advertisement

Tag - that Schaumburg Park District tree is it!

Schaumburg Park District parks will remain open during tree inventory.

The parks department of the District spent the winter months adding aluminum tags to trees at District centers. The aluminum tag, which is about the size of a stick of gum, has the park and tree numbers pressed into it. The tags are either nailed or tied to each tree in the park.

“Winter is a good time to work on the tagging,” said Superintendent of Parks and Planning Todd King. “We are identifying which trees need to be removed in the spring and where we need diversification when it comes time to replace trees.”

Staff arborists identify trees by leaves, bug scars, and bark and branching patterns. The inventory of the trees allows staff to keep track of the species ratio in each park, know what to plant in order to diversify species, examine the health of trees especially those affected by last summer's drought and identify evidence of the Emerald Ash Borer, the invasive beetle from Asia that destroys ash trees.

Thoughtful planning is the key to curbing damage from harmful species like the Emerald Ash Borer.

“We thrive to have no more than 20 percent of one species in a park in case of an outbreak,” said King. “It would hurt the District to lose many trees in a single park.”

As the parks team tags and identifies trees, they also keep spring cleaning in mind by making note of trees in need of trimming and removal once the snow melts.

The parks team hopes to finish a few more parks before spring blossoms and park beautification for the summer months begins. The tagging project is an ongoing task.

For more information, call (847) 985-2115 or visit www.parkfun.com.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.