Tree Amigos members Lenny Guiliano, Stelle Slootmaker and Lee Groth at City Hall (Photo by Jennifer Stowell)
In a unanimous vote, Wyoming City Commissioners approved a resolution last week to establish a Wyoming Tree Commission, which is designed to promote healthy tree coverage and variation of tree species in the City of Wyoming. The move was prompted by a group of Wyoming citizens called The Tree Amigos, who have been working with City leadership since February to establish a platform to become a Tree City USA.
By establishing an official city tree commission, Wyoming has taken the first step to becoming a Tree City USA.
Members of the Wyoming Tree Commission include:
• Bill Brown, resident arborist
• Greg Bryan, former city commissioner who spearheaded The Tree Amigos’ efforts
• Lauren Davis, resident arborist
• Lee Groth, Godwin Neighborhood Watch
• Lenny Guiliano, Oriole Park Neighborhood Watch
• Pam Jurick, Grenadier neighborhood resident
• Stelle Slootmaker, Oriole Park neighborhood resident
“We are thrilled with the council’s unanimous vote,” Slootmaker said. “The designation as Tree City USA will help promote Wyoming as being a great place to live and work.”
Established in 1976, Tree City USA is a nationwide program that provides a framework for communities to manage and expand their public trees. There are currently more than 3,400 communities in the country that have made the commitment to becoming a Tree City USA, including 123 in Michigan. To become a Tree City USA, municipalities must have:
• A tree care ordinance
• An Arbor Day proclamation
• A community forestry program with a $2-per-capita operating budget
• A tree board, department or citizen committee
Tree City USA is an Arbor Day Foundation program in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.
For more information, call the City of Wyoming at 616.530.7272 or visit the City website at www.wyomingmi.gov. Follow the City on Twitter @WyomingCityHall and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CityofWyoming.
The City of Wyoming encompasses an environmental feature known as oak barrens. Located near glacial outwash areas in southern Lower Michigan, “Oak barrens likely originated when prairie fires spread into surrounding closed oak forest with enough intensity to create open barrens,” states the Michigan Natural Features website article. “Oak barrens and surrounding prairie habitat once supported a rich diversity of invertebrates including numerous species of butterflies, skippers, grasshoppers, and locusts. Mound-building ants and numerous grassland birds also once thrived in barrens and prairies.”
The article goes on to say that past degradation of Michigan’s oak barrens caused the regrettable decline of these many species.
A map showing the areas where oak wilt disease has been discovered.
Our City’s oak trees now face a new threat: oak wilt disease. A serious disease, oak wilt mainly affects red oak, black oak and pin oak. It can kill a red oak tree in just a few weeks’ time. In white oaks, the disease progresses more slowly.
Beetles carry the fungus that causes oak wilt from diseased to healthy trees. The fungus especially thrives on a tree that has been recently pruned or injured. The beetles become active in mid-April and stay active through mid-July. Hence, the Michigan DNR shares that you can help prevent oak wilt by not pruning or otherwise injuring oak trees from April 15 to July 15.
Help stop the spread of oak wilt disease in your neighborhood. Postpone pruning your oaks and share this advice with your neighbors. If you want to do even more to ensure that the City of Wyoming supports a healthy tree canopy, join The Tree Amigos, a citizen group supporting a vibrant Wyoming tree canopy. Like The Tree Amigos on Facebook and message or post your concerns and comments.
Trees are not only beautiful, but they add many other benefits to a community
By: Mike DeWitt
What started as a routine tree removal ended up igniting an inner-passion in Wyoming resident, and former city commissioner, Greg Bryan.
“If the city was smart, they would’ve replaced my tree and this group never would’ve been created,” exclaimed Greg with a tinge of humor in his voice before getting serious once again. “When the city came in and chopped down my trees, I said to myself, ’this has to stop!’ So, I called [city council member] Kent Vanderwood and told him we have to do something.”
That ‘something’ has morphed itself into a group called the ‘Tree Amigos,’ a Wyoming, Michigan citizens committee supporting a vibrant tree canopy. The group started as a Neighborhood Watch campaign to raise awareness of the Gypsy moth blight in the Oriole Park neighborhood.
Now the group has a new focus: to establish a new commission centered on planting trees in the City of Wyoming. Ultimately, the goal is to have Wyoming become the 120th city in Michigan, and part of 3,400 communities nationwide, to become a part of Tree City USA. In order to achieve status as a member of Tree City USA, a community must meet four core standards of sound forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry, and celebrating Arbor Day.
Wyoming’s former tree planting program
A tree planting program is nothing new for Wyoming. In fact, a program existed back in the 70’s to plant and install trees under contract by the township. However, the program ran out of money due to budget cuts and the city hasn’t planted trees since.
“There’s so much beauty and serenity in trees and the wildlife that comes with them. There are also huge health benefits as well,” explained Tree Amigos member Stelle Slootmaker on her decision to help lead the group.
Those benefits? Well, trees are extraordinarily energy-efficient. Amazingly, 100 trees remove 26 tons of CO2 and 300 pounds of pollutants from the air. They provide the net cooling effect of 1,000 air conditioners! The same number of trees can also intercept more than 200,000 gallons of rainwater each year, reducing the need for storm water controls, and providing cleaner water.
On top of reducing costs for the city over time, trees can also add market value to residential real estate. One large tree can add 10 percent.
While trees are helpful from a numbers perspective, they also benefit in ways that are more difficult to measure. Trees build strong ties to neighborhoods and communities. They help promote better psychological well-being and make people happier. More trees are linked to faster hospital recoveries, increased employee productivity, less crime, and reduction in stress and anxiety.
According to one survey, having on average 10 more trees in a city block improved how someone rated their health by a level comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000, moving to a neighborhood with a $10,000 median income, or being seven years younger.
With all the benefits of trees, it seems like a no-brainer for the city to implement a tree planting plan. However, whenever there’s work to be done, there needs to be someone willing to take up the new workload. It’s always easier said than done.
That’s where the Tree Amigos come in. The group has already put in the time and effort to research the steps to make Wyoming a part of Tree City USA. They have also taken the time to present the idea of forming a new commission to the City Council. Most importantly, the Tree Amigos aren’t simply dropping the workload for someone else to pick up. They’re looking to be on the front line as volunteers wherever this effort takes them.
Stelle Slootmaker and Bill Brown addressing the Wyoming City Council
“It’s important to Greg. He represents a neighborhood that needs help with trees,” said Wyoming City Council Member Kent Vanderwood. “It’s the right response for us to get behind as a city. Whatever I can do to help, I’m going to do.”
Two members of the Tree Amigos, Stelle and Arborist Bill Brown, gave a formal presentation at the City Council meeting on February 8. They are meeting with the Council again this Wednesday, February 24, to talk about the next step.
Bill is hoping everyone is on the same page going forward, “I grew up in Wyoming. This is what I do everyday. I understand the importance of trees. It’s something Wyoming needs now.”
Established in 1976, Tree City USA is a nationwide program that provides a framework for communities to manage and expand their public trees. There are currently more than 3,400 communities in the country that have made the commitment to becoming a Tree City USA, including 123 in Michigan. To become a Tree City USA, municipalities must have:
