Mayor honors Parks and Recreation's Tree Division
Mayor Tom Henry honored retiring Arborist Bill Diedrichs at Lawton Park today, for his 20 years of outstanding service to our City. Diedrichs recently won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indiana Arborist Association and helped the City through countless tree emergencies including wind storms, tornadoes and ice storms.
“We'll deeply appreciate Bill's dedication over the years. He worked hard to put a great structure in place to maintain our trees and paved the way for our new Tree Commission to take tree management to the next level,” said Mayor Henry. “I encourage all citizens to follow Bill's efforts by working to protect the City's parks and public trees.”
The Mayor also recognized the Tree Division of the Parks and Recreation Department. He referred to them as the silent heroes we don't often notice as they go about their daily duties, caring for over 80,000 street and park trees with a goal to enhance and preserve our Tree Canopy.
Now that the ice has thawed and the trees are filling out, Parks and Recreation Director Al Moll gave a final report on estimated tree damage during the December 2008 ice storm. The overall cost of tree limb cleanup was close to $1 million with nearly $900,000 for street trees and $100,000 for park trees. This does not include any tree replacement, which will be in the $50,000 - $100,000 range. Moll says that all the trees will not be replaced.
“We learned some lessons after the ice storm and the Mayor has requested a response plan,” said Moll. “We had a plan that we used for normal tree emergencies, but this natural disaster was beyond our imagination and will be addressed by the Mayor's Tree Commission.”
The primary partners on the 3 month cleanup effort were the Parks Department, Public Works and Allen County Solid Waste District, who not only assisted with mulch cleanup, but also contributed $250,000. Moll thanked the citizens and neighborhood leadership for their patience and help after the ice storm.
Nearly $500,000 was contracted out to local companies to accelerate the cleanup process and some companies are still working on a limited basis. The Parks and Recreation Department has been searching the City for remaining limbs still in need of cutting, and encourages citizens to call the Department if they see any hanging limbs in trees located in the right of way.
After the tree damage report, Director Moll introduced Chad Tinkel as the new City Arborist. Tinkel has a BS in Forestry from Purdue University, is a certified Indiana Arborist, and has been with the City since 2002. According to Tinkel, one of the upcoming issues the Tree Division plans to tackle is the Emerald Ash Borer Crisis. Fort Wayne is one of the few cities in the area to take a proactive approach by implementing a program to treat 12,000 Ash Trees.
“I certainly have some big shoes to fill,” said Tinkel. “I will provide the same dedication to our urban forest that the residents of Fort Wayne are accustomed to. The cities cyclic pruning program as well as the planting of new street trees will remain a priority of the Tree Division.”
For more information, visit www.fortwayneparks.org.