also great diversity in this urban forest because, for the most part, the trees were planted by homeowners whose houses formerly occupied the space — there are even a couple old clothesline poles still there.
Our event will also highlight an exciting new project by the city.
Referred to as the “bare-root trees trials” the Forestry Division of the city Parks Department is growing bare-rooted baby trees in gravel. With careful tending, this enables the small trees to develop a healthy root system, so that when planted they adapt more readily to their soil environment.
This process minimizes transplant shock, plus avoids the root-pruning process often necessary with balled-and-burlapped trees grown in soil.
If successful, this experiment will produce healthier, stronger trees to help replace years of tree loss.
The city’s overall goal is to have a net-zero tree loss per year, which is a truly laudable and ambitious goal since we are currently losing 3,000 to 5,000 trees per year.
The city has 600 trees in gravel that will be ready to plant this year. But obviously that can be considered only a good start.
There are so many benefits to having a healthy, full tree canopy. So, I will just mention two:
▪ Trees capture carbon and deliver oxygen.
▪ Trees provide shade to shelter urban land, preventing the negative effects of heat islands. Heat islands are paved areas that absorb heat during the day, then release that heat at night, keeping night temperatures up and preventing both people and vegetation from recovering from the day’s heat.
As we head into summer with predicted off-the-charts heat, take a walk in a park or along a city sidewalk, and note the fresh cool air you experience under a large shade tree.
On Saturday, we will kick off activities with the presentation of a proclamation by Wichita City Council Member Maggie Ballard.
Throughout the afternoon, there will be guided tree walks among the 45-plus trees on this city-owned property in the heart of Wichita.
At 2 p.m., master gardeners Euel Reed and Tom Ewert will demonstrate “How to Plant A tree” — in this case, a Swamp White Oak.
We invite you to the Urban TreeFest to learn about trees, and how you can help to expand, maintain, and promote our community’s trees, both by preserving our existing trees and planting more trees to expand our city’s canopy.
Elizabeth Bishop is a master tree gardener and former Kansas state representative. Harold Schlechtweg, Russell Arben Fox and Mike McCorkle contributed to this article.
