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October 2001 Update:

The Village’s winter pruning is set to begin November 1, 2001

The Problem
The Village of Oak Park’s winter street tree pruning season is set to repeat last year’s misguided policies for these reasons:
1. The same contractor who severely violated standards in"Area A" (S. of South Blvd.) last winter is set to begin pruning "Area B," ( north of North Blvd.) on November 1.
2. The Village has dismissed the agreement worked out last spring by the Village, concerned residents, and urban forester Chuck Stewart to force Village and contractor crews to adhere to standards, to hire an outside arborist to evaluate last year' pruning, and to review Village standards with residents' input. .
3. The Village has never publicly acknowledged that last winter’s pruning violated Village standards.
4. The Village feeds the controversy by defending its actions through a concerted disinformation campaign in FYI, the Village News Letter, the newspapers and cable channel videos, which blurs the issue, confuses residents, and justifies improper practices. (In fact, many experts have told us the severe pruning has compromised the health of the trees and actually created safety issues by opening them to disease and storm damage.)
5. The Village, including the elected board, ignores the concerns of residents, many of whom are professionals in the field.

The following presentation was made by Kathryn Jonas before the Village Board on September 24, 2001:

I am here to request that the new Village Board assist in putting an end to the continuing parkway tree pruning controversy. The problem is that the Village crews and contractors are not following Village pruning standards. The winter tree pruning performed from January-March in the area between South Blvd. and Madison Street and Austin Blvd. and Harlem Ave. caused significant concerns among homeowners and many local landscape architects. Numerous letters to the editor, phone calls to the forestry department and television coverage evidenced people’s concerns. The primary concerns are:
1. many trees are being stemmed up on the sidewalk and street sides 3 times the height specified in the contract and in the Village’s own Forestry Ordinance (see Exhibit A);
2. crews have been removing up to 75% of a tree’s canopy while the accepted professional industry standard specifies that no more than 25% of a tree’s canopy be removed in order to ensure the health and vigor of a tree (see Exhibit B); the crews have been skinning limbs and branches leaving small tufts of branches at the end (“referred to as lions-tailing in the industry) which practice is contrary to nationally accepted standards (see Exhibit C). The result of this severe over-pruning has left trees so misshapen, and the structure of the trees so compromised, that the unique characteristics of individual trees are destroyed.

A meeting was held with the Village in March and attended by myself, local landscape architects, and Chuck Stewart, a nationally recognized urban forester brought in by residents, to resolve the pruning issues. As a result of that meeting, Chuck Stewart was hired by the Village for two days to advise the contractor’s crews and the Village crews on professional pruning practices. The severity of the pruning lessened in the remaining parkways west of Grove Ave., but there were still many instances of overrunning.

Of equal concern is the over-pruning being done currently by the Village’s own forestry department. There are many examples throughout the Village of trees severely over-pruned pursuant to a homeowner’s request. We received a call last week from a homeowner at 1030 S. Wenonah who was upset about the severity of a hackberry tree recently pruned by the Village. I met the forestry director and his assistant at the site to review this, and the Village agreed that the tree was stemmed up 20’ on the sidewalks side instead of the 8’ standard. It was also significantly over pruned on the street side, with about 50% of the canopy removed. (See Exhibit D). This exhibit also shows pictures of a linden tree at Thomas and Harvey and 8 parkway trees at the southwest corner of Ridgeland and Erie pruned by the Village.

To settle the pruning controversy, I request on behalf of concerned residents that the following actions be taken:
1. the Village hire a professional assessment of the pruning done last winter and that being done currently by Village crews;
2. the Village terminate its current pruning contract for “Area B” and rebid only to qualified contractors;
3. the Village enforce the existing pruning standards for its own crews:

In direct response to Jonas’s presentation, Village forester Jim Semelka made a presentation before the board on October 1, where the following exchange took place as reported by the local press.

Inside Report, Editorial, Wednesday Journal, October 3, 2001

An otherwise calm and confident Oak Park Forester Jim Semelka Monday night showed a hint of the stress of being Chief Tree Trimmer in a town that takes its tree trimming very seriously. Near the end of Semelka’s presentation on the village’s preferred methods of tree trimming and the criticism they have received, Trustee William “JJ” Turner asked (with a straight face) how many arborists live in Oak Park. Semelka, who has seen Oak Park residents tree-trimming protests splashed across the pages of this newspaper and the screens of Chicago-area couch potatoes, copped a smirk. “About 45, 000,” he cracked.

A Call for Action The newly-formed Save Our Trees Coalition, made up of a number of community-based groups, including Citizens Tree Rescue (CTR), Oak Park Greens, Oak Park Environmental Network (OPEN), and Responsible Economic Development Community of Oak Park (REDCOOP) has petitioned the elected Village board to immediately take the following actions:

1. Terminate the contract for “Area B” (N. of North Blvd. to Chicago Ave., Austin Blvd. to Harlem Ave.) given to last year’s unqualified contractor and let to a qualified contractor
2. Enforce Village and national standards for Village crews and contractors
3. Hire an outside arborist experienced with municipal street tree pruning, acceptable to concerned citizens and the Village, to determine if Village standards and ANSI 300 national standards were violated by the contractor and Village crews 4. Declare an immediate moratorium on all Village pruning until the controversy is settled.