Island Park is losing its trees

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Saltwater, brackish water, sewage, fuel oil — all the result of Hurricane Sandy, and all reasons why Island Park trees are not healthy and need to come down.

Peter Colgan, of Colgan Tree and Landscape Service, said he found bark fissures and nodules on trunks, lack of growth at the tops of trees, poor leaf color, curled or rolled leaves, small branches growing out of trunks (a sign of stress), excessive amounts of dead leaves and/or branches, as well as disease and rot, when he canvassed all of the trees in Island Park at the request of Mayor Michael McGinty and the board of trustees.

Colgan compiled a report that concluded that 291 trees needed to be removed, that 97 were immediate hazards and needed to go first, and that the village needs to monitor 131 more for future damage and poor health. The main reason for the sobering numbers was the fact that so many trees sat in a toxic soup in Sandy’s aftermath.

On Sept. 2, McGinty sent out a letter informing village residents that the removal of trees by a local company, Weeping Willow, would begin on Sept. 8 and continue for 25 to 30 days. The letter was intended to go to every house in the village, but at the Sept. 15 village board meeting, some residents claimed they never received it, and woke up to find their trees being cut down. Others came home from work and saw empty, tree-less streets.Colgan said he was also evaluating trees in East Rockaway and North Hempstead. A similar program was already carried out in Long Beach and parts of the Town of Hempstead.

Some residents complained that the evaluation of the trees was undertaken before spring, when they had not yet bloomed.

Mayor McGinty said that anyone could see the report at Village Hall. In addition, anyone could request that the village not cut a tree down. The request would be reviewed, and the tree might be placed on “monitor” instead of “cut down” status. Colgan stressed that a tree does not show signs of disease right away, but it does show signs that something is wrong, and each type of tree has its own indicators.

Colgan explained that the main concern was safety and liability. If a sick tree that they marked is not taken down, he said, and later a branch breaks or the tree falls and causes damage or injury, neither his firm nor the village would be liable.

The inspection and marking of damaged trees was done in accordance with Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines, because the agency funded the project. The agency is also giving the village $25,000 for new trees. McGinty said that village workers would be planting approximately 250 8- to 10-foot trees that will be better suited to the soil — and the village’s occasional flooding — than the old trees were. The mayor said that the village would work with the Cornell Cooperative Extension and the National Arbor Foundation to select the new trees.

Colgan said it was important that the new trees be planted properly, with good soil and plenty of water, and that they continue to get a lot of water. He noted that the area is now in a drought. The young trees would need a light fertilizer, he said, and mulch would help, but he advised residents not to pile soil up around the roots, which would invite pests and rot.

Luis Almodovar lives on Brighton Road. His wife taped a sign on a tree asking that it not be cut, but the other trees on Brighton and Lancaster Roads have already been taken down.

Janet McEtee said that the trees should be given time to recuperate, and that she had been caring for her trees on Empire Boulevard, which seemed to be doing better. She also took the village to task for not cutting the trees that were marked as hazards right away. Some are still standing months later, she noted.