Staff photo.
Katie Wiswall, center, will be the guest speaker at the Tree Talk on Feb. 22 at the Trussville Public Library. Wiswall, an urban forester with the Alabama Forestry Commission, helps Samford University students Rebekah Caldwell and Luke McClelland plant a native seedling on the Shades Creek Greenway during the annual Green Skies Over Homewood tree planting event in November 2019.
Arbor Week in Trussville is planned for Feb. 18-24 as part of the city’s steps toward becoming a Tree City USA.
The Trussville Tree Commission and Trussville Public Library are sponsoring a Tree Talk on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. at the library. Katie Wiswall, the urban and community forestry partnership coordinator for the Alabama Forestry Commission, will be the guest speaker.
In addition, Hewitt-Trussville Middle School students are working on an art show to be displayed at the Trussville Public Library during Arbor Week.
The Tree Commission will distribute seedlings to the community on Saturday, Feb. 24, from 9 a.m. to noon (or until the seedlings run out) at the pavilion on the Mall. Last year, even in the rain, hundreds of seedlings were distributed, and the Tree Commission ran out by 11 a.m.
A ceremonial planting of a Coosa dogwood tree will take place on Parkway Drive near Heritage Hall.
To earn the Tree City USA designation from the Arbor Day Foundation, five things must happen.
First, the city must form a tree board or committee, which happened in 2021. Second, a tree ordinance must be in place, which the city approved in 2022.
Third, the city is required to have a budget of $2 per capita for tree planting, pruning, maintenance, trimming and removal. Fourth, an Arbor Day or Arbor Week proclamation must be approved by the Trussville City Council. Finally, an online application for designation as a “Tree City” must be completed.
The Trussville Tree Commission has been busy since its reorganization. Its first planting of replacement trees took place in April 2022 and included 11 total trees. The second planting of another six replacement trees occurred in November 2022. The Tree Commission planned to plant 17 replacement trees in January.
“We want to plant as many trees as we can,” Tree Commission member Ralph Mitchell said.
Trussville residents who want a replacement tree planted in front of their homes should let the Tree Commission know by submitting a request through trussville.org. The form is located in the website’s “Action Center” under “Report an Issue.”
The four members of the Tree Commission — Mitchell, Eric Frederick, Jenna Jones and David Dobbs — hope to inventory every city tree, identify and map them and then develop a master plan for maintenance and replanting in the long term. The Commission is actively seeking two new members with some level of formal training and practical or work experience in tree planting and care.
