City prepares for Arbour Day event, planting 800 trees

Arbourists and municipal staff are getting ready for Brandon’s Arbour Day next weekend, as parks crews prepare to plant hundreds of trees across the city this year.

The May 30 event at the Keystone Centre helps people care for, appreciate and learn about trees, committee member Shane Freeman said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

“At its core, it’s about recognizing how important trees are to our communities — from providing shade and cleaner air to reducing stormwater runoff and improving property values,” Freeman said.

The May 30 event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. will include tree planting, a climbing demonstration and free seedlings for attendees, according to the city. There will also be a barbecue, information booth, live music, face painting and a kids zone.

The event is free to attend.

Freeman, the owner of Total Landscape Solutions, said trees also have multiple health benefits, including stress reduction and allowing people to have a closer connection to nature, along with being better for wildlife.

All trees in Brandon’s canopy were planted by stewards decades ago, and people need to continue to care for them, said Freeman, who is scheduled to do the tree-climbing demonstration.

“It takes so long to get these urban forests established, and if we don’t care for them properly, it would take many years to get them back,” he said.

The city plans to plant about 800 trees this year, according to city official Stephen Clark. Most of those trees will be at the new Canada Packers Sports Complex, which opened last year.

The city will plant 470 trees at the complex, with the remainder primarily being planted downtown, the Willowdale Crescent area and in new developments, said Clark, the chargehand for forestry and horticulture in Brandon.

“We have quite a species mix, and it includes a variety of hardy, diverse trees selected for their suitability to our local climate.”

The species, not all of which are native to the area, will thrive in Brandon and help develop a “long-term canopy,” he said.

“We don’t want to plant all one species along roadways anymore. It’s important that we’re adding variety to the street ways.”

The city will spend about $32,000 on tree planting this year, while a grant will cover additional costs of planting at the sports complex.

Last year, the city cut about 300 trees, including through the Dutch Elm disease program with the provincial government, Clark said. Other reasons included sidewalk rehabilitation on 26th Street, storm damage, rotting and infestation.

In September, the city removed 71 black and Manchurian ash trees downtown because of deteriorating health caused by limited space to grow, recurring drought, environmental damage, road salt and an infestation of jumping tree lice.

Clark said the city has seen a “noticeable reduction” in the lice since September, but will monitor the situation over the warmer months, which are better for the lice. The city might need to react sooner in the future if another outbreak were to occur, he said.

As the city plants new trees, it will make sure to water them properly as they grow and plant them more efficiently — like in the centre of a tree pit — to give the trees more room to grow, Clark added.

» alambert@brandonsun.com