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Lake Absarraca
Photo: Cheyenne Urban Forestry
Mission
and Scope of Work - Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division
VISION:
Every feasible planting space in Cheyenne
occupied by a suitable and thriving tree of good health and
safe structure.
MISSION:
Dedicated to improving the urban forest by: Working
with citizens, businesses, government agencies and tree care
professionals in maintaining and renewing a safe, healthy, and
diverse mature tree canopy to enhance the beauty and prosperity
of the community.
Our
Definition of an Urban Forest: The relationship of all trees
and woody shrubs existing, alive or dead, within an area developed,
lived in, worked in, and managed, by people.
SCOPE
OF FORESTRY DIVISION'S MISSION:
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Providing educational opportunities and information
to citizens and professional tree care personnel.
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Leading by example in tree planting, and overall tree care
on city owned and maintained lands.
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Through research and experimentation plant a wide variety
of tree species that are able to grow in this planting zone.
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Working with architects, planners, developers, governing
body, business owners, and citizens to design and incorporate ideal
tree planting
locations and species along new and existing city streets,
and in developing city maintained public areas that have
trees as an amenity.
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Minimize public right-of-way safety concerns caused by trees
and shrubs.
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Monitor
tree mortality causing insect and disease threats with inspection,
action, and follow-up.
GOALS
FOR TREES IN CITY MAINTAINED AREAS:
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Perform a whole system tree
evaluation to determine: the different tree species
and percent of whole, health, safety, insect and disease problems,
and available planting spaces. Update evaluation with follow-up
inspections. (Overall tree evaluation
Completed 2004, Follow-up and updating is Ongoing)
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Attain a tree replacement to removal ratio of 5 to 1. (Ongoing
goal)
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Attain an overall tree species mix not to exceed 10% of
total for any one species. (Ongoing
process that will take many years)
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Determine the best watering and fertilizing regime for each
species and area to attain the best tree health without
application of pesticides. (Ongoing)
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Research and develop maintenance methods to maximize tree
growth and longevity for this area. (Ongoing)
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Reduce
the use of treated water for watering trees. The Board
of Public Utilities (water department) has installed
pipe for reuse water delivery to some park areas, cemeteries,
some athletic fields, and a golf course. The line went into
service Summer of 2007. Draft untreated water out of Lake
Absarraca and recycle water out of Johnson pool at season
end. Summer 2011, a water reuse fill station was installed
at the Forestry Shop in the Dutcher Baseball Field Complex.
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Restore
and maintain living tree and shrub specimens at the High
Plains Arboretum. The City of Cheyenne assumed maintenance
of the historic Arboretum at the USDA
Agricultural Research Service - High Plains Grasslands Research
Station west of F. E. Warren Air Base, on July 1,
2008. The City Forestry Division along with the Cheyenne
Botanic Gardens Division, Cheyenne Parks Division, and other
city departments, maintain this 137 acre Arboretum, Reservoir,
and Park area. More information on the arboretum is on the
Cheyenne
Botanic Gardens Website. City of Cheyenne Urban
Forestry along with the City of Cheyenne Engineer's Office
developed a High
Plains Arboretum Guide GIS map showing the location
of 60 trees and shrubs in an easy to use self guided tour
of the Arboretum.
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Find
ways to keep beetle infested trees, removed commercially
and privately, out of the landfill. The
compost facility is able to chip logs up to 17 inches in
diameter and cut into sections 4 to 5 feet long. The forestry
division peels the bark off of larger diameter tree trunks
using a chainsaw powered bark peeler.
The larger, peeled, trunk sections are cut into manageable
lengths and sold as firewood at the Compost Facility on
Windmill Road.
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To reduce the number of pine and spruce
trees killed by bark
beetles, Urban Forestry will spray approximately
4,000 pine and spruce trees in the Spring of 2012, beginning
in late March and completing the spraying process by early
June. (Ongoing)
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Work
with property owners to promptly remove trees infested with
bark beetles and have the wood treated to minimize the spread
of bark beetles to unaffected trees.
2011 Annual Report - Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division
The Urban Forestry Division is responsible
for the development and maintenance of trees, shrubs, vines,
and hedges, on all City of Cheyenne public properties. Tree
and shrub maintenance on street, alley and public sidewalk right-of-ways
is the responsibility of the abutting homeowner or business.
However, the property owner must consult with the City Forester
and acquire a permit before any right-of-way tree trimming,
planting, or removal is conducted.
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Forestry Personnel: The forestry division
consists of seven full-time employees, down from nine employees,
due to a reduction-in-force layoff in March 2010. All
seven of the full-time forestry division professionals and arborists
are International
Society of Arboriculture - Certified Arborists. The
five arborists, all Certified Arborists, are primarily the employees
doing the hands-on tree work in the areas maintained by the
city.
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Cheyenne's City Maintained Trees: The Forestry Division
maintains over 13,800 trees in city parks, golf courses,
cemeteries, ball fields, city maintained right-of-ways, around
city buildings, and more than 850 trees found along the Greenways.
There are over 3100 trees that require hand watering, trees
that are not located in automated irrigation areas. Included
in the 3100 hand-watered trees total, there are 1200 evergreen
trees that require hand watering in winter during dry spells.
In 2008, the City of Cheyenne assumed maintenance responsibility
for 137 acres of land including the High
Plains Arboretum (a living tree museum), a reservoir,
and adjacent park area, all formerly a part of the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service
- High Plains Grasslands Research Station. The Research Station
is located on the west side of F.E. Warren Air Force Base off
of Roundtop Road. The 62 acre High Plains Arboretum area has
many tree species that were planted from the late 1920's through
the mid 1970's as part of woody vegetation research for the
High Plains. The 62 acre arboretum area and several hundred
trees are now under the maintenance of the City of Cheyenne
Parks and Recreation Department as well as several hundred other
trees around the reservoir and the adjacent park area. Cheyenne
Urban Forestry along with the City of Cheyenne Engineer's Office
developed a High Plains
Arboretum Guide a GIS map showing the location of 60
trees and shrubs in an easy to use self guided tour of the Arboretum.
• 2011 Awards:
- Cheyenne
has achieved "Tree City USA" by the National
Arbor Day Foundation for 28
consecutive years. Cheyenne is the oldest Tree City
USA community
in Wyoming.
- Cheyenne
met the requirements for forestry program growth for the National
Arbor Day Foundation's Tree City USA Growth Award by:
1. Developing
a brochure "Mountain
Pine Beetle - In Our Community" containing information
that was included with a water and sanitation billing
and mailed to property owners in Cheyenne.
2. Developing
a brochure "High
Plains Arboretum Guide" a self guided tour of 60
trees and shrubs growing in the Arboretum.
3. Formed a partnership
with other government agencies to save historic evergreen trees
at the USDA Horticultural Research Station.
- Cheyenne Urban Forestry received
a $60,000 grant through Wyoming State Forestry Division to enhance
the development and interpretation of the High
Plains Arboretum.
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Forestry Administration Projects:
- Oversee the contracted work to remove several trees
in Lions Park to meet the required clearance height for airplane
access to an airport runway.
- Information and education campaign for Cheyenne
citizens concerning Mountain Pine Beetle control which included:
submitting television, radio, and newspaper articles,
developing and distributing a brochure "Mountain
Pine Beetle - In Our Community", mailing
MPB information with the water and sanitation
bill, and sending postcards and notice letters to property owners
with MPB attacked trees on their property.
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Inspected the planting process of 58 trees at the Youth
Activity Community Center in Dave Romero Park.
- Assisting Union Pacific Railroad with their 2nd
Annual "Steaming for Green" Earth Day event, beautifying
their yard entrance.
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Starbucks employees observed Earth Day by planting two trees
in Lion's Park.
- Awarded a $2,500 grant from Wyoming State
Forestry Division to design and install 21 additional High Plains
Arboretum tree information signs to bring
the total of informational signs up to 60.
- Working with City of Cheyenne Engineering
Department - GIS Division to publish a self-guided tour
brochure "High
Plains Arboretum Guide" showing
an aerial photo of the High Plains Arboretum with the 60 trees
indicated.
- Evaluated tree condition and the impact of road
construction on trees located within city road improvement projects
for West Pershing Blvd., East Pershing
Blvd, Pioneer Ave, and Converse Avenue south of Storey Blvd
and along Storey Blvd for Cheyenne Light to install underground
electric line.
- Inspected the condition and replacement needs
of trees planted at the Norris viaduct landscape area. Inspected
the planting process of 58 trees around
the Youth Activity Community Center in Dave Romero Park and
evaluated the condition and the replacement needs of the trees
planted in the park last year. Inspected
trees prior to and after the planting process for downtown Carey
Avenue and Pioneer Avenue reconstruction.
- Cheyenne Urban Forestry awarded a $15,000
Community Development Block Grant for Hazard Tree removal in
two low income Census Tracts.
- Developed a partnership with Exxon, Laramie County
Conservation District, Wyoming State Forestry Division, and
the U.S.D.A. Agricultural Research
Service to get a $2,000 grant to protect historic evergreens
at the High Plains Grasslands Research Station from mountain
pine beetle attack.
- Working with a community forestry class from
North Dakota State University concerning Cheyenne's Urban Forestry
program.
- Hosted a two day workshop on "Tough Trees
for Tough Locations".
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Grant from Wyoming State Forestry
Division for $360 to support this Website.
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Right-of-way
Tree Inspections:
The Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division, as required by city
code chapter 12.16, inspects trees along the public
right-of-ways (i.e., streets, alleys, and sidewalks), and notifies
property owners about vegetative concerns that are compromising
the safe use of the public right-of-ways. In 2011, 208
new code violation notices, along with 58 notices carried over
from 2010, were sent to property owners regarding visibility
obstructions, tree and shrub limbs growing into public right-of-way
use areas (i.e., streets, sidewalks, and alleys), tree mortality
causing insect infestations, and private property trees and
shrubs posing a danger to the safe use of the public right-of-ways.
Ordinance info.
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Landscape Plan Review:
The
Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division reviews landscape plans for
new commercial development and change-of-use or expansion-of-use
commercial properties inside city limits. In 2011 we reviewed
93 site plans, compared to 77 in 2010, 59 in 2009,
99 in 2008, 113 plans reviewed in 2007, 79 plans reviewed in
2006, 71 plans in 2005, 58 plans in 2004, and
46 plans in 2003. The Cheyenne Development Office oversees
the landscape portion of the zoning ordinance which develops
and regulates requirements for commercial development. The
landscaping requirements for development are found in the zoning
section, Chapter 17, of the city
code.
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Education:
In 2011, 9 students representing the Mayor's Youth Council
assisted Cheyenne Urban Forestry in holding an Arbor Day celebration
at the Youth Activity Community Center. The Cheyenne Parks and
Recreation Latchkey child care program kids, 20 of them,
helped plant the Arbor Day tree.
Mayor's Youth Council and Cheyenne Recreation
Latchkey Program kids plant the 2012 Arbor Day tree at the new
Youth Activity Community Center
Cheyenne Urban Forestry photo
Several organizations, elementary school classes, home-school
groups, and private school students, parents, and teachers utilized
the self-guided Lions Park tree walk, which included the use
of the Nature Center and
the Tree House.
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Citizen Assistance:
Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division receives over 1100 calls
per year with citizens asking questions about their personal
trees. Cheyenne Forestry personnel inspected over 100
private properties, upon the request of the property owner,
regarding tree problems. The number of private property inspections
concerning tree problems has decreased over the years due to
a higher number of citizens using this Website to answer their
questions about their tree problems.
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Website:
This Website, updated by the Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division,
had 77,192 visits in 2011. Site visitors from all
over the U.S., 22 in 2011, have sent e-mail questions
about tree problems, sometimes photos of tree problems are included
with the e-mail.
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Commercial Arborists:
The Urban Forestry Division is responsible for licensing and
regulating the work of commercial arborists and pesticide applicators
within the City of Cheyenne. Current
list of licensed arborists.
• Cheyenne Service Request Program:
The City of Cheyenne has an Internet based citizen Service
Request program. Via the Internet, this program allows
citizens to voice their concerns and point out problems to City
of Cheyenne employees. In 2011 the Forestry Division received
7 requests from citizens to help solve a tree or shrub
related problem.
2011 Summary of Tree Maintenance
( City
maintained trees in parks, golf courses, cemeteries, High
Plains Arboretum, city buildings, other city property)
- Trees
Removed: 351
Trees are removed due to: mortality, bark
beetle attack, decay, wind damage, winter desiccation, drought,
disease, lightning, vehicle damage, and vandalism.
In 2011, 14% of the tree removals were trees that had been
killed by bark beetles. Drought stressed trees are
an easy target for insects and disease, which can be the
final cause in killing the trees. Ips
bark beetle, and Mountain
Pine Beetle, are very small insects, which in high
numbers, attacked and killed 50 large pine and spruce
trees. Several large spruce trees were lost due to
bark beetles that were not Ips beetles. Spruce bark beetle
and/or mountain pine beetle are killing large spruce trees
in Cheyenne. Forestry removes the bark off of beetle
killed pine and spruce trees, prior to storing the trunks.
We use two chain saw powered bark peelers to remove
the bark. The bark peelers kill bark beetles and destroys
their habitat and is required to keep the bark beetles from
emerging out of infested trees and attacking other living
trees.
The
number of trees removed that were smaller than or equal
to 10 inches in diameter was 191 or 54% of total. The number
of trees larger than 10 inches in diameter that were removed
was 160 or 46%.
Tree
trunks and limbs generated from tree removal or pruning,
done by City Forestry in 2011, typically do not go into
the city landfill or are shipped to any other landfills.
The smaller limbs and trunks less than 12 inches in
diameter are chipped and used for mulch.
- Trees
Pruned: 1,711
Larger park trees are generally pruned
in the dormant season, November through March. Smaller
trees are pruned year-round. Many smaller trees in
unirrigated areas are pruned while they are being hand-watered
during the summer months.
Small trees (trees with a trunk diameter of 5 inches or
less), 1,135 trees pruned or 66% of the total number pruned
in 2011, allows us to direct the growth of the tree as it
matures. We remove small poorly positioned branches,
which affect the growth of more desirable branches. Tree
care industry guidelines recommend pruning every other year
on newly planted trees beginning a year after planting and
continuing for six years. Pruning in larger trees primarily
removes dead, broken, or weak branches.
Squirrels
feeding on the high food value layers of cells under the
bark in smaller branches cause significant die-back in many
larger trees. Smaller limb die-back, if severe enough, can
cause larger limb die-back. We have had to remove
many small and large trees due to repetitive and heavy squirrel
feeding damage. Squirrels can kill trees !
Light brown areas on the upper
trunk and on limbs show where squirrels have eaten the bark
entirely around the limb or trunk, most likely killing the
tree or limb above the damage. This elm cultivar was planted
in 2003 and had a value of $510 before the squirrel damage.
- Trees
Planted in City Maintained Areas:
73 (Cheyenne
Urban Forestry planted).
+ 58 Trees planted
in Cheyenne Parks system in 2011 under park development.
131
Total trees added to city (public)
& city maintained areas.
Due to budget cutbacks, the loss of two full-time Urban
Forestry personnel, and the loss of three seasonal employees
for Urban Forestry, most tree planting projects were put
on hold.
Over 200 trees exist in various tree nurseries
and are maintained by this division. As the trees
mature, they are transplanted into the parks, golf
courses, ballfields, cemeteries, and the Greenway using
a 44-inch diameter, trailer mounted, hydraulic tree spade.
- Trees
Damaged: (Damage caused
by humans - vandalism and vehicle damage, and animals such
as squirrels)
Two large trees were damaged by squirrels,
but the trees have not died. One large Ohio buckeye was
damaged by vandalism, but has not died.
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Tree
Watering Events: 14,278 (Each
time a tree is watered during the year equals one tree
watering event)
Trees watered by hand are mainly located in non-irrigated
areas, including the Greenway, North Cheyenne Community
Park, Downtown core area, and parts of Lions Park.
All conifer evergreen trees (e.g., pine, spruce,
fir and juniper) require supplemental hand watering during
the late fall and winter. The amount of water used
in 2010 for hand watering trees was 1.56 acre feet
or 507,163 gallons. An acre foot of water
is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560
square feet) to a depth of one foot of water, or 325,851
gallons. Most of the water used to water the trees,
70%, was recycled water. We also use raw untreated water
from Lake Absarraca. Occasionally we will use treated
water from the water dispensing station at BOPU on Dillon.
An
average of 36 gallons of water was used on each tree for
each watering event.
Precipitation in Cheyenne in the past few years:
Calendar Year 2011: 4.25
inches above
normal.
Calendar Year 2010:
.24 inches above
normal.
Calendar year 2009: 3.00
inches
above
normal.
Calendar year 2008: .19
inches below
normal.
Calendar year 2007: .61
inches below
normal.
A normal year is 15.45 inches of precipitation.
Snowfall was 9
inches below normal for the 2010-2011 snow
season.
Snowfall was 43 inches
above normal for the 2009-2010 snow season.
Snowfall was 9
inches above normal for the 2008-2009 snow season.
Snowfall was 17 inches
below normal for the 2007-2008 snow season.
A large amount of rainfall in a short period of time will
have a high percentage of water runoff, which does not
soak into the soil.
Drafting water out of Absarraca
Lake into a 350-gallon water tank, for hand watering trees.
The tank is hauled in the bed of a one-ton pickup
truck or dump truck. Nine trees can be watered with
each full tank of water. Depending on the distance
from the lake to the trees, 6
to 10 tanks of water can be filled each day, watering
54 to 90 trees per day per vehicle. We have 6 tanks,
350 gallons each, for hauling water. We also have
a 4500 gallon tanker that we use to flood irrigate trees
and to water 500+ trees in the Downtown Development Authority
(DDA) area. The tanker is also used as a "reservoir
on wheels" to supply water for several 350 gallon/pickup
truck units working in the same area.
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Special
Projects:
Outside
of general tree maintenance activities and other city
projects.
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Built and installed two foot bridges to cross irrigation
ditches at the High Plains Arboretum.
- After heavy snow or high wind events Cheyenne
Urban forestry removed broken and broken hanging tree
branches trees affecting the safe use of city
right-of-ways.
- Pruned trees along the Frontier Days Parade route.
- Presentation on trees for 4H group.
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Assisted with Parks And
Recreation Department's Superday and Goblin Walk events.
Chart
of Forestry Division Crew Activities 2001 - 2011
- Park
Tree Inventory and Evaluation
A good informational Website on the value of trees is: Colorado
Tree Coalition.
Tree
Maintenance Photos
Ips bark beetles and
drought led to the removal of this spruce tree in
the cemetery.
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44-inch diameter hydraulic
tree spade in position
to plant a tree.
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Using
a crane to place a larger blue spruce in the Depot Plaza
Most of our tree pruning is
done during the late fall and winter months for the following
reasons:
- We can drive large maintenance vehicles on the frozen soil
with little damage to the grass and soil.
- There is less chance of spreading tree diseases during the
winter months.
- There is less chance of insects being attracted to the pruning
wounds.
- Without leaves the overall structure of the tree and problem
limbs are easily seen.
- It is safer to do tree maintenance with fewer park visitors.
Initial
tree decline is usually due to drought or root damage, culminating
in the final blow of insect or disease attack causing tree
mortality. Trees left standing in poor health are open to
insect attack, which increases the chance of mortality causing
insects increasing in population. In large numbers,
insects can successfully attack healthy trees. Spruce
Ips bark beetles typically cause tree mortality beginning
at the top of the tree and moving downward. All spruce
trees in the cemeteries were sprayed in late Summer 2006,
Spring 2007, Spring 2008 and in Spring 2009.
All spruce trees in city maintained parks, cemeteries, golf
courses, Greenways, and around city building will be sprayed
in spring of 2011 for bark beetle control.
Fast growing
trees, such as cottonwoods, silver maples, boxelders, willows,
and Siberian elms, usually equate to weak-wooded trees. The
safe life expectancy of these fast growing trees is usually
40 to 80 years in an urban setting. Weak-wooded trees are more
susceptible to wood decay than most other slower growing trees.
Wood decay can cause a tree to be hazardous. Wind, snow load,
or even water saturation from rain can cause a decaying limb
or an entire tree with decay to structurally fail. Frequently,
there is no outward indication of interior wood decay. If outward
indications of wood decay are present, the extent of the decay
and how it affects the structure of the tree is unknown. Sometimes
decay and structurally weakening is fairly obvious such as in
the cottonwood tree below. The photos below are before and after
pictures of a cottonwood tree that was removed in Holliday Park
in January of 1998.
Cheyenne
Community Forestry Committee
The Cheyenne
Community Forestry Committee (CCFC) was formed in January
2007. A resolution authorizing creation of the Cheyenne Community
Forestry Committee (resolution #4932) was signed by Mayor
Jack Spiker on April 9, 2007.
See a copy of the By-Laws.
The
mission statement of the Committee is:
"The Community Forestry Committee recognizes that trees
are vital to the health and well-being of our community. The
Committee is dedicated to the preservation, protection, and
enhancement of our community forest through professional efforts
in planning, planting and the maintenance of trees for the
enrichment of our residents and future generations to come.
The Committee will strive to build an effective and positive
partnership among citizens, industry, local government, schools
and volunteers."
Drought and Trees
brochure developed by the CCFC
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