MOUNT VERNON – Five trees in the Mount Vernon Public Square will be cut down on March 13 because of the threat they pose to pedestrians and vehicles due to their weakened state and age.
An assessment of the trees by the Shade Tree and Beautification Commission revealed that the trees have diseases and other problems, said Dr. James Brown, a local chiropractor and chairman of the group. They worry that in a storm the trees will come down.
The blue spruce and Norway spruce both have needle cast, a fungal disease that causes needles to turn brown and fall off.
“Years ago, the State planted pine trees as kind of windbreaks along freeways,” Brown said. “You’ll see a lot of dead ones, and those are the ones that have been affected by the needle cast.
“The sweetgum looks to be a healthy tree, but when you look at the base of it, all the roots are out of the ground. It was actually planted over a cistern, an old system that runs underneath the square there.”
The buckeye was planted in 1919 by the Mount Zion Masonic Lodge. A plaque commemorating its planting will be returned to the lodge.
The maple tree on the far west side of the square is nearly 80 years old. It has codominant leaders, which are two main trunks similar in diameter that make a split in the tree, creating a weak spot.
“One of the things that we will change as we go through here is a lot of the larger trees were planted on the periphery,” Brown said. “And we’re working to move them more in so that we don’t have issues out over parking areas and sidewalks as much.”
A maple tree planted several years ago in the park helped prepare for the tree removal. Three other trees will be planted in the fall. These tentatively are planned to be a tricolor beech, an Asian cedar and a buckeye tree.
Some of the trees will live on in art created for the Mount Vernon Music & Arts Festival’s Artist Challenge. This year the focus is on wood. The raw material in the form of rough-honed, kiln-dried planks from the trees will be available in April or May on a first-come, first-served basis.
Artists interested in the challenge should email festival director Joseph Bell at mvmaf20@gmail.com with the subject line “Repurposed.” The festival will be held Aug. 12-15.
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