Tree board making progress
Libby Tree Board members and volunteers take a break from planting trees along Louisiana Avenue this fall.
By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter
Robin Miller doesn't mind a little extra watering around the yard.
Miller has to do the occasional chore after Libby Tree Board planted 25 trees along Louisiana Avenue, including a 9-foot tall linden outside her home.
"I think it's a great idea," she said. "They're trying to make our street look a little better. It's a highly visible street. In a couple years it will look very nice."
Volunteers annually plan to remove and plant trees along one street in the city, said Vicky Lawrence with Libby Tree Board.
"We started with Louisiana and after that we will do California," Lawrence said. "They are the most visible streets."
Volunteers in late October completed the Louisiana Avenue project, which also involved removing 10 older trees including a cottonwood on Dakota Avenue.
"They included a couple of Siberian elms that were rotting and unsightly willows and cottonwoods that shouldn't have been planted in these narrow strips," she said. "Some were hazardous, some were inappropriate tree species and shouldn't be planted in a boulevard," she said.
The tree board planted species that will tolerate drought and urban conditions. They included linden, honey locust, Manchurian ash and northern red oak.
The board hopes residents like Miller will water trees when needed. Lawrence estimates it will take about 700 gallons a year.
"Once these trees are established in five years, they will survive without watering," she said.
Lincoln County Community Foundation contributed $2,000 for this year's project. The tree board also received $350 in donations from property owners. The city contributed the balance for the $3,000 project, Lawrence said.
Libby Tree Board works with guidelines set by Tree City USA, a national organization sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters. Tree City USA provides direction, technical assistance, public attention and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns across American.
The tree board also is working with Flathead Electric Cooperative to remove inappropriate trees under power lines.
"We want Flathead to remove them and get the city to replant," Lawrence said.
This month, volunteers will remove eight trees on West Spruce Street and replant in the spring.
"They're the wrong trees in the wrong place," she said.
Property owners interested in a tree project or volunteering, can call the tree board at 293-2731.