[MAIPC] Philly Street Trees

[Rohrbaugh, Andrew]

I've been trying to get PA DCNR's Treevitalize program to be a bit more selective about their suggested tree species list, at very least for some of the species that we've heard negative reports from the field (sawtooth oak, callery pear, corktree). They are currently working through updating their list, so hopefully I'll be able to report some positive process soon.

Andrew Rohrbaugh | Botanist
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Bureau of Forestry | Ecological Services Section
PO Box 8552, 400 Market St, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8552
Phone: 717.705.2823 | Fax: 717.772.0271
anrohrbaug at pa.gov
www.dcnr.state.pa.us

-----Original Message-----
From: MAIPC [mailto:maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org] On Behalf Of Muth, Norris (MUTH)
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 9:26 AM
To: MAIPC Listserve (maipc at lists.maipc.org) <maipc at lists.maipc.org>
Subject: Re: [MAIPC] Philly Street Trees

Nathan,
I'm glad you picked up on this. Perhaps someone on the listserve has a contact with Philadelphia Parks and Rec.

My personal view is that we might want to try to move towards something of a white-list type of advice where MAIPC or others could work towards getting these lists moved more and more towards native species and non-invasives (dare I say, that have gone through "extreme vetting?" I dare). If we could get some evidence-based information on where these non-natives have been used and for how long, it might be reasonable to give them a different designation than less well studied non-natives. I see this approach as entirely a pragmatic one (I'd prefer that nurseries produced far more diversity and abundance of native species so that they would be easier to recommend or mandate) - but at least this approach could make some inroads towards these types of plantings doing less damage and it might be more successful than a full frontal assault that could be more easily ignored and would be difficult to implement at best.

Best,
Norris

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norris Z. Muth, Associate Professor of Biology muth at juniata.edu<mailto:muth at juniata.edu>

office: 1054 VonLiebig Center for Science Office Hours Spring 2017 M&F 11-noon,  T 2-2:30, Th 1-2:30, or by appointment

Juniata College
1700 Moore St.
Huntingdon, PA 16652
tel: 814-641-3632
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From: Nathan Hartshorne <nshartshorne at gmail.com<mailto:nshartshorne at gmail.com>>
Date: Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 5:05 PM
To: "MAIPC Listserve (maipc at lists.maipc.org<mailto:maipc at lists.maipc.org>)" <maipc at lists.maipc.org<mailto:maipc at lists.maipc.org>>
Subject: [MAIPC] Philly Street Trees

Hi all,

My roommate was applying for an internship with them and came across the list of approved Philly street trees.  Recently Philly has made a push for more planting similar to NYC's.  Well, she knows a lot about invasives due to her proximity to me talking about them.  We were very disappointed to find a number of non-natives (regionally non-native as well).  Other than crabapples (which I can't tell what species they are since they are all cultivars), I didn't immediately recognize any as commonly naturalizing, but as we all know that doesn't mean much for the future, and doesn't do as much for the environment anyways.

So I was wondering what we could do as an organization (aside from me writing a letter to them since I live here).  An impact here could make a huge difference given the geographical size of the city.  Perhaps any contacts with NYC million trees program could be useful.  Here is the list:
http://www.phila.gov/ParksandRecreation/environment/Documents/PPR%20Approved%20Street%20Tree%20List.pdf

Nathan


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