Topic: Kansas tornado and wind storm hits urban forests

[Nora]

KS - City Rebuilds after a Tornado
Forestry Grants Helps Greensburg Become Green


Greensburg before the Tornado


Greensburg after the Tornado

The F-5 tornado that hit Greensburg, Kansas, on May 4 destroyed over 95 percent of the community, including its trees. On July 13, the US Foresty Service Rocky Mountain Region State and Private Forestry awarded $25,000 to the Kansas Forest Service (KFS) to help the City of Greensburg restock its community forest.

The money will help buy trees and tree replacement supplies and hire a Kansas State University intern to work in Greensburg for three summers to help establish the replanted trees.

Kansas state and local authorities will match the funds heling ensure the project includes proper plant selection, planting, care, and maintenance as well as removal mitigation and pruning.

Tim McDonnell, KFS project manager and coordinator for the community replanting effort, views the grant as an anchor on which to build a national, regional, statewide, and local recovery effort working cooperatively for Greensburg.

McDonnell is working with multiple agencies and groups to secure more help with the undertaking. Partners already on board are too numerous to mention. Donations range from volunteer labor from 4-H and other groups to discounted or free trees from nurseries to planning services from landscaping experts.

McDonnell said the Kansas Tree City USA Communities are currently the largest state partner. Two such communities, Hutchinson and Marysville, have already raised $1,000 each for Greensburg, and several others have volunteered planting labor. Greensburg will plant a TCUSA Boulevard with the donated trees and labor, and the National Arbor Day Foundation plans to provide signage.

Not all contributors are from Kansas. For example, North Carolina’s Hear Our Public Employees Coalition has offered to grow 200 seedlings of Greensburg’s choice.

Before the tornado, Greensburg had about a 25 percent tree canopy cover, close to the national average. The community has a goal to increase that to a 40 percent canopy. McDonnell estimates approximately 5,700 trees need replacement.

Many Greensburg citizens and city leaders see an opportunity to build a “greener Greensburg.” The idea includes concepts such as environmentally-friendly buildings, alternative energy sources, water conservation systems, and working trees into landscapes to keep structures cooler.

McDonnell is working tirelessly to ensure the replanting effort embodies the “green” infrastructure mindset. Asked what would most help the community meet its canopy cover goal, McDonnell said, “What I need most is cash for more trees, and I will find the volunteers to plant them.”

To offer additional help to the Community of Greensburg Reforestation Project, please use the contact below.

CONTACT: Tim McDonnell, 316-788-0492 X 202, tmcdonne@ksu.edu

This story was found on:
http://www.wflcweb.org/success_stories/118/

Thanks to Diane Denenberg and the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition for passing this along!
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[Nora]

City Forestry Responds to Storm Damage
Posted: 3:34 PM Sep 7, 2007

Reported straight-line winds brought down trees and limbs in Topeka overnight, mostly in an area east of Gage Boulevard and south of 10th Street, according to Topeka City Forester Adam Moser.

Some reports of wind damage in other areas were reported as well, he said.

“I have several pages of notes from calls received this morning,” he said at about 9 a.m. Friday. Gage Park saw the downing of two large trees slated for removal this winter, he said.

Moser said the storm damage was “nothing unusual” even though large limbs and some trees fell.

“This is Mother Nature’s way of removing weak limbs and trees,” Moser said, noting that we haven’t seen a storm like this in about a year to a year and a half.

The City is responsible for picking up tree debris fallen from trees in parks and the City’s rights-of-way. Property owners are responsible for removing debris fallen from trees on private property.

Moser and two City forestry crew members began removing debris at 1 a.m. Friday. They were joined by six other crew members at daybreak.

“Our first priority is clearing streets,” he said.

Residents can dispose of tree debris at the City’s Yard Material Recycling Facility, 600 NW Winter, located just north of the I-70 overpass at MacVicar Avenue. It is normally open from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4:45 p.m. However, it will be open over the noon hour Friday and Saturday, Moser said.

Cost of disposing tree debris at the site varies from $10 for a small trailer or compact truck to $60 for a semi-trailer load. All applicable fees will apply.

This article was found on:
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/9648842.html
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