By Ed Jones
Kingsley Park, in the Linnton neighborhood, is a small (one acre) park dominated by four large ash trees. Those trees are in decline and at risk of infection by Emerald Ash Borers. The Linnton Neighborhood Association (LNA) is worried about the future of those trees and of the park itself. We want to have a beautiful and useful park, and we want to keep these Ash trees alive and infestation free.
Kammy Kern-Korot, Senior Conservationist at the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, will be joining us at the June 4 Linnton neighborhood meeting to speak about the Emerald Ash Borer and its devastating impact on local ash trees, including those at Kingsley Park.
According to Laura Ehrlich, from the City’s Urban Forestry Department, the city is not currently recommending immediate removal of ash trees since emerald ash borers have not yet been found in Portland.
Picture: Emerald ash borer
Source: Wikipedia
However, trees in Kingsley Park are scheduled to be assessed this summer and, if they are found to be in good health, they will qualify for treatment to protect them against EAB. That is all good news, and if trees are healthy and provide benefits to the community, the neighborhood wants to keep them.
Even so, the science behind the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer makes optimism difficult and we want to anticipate the potential loss of the ash trees and ensure that new trees are ready if ash trees are lost.
Members of the LNA have studied the park and consulted with experts about what sorts of trees might thrive in Kingsley Park. We have a proposal to plant a collection of oak shade trees in the park that will be complementary to the ash trees in the short term and a replacement for them in the long term.
We are in communication with Dominic Gonzalez-Yoxtheimer, who manages Urban Forestry’s Tree Replacement Program which oversees tree planting in developed parks. While there is no guarantee our proposal will be accepted this year, it does get our proposal on the map and confirm whether trees can be planted in the area – which is an important first step.
Costs for planting new broadleaf trees, which need to be at least 1.5 caliper inches at the base, can easily exceed $5k per tree stock on top of stakes, mulch, and summer watering. The trees would receive three years of establishment care and a replacement warranty if any of the trees die within the first three years.
We will be having further discussions to determine if there is neighborhood support to raise the funds to pursue this proposal.