What are the unique
challenges of urban forestry
in your community?
DS: One of the challenges is that Providence
is an older city with colonial and 19
th
century
neighborhoods, so the sidewalks are narrow
and the houses are close to the sidewalk. This
means that on many streets there's a lack
of growing space above- and below-ground,
which can lead to conflicts with buildings and
infrastructure. It's one of our goals to plant
large trees species to maximize the benefits
the tree provide, but because we have so
many smaller spaces, we have a couple of
approaches to work around that reality.
One is that we make compromises in species
selection and do use a fair number of upright
and compact cultivars. Sometimes we plant
trees we wouldn't normally recommend and
we prune accordingly: our biggest accommo-
dation is made possible by our collaboration
with the utility (National Grid). Through
one of our tree inventories we found that
40% of tree planting sites in Providence
have overhead utility wires. We do plant
smaller trees in those sites, but we also
plant larger, open-form species like London
plane (Platanus x acerifolia) or honeylocust
(Gleditsia triacanthos). When pruned cor-
rectly, their branches will grow around the
wires, so the utility works with us on that.
It's not the perfect solution but we feel it's
better than using only small flowering trees.
The bane of my existence here is root and
sewer conflicts. All the old sewers are made
of clay pieces that have mortared joints;
some are 100 years old and the joints dete-
riorate and nutrient-rich water seeps into
the surrounding soil. The roots grow down
and make their way into the pipes and cause
blockages—it's very common here and very
frustrating. Homeowners are expected to
replace old sewer lines but sometimes the
problem is already manifest, and we do
sometimes lose trees to root-sewer con-
flicts—it's a case-by-case situation. >>
In consideration of Providence's large Hispanic
population (41%), PNPP volunteer recruitment
flyers are posted in Spanish as well as English.
City Forester Doug Still (right) leads
planting demos and works alongside
Providence Neighborhood Planting
Program (PNPP) volunteers.
www.urban-forestry.com 23
