Almost five years later, Mount Vernon’s tree canopy has replaced almost as many trees as were taken down from the city’s right of ways following the derecho in 2020.
That recovery didn’t happen overnight, but has taken plantings over the span of four years to get back to a point to bring the trees back to the number taken down. And with the replanting of so many trees comes a reminder from the city for all citizens — if you’re replanting trees, please think about tree diversity as you’re planting.
Prior to the derecho, Mount Vernon’s and Lisbon’s tree canopies, like many in Iowa, were seeing a number of trees that needed to come down because of the emerald ash borer.
As the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported this week, the bug was now found in all 99 counties in the state. It was a matter of when that would happen, not if. Many communities had ash trees in their canopies because they were a hardy and long-lived tree that provided great shade.
With the ash borer, however, that started weakening those trees who didn’t have a defense against the insect, and removing those sick or dying trees hit a lot of communities before the derecho. Lisbon’s beautification budget routinely has been spent to remove sick or dying ash trees as they can allow, especially if they are near high traffic areas. Following the derecho, many of the ash trees in both communities were removed as well.
As trees get replanted, city administrator Chris Nosbisch said the city is trying to maintain a more diverse tree canopy to avoid an illness that impacts the same species of trees and would be just as devastating as the emerald ash borer or Dutch elm disease.
At the moment, Mount Vernon’s tree canopy has a very high number of maple trees, which leads to worries if a disease impacts maples, that it would be highly devastating to trees in the right of ways and in the community. So new trees planted tend to shy away from being a maple.
As Nosbisch said to citizens —if you are looking to replant trees in your own yard, look at the guidance from the tree commission for the city and approved species and continue to help with diversification of tree species in the community. Many of the trees on the approved list are native to Iowa and would make great replacement trees.The city is looking to maintain that diversity in the canopy of the trees in the right-of-way moving forward.
Use the resources available from the city and Department of Natural Resources to find the correct trees to plant if you are replacing any.