Trees

    Because the housing market is down, so is the number of trees. The Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department is in charge of planting trees in the city under the Master Street Tree Plan, which plants trees in new housing developments in Lawrence.
    Since the start of the program in the fall of 2002, the average number of trees planted per year is approximately 400. This year it's about 190. 

    "We are on a decline right now due to the housing market being so low, not many houses are being built," said Crystal Miles, Horticulture Manager of the City of Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department.  
    Miles said tree planting usually begins at the start of November, after a killing freeze or leaf drop in the fall, and continues through winter when the ground is not frozen and the temperature is above freezing. Planting is generally finished in mid April.
    These trees are paid for by a fee of $245 collected with the application for a building permit. Miles said the city prefers to purchase trees that are grown within a radius of 100 miles of Lawrence and the labor force is hired by the tree vendor. To determine which type of tree should be planted, the National Forest Service provides a list of trees specifically for northeast Kansas. Miles said that since purpose of these trees in the residential neighborhoods is shade, larger trees such as maples, oaks, and honey locusts are most often used because they will grow to be at least 45 feet tall.
    Before this program began, the home builders put in the trees themselves. However people complained because the wrong sizes of trees were planted or the trees were planted in the wrong place. So the Lawrence Home Builders Association proposed that the builders pay a fee for the tress and the city plant them to ensure that everything was done correctly. Bobbie Flory, Executive Director of the Lawrence Home Builders Association, said that they believed that if the city was buying thousands of trees, then everything could be done right and more efficiently.
    "Did it work? Not really. The city turned it into a cumbersome project. That's what government does," Flory said. Now that it is a city project, the city has to come out and inspect everything, making the process less efficient.  But it did take the responsibility off of the builders.
    "There are definite problems with it," said Flory. She said that builders complain that they could plant the trees themselves for less than the city charges and there is a lower survival rate for the trees planted by the city than other trees.
    Although the decline in the housing market has the Master Street Tree planting program at one of its lowest points, the program will continue as long as houses are being built in Lawrence.
    "Unless it is repealed or revised we will continue to accomplish the mission of planting trees," said Miles.