In 2011, Gossips did a series of posts called "Showcasing Hudson's Great Trees." The London plane trees on Green Street, shown in the picture below, were included in that series. Fourteen years later, of the fourteen trees featured in those posts, nine remain.
.jpg)
Concern for the great trees of Hudson--the heritage trees, trees that have stood for more than a hundred years--brought Peter Meyer to the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) on Tuesday, April 6, with a proposal he is calling "Adopt-a-Tree." Meyer began his presentation to the CAC by making reference to the tree inventory done in 2022. When the inventory was done, there were 1,739 trees in Hudson, and, as Meyer explained it, the tree "demographic" was similar to the human demographic when came to age. He noted that the "senior citizens" of trees are better for the health of the community than younger trees and urged that the CAC start paying attention to senior trees.
Meyer's "Adopt-a-Tree" plan would be a means for citizens to donate money to be used for the care of designated trees. In his proposal, Meyer describes the process for designating trees to be part of the program in this way:
The CAC shall identify 100 heritage trees (those determined to be over 100 years old) within the City Limits and then invite a class of 5th or 6th grade students from the Hudson City School District to choose the most deserving 50 trees based on essays the students have written about their favorite trees. Ownership rights should not be an issue during this first phase of the program, but once chosen as an Adoptee Heritage Tree, the "owner(s) of the tree" (as defined by the CAC) shall be invited to join the program (a plaque and letter from CAC would be part of the agreement/award), with a list of these trees included in official CAC records and documents.
Meyer's full proposal can be found here.
In the discussion that followed Meyer's presentation, after he had left the room, Rich Volo, who chairs the CAC, noted that many of the trees defined as "heritage trees" were on private property and asserted, "Our charge is public trees." CAC member Arone Dyer suggested the protection and preservation of heritage trees could be part of the tree ordinance. (The CAC has been working on a tree ordinance for quite a while now, and the latest iteration of the tree ordinance is reportedly now with the Common Council Legal Committee.) CAC member Michael O'Hara, who told his colleagues the purpose of Meyer's proposal is "to preserve mature trees from neglect and destruction," summarized, "At a certain point, it becomes in the community's interest to preserve a tree that is on your property."
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
Thanks Carole,
ReplyDeleteAccording to a 2021 version of the CAC's mission is "to advise the elected city officials on environmental issues and their
impact on the health and safety of the residents, the health of the ecology, the stability of the built environment and the livability of the city, all which need to be considered when creating legislation or policy. The CAC members interact with county, regional and state governmental and non-governmental groups for information gathering, solution seeking and potential burdensharing." https://cms3.revize.com/revize/hudsonny/Boards%20and%20Committees/Conservation%20Advisory%20Council/Other%20Docs/CAC%20Mission%20Statement%20%202021.pdf
As I suggested in my proposal, this the beginning of saving our trees, not the time say to say NO.
Enforcing any kind of tree regulation on private property is a tough ask. Maybe if there was a way to offer grants to assist in tree trimming and maintenance we could help homeowners keep these heritage trees. People don’t take them down for aesthetic reasons, they do it because they worry about protecting life and property.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what it is proposed to be...
Delete--peter meyer
I see that now, Peter. Yes, it’s a good idea. The only way to get buy in from property owners is through collaboration and support.
DeleteSorry union Jack Jack, we're the only ones talking about this (lots of Gossips News here these days), but this proposal is a model of contributory capitalism; i.e. the private sector tree owner is incentivized to buy in to the tree preservation program -- which includes health and maintenance for your trees -- and trees on public property get similar health and welfare maintenance (partially public funded)... a win-win for the trees and the humans who benefit from their hydrolic activities, especially the activities from our senior trees. I don't know why the CAC can't put my proposal on their website, but apparently Carole can't link to my Google Docs for copies of the proposal. Write and I'll send you one. --peter meyer pbmeyer@verizon.net.
ReplyDeletePay better attention, Peter. I added the link to your proposal to the post.
DeleteSadly ironic, the wonderful 95--page "tree inventory" that Carole refers to above has only 2 mentions of "heritage" trees, both on page 74, in the "Tree Removal" section. But the second sentence here deserves framing: "If a tree has heritage or historic value but has a high risk of becoming a hazard, consider restricting public access
ReplyDeleteor moving valuable structures instead of removing it. There are other options, such as disease treatments, cabling,
bracing, structural pruning, among others that may allow the tree to be retained for decades prior to removal. Have
an ISA Certified Arborist evaluate tree health and risk of failure before removing heritage trees." --peter meyer