News Flash

Have you looked at the order form for this year’s Tree Sale and thought, but where are the maples?  Or, how come they never sell Colorado Blue Spruce?  The simple answer is, we have too many of them.  Why is that a problem?  Forests, including the urban forest we have here in Apple Valley, have a high risk of suffering major damage with a single bad event if they are made up of too few different kinds of trees.  Diversity, having many different types of trees growing throughout the City, allows the forest to recover more quickly from adverse events.  

We’ve learned some tough lessons from our past.  When Dutch Elm Disease first rolled through the City in the 1980’s, it had a devastating effect.  So many of our boulevard trees were elms, it hit us hard.  Whole streets of trees needed to be removed as the disease spread quickly from one elm tree to the next.  The close proximity of the trees to one another made it easier for the disease to spread.  Unfortunately, the lesson didn’t quite stick the first time.  By and large, we replaced most of our elms with ash trees.  Now that Emerald Ash Borer is starting to spread throughout the City, we can expect a similar effect in many of our current neighborhoods.  We don’t want to repeat the experience with maples or any other tree.  Adverse events aren’t limited to tree diseases or invasive insects either.  Periods of drought, unusual heat waves, high wind storms, and other weather events can stress trees.  Some varieties are more tolerant than others.  By having a variety of trees, we ensure that damage is limited.  

We have a variety of programs toencourage tree canopy diversity, and the tree sale is one of them.  We’re offering tree species this year that we’ve never offered before, and we’ll be changing things up from year to year, all with the aim of creating a healthier more resilient forest.  Put in your order today.