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Kansas City has what is classified as a "Mature Urban Forest". That means the majority
of our street trees are aging and in decline. They won't all die tomorrow, but most of them
will fade during this generation. We need a plan for the care and replacement of our street
trees. The City frequently tells residents we have no money for new street trees. That may be
true, but we don't have the money for a lot of things. There are alternatives.
First, I will work with the City Forester to relax the current
policy that requires any tree planted on a right-of-way have
a two inch caliper. That's fancy arborist talk for a 2 inch circumference trunk. Trees
that big are pricey. A 2 inch caliper tree is about 6 foot tall and can go for around
500 to 700 dollars. Little saplings are much less expensive. More in the $25 and under
range. Much less costly to replace if they don't survive the first few crucial years.
Second, we utilize volunteers to inventory our street tree population so we can anticipate
when the trees will need to be replaced and where we need to plant trees to replace ones
that have already been removed. Finally, we plant saplings. Lots of them. On seldom used
public land, even Land Trust lots which don't seem to be doing much anyway except racking
up codes complaints and mowing bills. We organize volunteer groups and even individuals
who would be willing to host a sapling. We can maintain this tree inventory at little or
no cost to the taxpayers and when we need a tree somewhere we'll have one, for free instead
of paying six or seven hundred dollars in tax money to some nursery.
Finally I will put forth legislation for a Master Street Tree Plan. In my
usual method of not reinventing the wheel, I have researched existing ordinances from other
municipalities and crafted an ordinance around a successful one already in use.
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