Need to remove, replace trees is not unique to Norris Park

Location, location, location: the mantra for real estate is also good for replanting trees at Norris Park.

Rachel Allison, district forester with the Nebraska State Forest Service, met with city staff and members of the McCook Trees and Parks Advisory Boards Thursday to discuss a master plan for the park and location of new trees.

Of the 44 trees designated to be removed, estimated at 80-100 years old, city staff has removed 25 and will remove the rest in fall, pending a evaluation by Tree and Park Board members.

But the situation in Norris Park is not unique, Allison said. Hundreds of communities across the country are facing the same situation, she said.

When towns were first settled, there was a big effort to landscape parks and streets, Allison said. But communities are now paying the price of not maintaining the trees.

"People made one big planting effort and then quit," Allison said. "Now we're playing catch-up."

She agreed with Kyle Potthoff, McCook Public Works Director, that assessments done by the Nebraska Forest Service in 1987 and 1999 recommended at the time the gradual removal and re-planting of trees in Norris Park. That would have alleviated the problems facing the park now, she said.

Allison recommended implementing a park management plan, which would identify a schedule of trees to be removed and new ones planted each year, maintenance issues and the appropriate funds needed from the budget each year.

She also suggested that instead of planting new trees in a line, to instead locate two or three shade trees in a triangular fashion, along with a few under-story trees and shrubs. That way, the park would still have open spaces but also separate planting areas.

Before any tree is planted, she advised city staff and board members to come up with a landscape plan that will pinpoint where the trees will be positioned, keeping in mind play areas and traffic flow through the park.

"You want to make sure you plant a tree where you want it," she said.

Park Advisory Board member Mark Friehe stated he would like the park to remain as open as possible. He advocated planting tall shade trees instead of dense planting areas of trees and shrubs.

Potthoff answered that those planting areas would not be so dense as to obstruct views. Potthoff said he envisioned two or three tall shade trees and a few bushes.

Another Park Advisory Board member, Harry Sughroue, asked if the remaining mature trees could be rigorously pruned and left standing.

But the idea was nixed as Allison said only dead wood should be pruned and Dob Neuhaus said that city bucket ladders would not reach up that high. Neuhaus said one of the trees recently removed was estimated at 87 feet high.

Both Tree and Park Advisory Board members agreed to re-evaluate the remaining older trees in the fall and at their next meeting, to come up with a landscape plan for tree location.