Village’s tree population down

When Malverne resident Nick Koumos became a volunteer for the village’s Tree and Beautification Committee, it was 1989 and the village was planting an average of 200 trees a year. That was a good number, because although the village loses roughly 100 trees a year — by committee estimates — it was still planting twice as many trees as it lost.

Today the scenario is very different.

“During the last 10 years, we’ve only been planting an average of 50 to 60 trees per year,” Koumos said of the committee, which purchases and plants trees for residents who request them at a cost of $150 per tree. The committee plants trees on the curbs in front of residents’ homes. “We’re down about 1,000 trees on the curb in the last 20 years or so,” Koumos said, “and could lose another 1,000 if we continue at the rate we’re planting.” Though curbs are technically village property, the village usually will not plant a tree on a curb unless a resident requests it.

Koumos offered his observations as a concerned resident — and not a member of the committee — earlier this year at a village board meeting. The village and its residents, he said, need to recognize that the number of trees is gradually declining and determine what can be done to stop it.

Why aren’t Malvernites planting as many trees? The reasons vary, Koumos said, and include cost. Years ago, he said, the committee would offer residents trees at no cost. Then, in the early 1990s, that changed. “The cost went to $50,” he recalled. “For a senior it was $25. Then it went to $75, and then $100, and in the last year it’s $150. The higher you go, the less people are going to want it.”

Committee chairwoman Joanne O’Brien agreed that the main problem may be cost. “A lot of people don’t replace the trees they take down,” she said. “It’s a big expense to take down a tree and then plant another. It’s an expense that many people can’t handle.” She added that $150 was a very good deal for purchasing and planting a decent-sized tree.