Park Square Maple Couldn't Weather Summer StormsBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
12:24PM / Tuesday, August 13, 2024 | |
 The walkway thorugh the park is closed off until the tree can be removed. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — One of Park Square's trees wasn't able to weather the summer storms.
A large limb from a 32-foot sugar maple in the park fell next to the fountain area over the weekend. Caution tape and traffic barrels now surround the aftermath.
If it cannot be saved, it will likely be replaced.
This tree was assessed two years ago as part of the Park Square Tree Planting Project and deemed to be in "fair to good" condition. Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath explained that it was showing deadwood and areas on top were experiencing dieback but planners hoped to clean it up to "serve our needs into the future" due to its significance in the park.
The tree was determined to have "low vigor," he reported, and could have had some internal rot not seen in the review.
As recommended by the 2022 plan, pruning was scheduled for the fall along with multiple other trees in the park. With such a significant portion now gone, McGrath's instinct is to remove the tree and replace it with a similar sugar maple.
He said the city will likely look to plant five trees this fall and fully implement the plan. The project removes four trees and plants seven, including the city's permanent Christmas tree that was unveiled last year.
Thirteen trees were assessed for health, risk, and safe useful lifespan. The maple tree's DBH, or diameter measured at 4.5 feet above the ground, is 32.5 inches and it was identified as having "large deadwood" as a defect.
The project was allocated $8,000 in Community Preservation Funds last year and was estimated to cost $8,350.
"Park Square is a tough spot for a tree to thrive," the 2023 CPA application reads.
"Between compacted soils, emissions from all the traffic, and past practices where many of the trees were not regularly pruned, the city recognized that something needed to be done to save the ones we could and think about what the future tree canopy could (or should) look like."
McGrath said the trees to be planted may or may not be the ones specified in the plan as they are determining which recommended trees are the right ones.
"Whatever trees we plant, though, we'll want them to be a species that grows a significant and large canopy," he said. "There is also a preference for native varieties."
As part of the plan, the Berkshire County Historical Society honored the Berkshires' first known environmentalist, Lucretia Williams, by planting an elm tree at the park last year.
It was not far from the spot where Williams had saved the Pittsfield elm tree from the axe 233 years before.
Last holiday season, the city's permanent Christmas tree was lit for the holidays for the first time. The young tree is expected to grow up to 50 feet in time and stands next to the spot where the maple limb fell.
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