The recent Parsons Beach Road controversy over replacing many of the existing trees along this historic alleyway prompts reflection on the benefits and costs, generally, of street trees throughout Kennebunk and towns in southern Maine.  Kennebunk residents have learned through this process the importance in maintaining transparent involvement of the Town Tree Committee, affected citizens, town staff, indeed the whole town.

Street trees are living, breathing, familiar neighbors in communities we wish to live in.  They are not only part of our streetscape as beautiful ornaments but are functioning members of our communities as well, by providing a number of services benefiting our health and welfare.  Street trees provide shade and often a canopy over streets, sidewalks and abutting properties, privacy including from street light trespass onto those abutting properties, break-up of exhaust from vehicles, muffling of traffic noise, sequestering of CO2 greenhouse gas and reduction of stormwater runoff by absorbing groundwater.  Perhaps most importantly street trees provide traffic calming.  The presence of trees along a street signals to motorists they are approaching a populated area with pedestrians and bicyclists and the natural reaction is to slow down.  Now imagine Kennebunk or other urban places with no street trees, baking in the summer sun, featureless in the winter snow and ice, providing no pollution or noise dissipation and providing no privacy for abutting residences and no protection for sidewalk pedestrians.

For some perspective, consider New York City, perhaps the most dense urban place in America, which has the resources to study the impact of street trees (see: www.nycgovparks.org → NYC_STRATUM_report_ 2007.pdf {NYC Municipal Forest Resource Analysis, Center for Urban Forest Research, USDA Forest Service, March 2007}).  In 2019 New York City has about 700,000 street trees and a budget (in 2007) of about $21.8 million for installing and maintaining trees in public places.  The study established that that annual benefits based on its trees in 2018 from stormwater intercepted, energy conserved (from shading reducing air conditioning), air pollution removal and CO2 reduction totaled about $109 million annually.  In 2015 the City estimated that for every $1.00 invested in its tree program, $5.60 benefits accrued, lesser in other cities but all with positive benefits.  It is likely that a similar study of Kennebunk or other Maine towns would also yield positive benefits over the costs of maintaining the towns’ trees.

So a street tree program is indeed initially expensive, but once up and running returns greater benefits than costs annually.  A famous example: after the Civil War, Congress was considering moving the Capitol to St. Louis, so District of Columbia Governor Alexander Shepard spent lavishly on a public works program including the planting of 60,000 trees along newly paved streets far exceeding the allotted budget, which put the District into bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the resulting beauty of Washington’s street trees, revered to this day, and ensuing real estate boom saved the capital from being moved west.  While Shepard was not charged with actually breaking any laws, Congress changed the administration of the District to a three-member Board of Commissioners.  And after his personal bankruptcy, presumably from real estate speculation, was settled in 1867, Shepard apparently found it expedient to abscond to Mexico and operate a successful silver mine there.

One memorable historic photo of Fletcher Street in Kennebunk, late 19th or early 20th Century, shows a magnificent (elm?) tree tunnel canopy stretching up to Main Street – so we too have a history of street trees.  The biggest present issue for maintaining Kennebunk’s and other Maine towns’ street trees are the installation of utility poles and overhead wires that compete for the same sidewalk air space.  While most local subdivision ordinances call for installation of underground wires for new subdivisions, towns’ have mostly allowed previously installed urban street overhead wires to remain.  While utilities complain of the cost to reverting to underground wires, they, along with town governments and taxpayers still have a responsibility to equitably share in the cost of maintaining street trees along with their overhead wires.  Potential conflict will only increase with the likely severity of windstorms due to climate change.  Therefore, sensitive trimming of trees when deemed absolutely necessary as a last resort is paramount to preserving the benefits from our arboreal neighbors.  Perhaps utilities have a further responsibility to have a long-range plan for underground wiring in the most built-up areas and equipment on wires that allow for their temporary and flexible expansion due to wind storm or fallen limb pressures.

In going forward in protecting our street trees we would do well by flipping the ratings used in the study of the health of the Parsons Beach Road trees onto an equal concern for the health of the communities the trees serve.  Does an urban street have a high risk of not benefitting from the traffic calming, aesthetic, privacy, energy reduction, noise and pollution mitigation and stormwater management benefits due to the lack of trees?  Or, does it have moderate or low risk from the lack of street trees?  As an example, while Fletcher Street in Kennebunk no longer has the historic tunnel of canopy of trees, it nevertheless could have careful stewardship of the trees now there and new plantings where needed to reduce the community risks from the lack of trees.  With such a mindset, as an example the round-about at the Fletcher/Storer Street intersection could benefit from installing shrubbery in the now bare rocky circular island as traffic calming and beautification measures – and the town garden club could replant flowers therein.  (Full disclosure: the writer can see the round-about from his residence.)

So good stewardship for maintaining communities we want to live in does include full care of our fellow living trees and other biota that are a co-equal part of our communities.  This surely includes replacing trees that have had to be removed.