If you lost a tree from your right of way due to the derecho, the City of Mount Vernon is looking to begin a program to replace those trees.
The city plans to plant 50 right of way trees in each quadrant of the city over the next several years.
City administrator Chris Nosbisch said the city will begin the replanting program this spring in the southwest quadrant, which was most impacted by the derecho. The program will then move clockwise each year through the city to plant additional trees.
The plan was outlined to Mount Vernon City Council at the Monday, May 2 meeting. There was no action taken on the tree replacement program at the moment.
The plan is to host a tree planting day June 4 which will call on volunteers and citizens to help replant some of the lost trees in the community.
City staff will prepare planting sites, calling Iowa One call on the sites before shovels hit the ground to locate any underground utilities. Mount Vernon’s Trees Forever coordinator will be present to demonstrate what to do in the first tree planting, and volunteers will assist from there.
Mount Vernon received a $4,650 Branching Out grant from Trees Forever in 2021. The cost for the 50 trees this year will be $5,850.
Nosbisch said that the replanting program will have flexibility moving forward, and the city can deviate or adjust to replantings in the future.
Volunteers will need to help with the planting, backfill with the same soil and mulching around the new tree. Public works crews will log maintenance on the new street tree plantings during that first year.
Landowners will be contacted if they are selected to have a new tree planted in their right of way, and if they pass, a new location will be identified.
The city will be following the 10-20-30 rule when it comes to planting trees (no more than 10 percent of the same species of trees, no more than 20 percent of the same genus and no more than 30 percent of the same family of trees) to be replanted in each quadrant, to help with the diversity of species being replaced.
The majority of replanting will be Iowa native trees.
Trees in the same block may be from the same tree species, as that helps provide a more favorable streetscape and helps trees close to one another thrive through nutrient sharing.
Trees will be planted 30 feet apart if they’re shade providing trees and 20 feet apart if ornamental trees. Trees will be planted 40 feet from intersections and 10 feet from driveways and alleys, with four feet minimum between street and sidewalk.
Trees to be replanted in the southwest quadrant include sycamore, elm hybrid triumph, elm hybrid Princeton, gingko autumn god, Kentucky coffeetree espresso, thornless honey locust sunburst, northern red oak and heritage oak.
If citizens want to replant a tree that wasn’t in the right of way, they can do so at their own cost. There are a few tree species designated as nuisance trees the city does not want planted in the community, and that list is available on the city website.