Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Removal of a few trees in Farmington has led to a broader look at the problem.
Because of potentital interference with power lines, Avista has removed five trees off city property since January at the town’s request.
The town’s newly-formed tree committee sought advice from Garth Davis, Forestry Program Manager from the Spokane Conservation District. He arrived in February to survey trees on city property to see if any more were a potential liability.
“If a tree fell to the south instead of to the north, it could take out a house,” said Farmington Mayor James Woomack. “These are very large trees.”
Davis eventually recommended that three more trees need to come out soon.
“Ultimately, due to proximity to power lines, there’s a whole row that has been compromised,” said Davis, whose work is paid for by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ Community Forestry Program.
Two of the trees – a spruce and a silver maple – are in an alleyway between the basketball court and the park and another is across Third Street from the park.
“One of them you can literally walk inside of it’s so rotten,” said Woomack.
“What we’re doing is, all of our older trees are at a stage that when they were planted, we didn’t have power lines over them,” said Noreen Ewing, a city council representative and chair of the parks committee.
In the past, common practice in pruning trees was to cut them off at the same height all the way across, which causes rot.
“It’s nothing that Avista could have done any better, it’s just that tall trees and power lines don’t mix,” Davis said.
The tree project in Farmington began with some trimming in the park that some townspeople questioned, bringing the matter to some city council representatives.
“So we wanted to know how to plan for the future of the park, then expand to all city property,” said Woomack.
“Our main objective is to ensure we try to get rid of the dangerous trees around the park area,” Ewing said.
For the trees that have already been taken down, the wood has been milled and various community members are making keepsakes from it to be sold at the Harvest Festival in September.
These items, for which proceeds will go back to the Farmington Parks department, include walking sticks, birdhouses, tables and benches.
The unusable wood will be sold as firewood.
“We have to lose the trees but hopefully we’ll get something in return,” Ewing said. “More than just cash. A sense of ownership too.”
She expects the next trees in the park to be taken down in the next two weeks.
Ewing credits Davis for his guidance on the matter.
“He’s really been a godsend in helping us in determining which trees need to come out,” she said. “A gold mine worth of help. It’s really heartbreaking when you have to lose these trees.”
“We’re developing a management plan for the park,” Davis said. “This was the first round. Eventually, they should all be replaced. We made our determination of the higher-risk trees.”
His work for Farmington will continue in May, after leaves come in, and he’ll evaluate all of the trees on city property.
While the tree needs are addressed, there is also another purpose.
“I’m hoping that through all of this, Farmington will become a ‘Tree City U.S.A.,’” Davis said.
The program, which is part of the National Arbor Day Foundation, requires four items which Farmington has now completed; celebration of Arbor Day, starting a trees committee, passing an ordinance regulating public trees and spending $2 per capita budget to care for trees (volunteer hours count).
In December, Farmington will submit their application to the National Arbor Day Foundation.
If granted “Tree City U.S.A.” status, the town will be eligible for grants, such as for re-planting.
As far as the cost for removing trees, Woomack noted that Farmington’s insurance will pay $1,000 toward the total, because it lessens the town’s potential liability. Woomack estimates that it will cost about $3,000 to remove the ones on the slate now, with volunteers cleaning up – including cutting the unuseable wood for firewood and using a stumpgrinder for the stumps.
The tree committee will gather three bids for the tree removals and present them at the next council meeting April 21.
“It’s not required to go out to bids, but I want the least expensive for the town,” Woomack said.
Overall, he indicated that the trees to be cut down have reasoning behind it.
“There may be people in the town that don’t want the trees down but they’ll understand why it has to come down.”
As for the original trees taken out, Woomack will send a flyer out in the water bill asking for bids on the firewood piled next to the community center.
“It’s nice Ash hardwood, it’ll make some good firewood,” he said.
Overall, Davis indicated that project is going well for Farmington.
“This group of people, I met with a group of six and at one point in time, they’d all been mayor at one point,” he said. “I’m amazed at how quickly they got this done and their level of interest.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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