The Great Falls Park and Recreation department has applied for a state grant to help cover the cost of removing and replacing dead and diseased trees in Gibson Park.
Todd Seymanski, city forester, said that there are 36 dead and diseased trees set for removal in Gibson Park.
The grant is federal money that passes through the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to help with tree work, Seymanski said.
Commissioners approve assessments, awaiting details of tax appeal [2023]
The application deadline was Feb. 16 and he said he’s not sure when they’ll be notified whether the city has been awarded the funds.
Seymanski said they’d use those funds to contract for tree removal in Gibson Park.
If the city doesn’t received the grant, Seymanski said they’d have to remove them at a slower pace, as funding is available and replacement would take longer.
There are also 43 trees in other city parks and about 200 trees in the boulevard district that have died from disease and are marked with orange paint for removal.
About 99 percent of the dead trees are ash with some elm trees, Seymanski said.
Vandals targeting trees in city parks [2023]
The combination of age and weather conditions with early and late freezes in recent years has been damaging to the trees, as well as ash bark beetles and Dutch Elm disease, he said.
The city forestry division has been removing those trees in the boulevard and other parks and recently awarded several contracts for tree removal.
He said the contractors should have all of the marked dead trees removed by April, then city crews will start removing the stumps.
Seymanski said they bid the removal contracts by area through the short works roster.
He said he’s awarded three contracts totaling $29,830 for tree removal in the boulevard district.
Replacing those trees has been an ongoing process for several years that’s generally contracted out, he said.
Replacement trees run about $550 per tree, he said.
City forestry completes 7-year project of hazard tree trimming [2017]
The city hasn’t planted green ash in years since there are so many in the public areas and since they’ve been impacted by disease.
Instead, the city has been planting lindens, honey locusts, maples, burr oaks, hackberrys and for low growing trees, they’ve used Japanese tree lilacs, he said.
Tree maintenance, removal and replacement in city parks is funded through the general funds, so resources are limited, Seymanski said.
The trees in the boulevard are funded through the boulevard district assessment, which is a special fee to property owners within the district.
The assessment covers the care and maintenance of more than 15,000 street trees, including pruning, removal, planting and streetscape design.
The city assesses property owners within that district to cover the cost of those services performed by the Natural Resources Division of Great Falls Park and Recreation.
In August 2023, City Commissioners approved a six percent increase, or $5.77 for the average sized lot, to cover increased costs of maintaining the boulevard district trees for the upcoming fiscal year.
The last boulevard district increase was 12 percent in 2022, according to city staff.
There were no increases to the assessment in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID.
Staff proposed $0.013581 per square foot, for a total of $481,875 and will equate to about $101.86 for an average size lot of 7,500 square feet.
Commissioner Rick Tryon asked during an August 2023 meeting about tree maintenance in the district since he takes care of his trees.
Steve Herrig, Park and Recreation director, said that the city arborist and his forestry staff maintain a list of trees needing trimming or other maintenance.
Any trees the present safety hazards are the first priority, then the forestry division schedules the rest of the needed tree trimming.
Seymanski said he’s suspended memorial tree planting in Gibson Park due to vandalism that damaged many of those trees.
He said he’s hoping whoever was vandalizing the memorial trees has progressed past that stage and they can the damaged trees removed and replaced, then resume the program.
Gibson, Elks Riverside and Lions parks were hit the hardest for vandalism to memorial trees, he said, but there are some surviving trees along the River’s Edge Trail.
