HOULTON, Maine — Houlton’s historic Market Square experienced a makeover recently when 44 green ash trees were removed from the downtown.
The tree removal project was part of an $8,000 Canopy Grant the town received last spring to remove and replace the trees with ivory silk lilac trees.
“The problem with these (ash) trees is they only had a 15- to 20-year lifespan, and these are now 25 years old,” explained Jane Torres, executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, who also served on the town’s Canopy Grant committee. She also spent 15 years as a tree nursery manager.
Another problem, Torres said, is that the trees were never properly maintained.
“The trees are also supposed to be maintained on a yearly basis by taking a third of the top off and pruning for shaping,” she said. “None of that was ever done.”
Torres added there also was the potential of the trees developing issues with emerald ash borer, an invasive species of green beetles that are highly destructive to ash trees. While several have expressed concerns about cutting down seemingly healthy looking trees, Torres said looks can be deceiving.
“What we have found was that while they may look healthy to people, they really were not,” she said. “A lot of them were diseased, and limbs were starting to break off.”
During the first snowstorm of the season back on Nov. 2, one of the trees near the Temple Theater collapsed under the weight of the snow.
Back in April, the town council postponed purchasing the new trees and removing the existing ones until an analysis could be done on how big of a process it would be to remove the root systems of the ash trees. Several members of the town council, at that time, expressed concerns about how the root systems may have spread under the street and sidewalk. When initially planted, the trees were placed into a catch basin to retain the root wall. But until one is actually dug up, the town has no way of knowing just how far reaching the roots are.
The town’s public works department first cut down the trees, leaving about a 3-foot trunk. Then a piece of equipment was borrowed from the town of Bath to remove those stumps and the root balls. The wood was taken to the town pit for disposal at a future time.
Houlton Town Manager Butch Asselin said the plan was to have the public works department cut the trees down sooner. But because of several projects — and the first major snow storm arriving Nov. 2 — employees were unable to get to the trees until this past week.
“We also waited until now because we wanted people to be able to enjoy the fall foliage,” Asselin said.
Asselin said the plan is to order 24 ivory silk lilac trees in January so they can be planted in the early spring. Funds for the purchase will come from the $8,000 Canopy Grant that the town was awarded, provided the town matches the grant amount.
“The one thing that has to happen is we need to keep the new trees trimmed so that they stay on the short side,” Torres added.