Who can help preserve Winter Park's tree canopy? You.
Experts will offer tips and answer questions at public forum
Oct. 12, 2023
By Beth Kassab
A who’s who of Winter Park tree advocates will come together on Thursday, Oct. 19 for a panel on how to keep the city’s valued tree canopy healthy.
The forum will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Winter Park Library and will be hosted by the Winter Park Land Trust’s Tree Committee. The event is free and open to the public.
The panel will include Josh Nye, Winter Park’s parks services manager; Jorden Hinrichsen, the city’s Urban Forestry superintendent; Kim Ashby, Tree Preservation Board Chair; Forrest McCullough, McCullough Arboriculture; and Commissioner Marty Sullivan. Leslie Poole, who leads the Trees Committee for the land trust will be the moderator.
The meeting is noticed as a public meeting and additional commissioners and tree board members are expected to attend.
“Trees do more than enhance the beauty of our city,” read a release from the land trust. “They cool our homes, reducing energy use; help prevent soil erosion; remove air pollutants; filter stormwater run-off; and provide shade on blistering city streets.”
Questions or comments? Email the editor at WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
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By: Beth Kassab
No biography available at this time
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Did you know that we instituted a street tree culling and replanting policy in 2012? We have spent about $2,000,000 per year since then replacing dangerous and dying street and park trees.
Did you know we have tree ordinance that requires replacement of shade trees on private property?
Winter Park already pays attention to our trees and spends lavishly to keep them healthy and safe.
I wouldn’t call cutting down all those healthy trees in MLK Park to make way for the Library and Events Center construction “keeping them healthy and safe.”
The decimation of the existing tree canopy, in the absence of a hurricane, has never been more evident. It’s frightening. But not as frightening as the fact that former commissioner Weldon thinks that all is well.
Decimated? Where in WP is there a decimated tree canopy? Methinks an anonymous post is relevant to your assertion.
Pitt Warner, Throughout the city older housing stock is being bought by builders, developers, or individual residents . These smaller homes are then demolished and replaced with new homes which are double or triple the size of the home they replace. In this process, which we all observe daily, many lots are being “clear cut”, scraped clean, with even healthy oaks and other shade trees removed. There is no way to meaningfully replace these lost trees in the short term. City staff reports that healthy mature specimen trees are removed by homeowners for a variety of reasons because for a period of years, a 2019 state law change enabled this. The law has been amended now. But overall, this serious loss of mature, healthy trees is in addition to behavior of scofflaws like the one on the Isle of Sicily which resulted in a pending fine of over $250,000. Another scofflaw clear cut a tract on Howell Branch before being apprehended. The library and event center construction cost residents and MLK Park dozens of mature shade trees which will never be replaced with an equivalent tree.
Really shallow to post this anonymously. No willingness to debate the facts but lots of misplaced emotion. Too bad this type of nonsense is considered acceptable by many.
Voters evaluated your “type of nonsense” via the 2019 ballot box, Pete. Tell me that you have not forgotten. Your actions on historical preservation, final conditional use approval for the library, and your vote to sell land needed to expand MLK Park suggest that maybe trees may not your thing either. Good information came from the Tree Forum hosted by the Land Trust last week. I did not see you there.
Trees are fabulous. 99.99% of builders, developers and individual owners follow the rules. (Howell Branch was 2 years ago and 1 tree- a 54 inch specimen oak was mistakenly removed) .
We support trees to the tune of $2 million a year. The only thing getting decimated in WP is the taxpayers wallet by these spendaholics. But that’s another post.
Laurel oak trees don’t last as long as live oak trees.
The trees look good but don’t have much time left.