It may not be entirely noticeable, but a dozen dead trees have been chopped down and removed from Altona's Centennial Park. Members of the Public Works team tackled the job in between their regular snow clearing and other responsibilities this past week.
It is in response to an inventory conducted last year by GreenDrop Tree Care that resulted in about 47 of the 1,313 trees in the park being marked as "'to be removed" or "dead".
According to the Town, the trees taken down this week were in the “dead” category and were primarily Ash trees located around the perimeter of the park, many of which would date back to the creation of the park in the 1960s. While residents and visitors might not see the difference at eye level due to the shrubbery and other growth, the Town says there will likely be a noticeable impact on the tree canopy when looking up.
However, not all of the listed dead trees will be removed unless they are Elm, Ash or pose hazards to human activity. Instead, the dead wood will degrade gradually, and the nutrients will be released slowly back into the environment. Citing research, the Town says these standing dead trees, referred to as “snag”, provide habitat and food sources for many species of wildlife, like birds, squirrels, detritivore insects and microbes, fungi, lichens, and mosses.
Meantime, the inventory also pegged a number of trees to be in “poor” condition, and some of those will eventually be removed as well.
