A registry of landmark trees in Athens has grown to nearly 1,000 in four years, and a new local forestry service is looking to push the number even higher.
New Urban Forestry, started last year by two University of Georgia graduates, has volunteered this year to do free preservation work on five trees listed on the Athens-Clarke government's official registry of landmark trees.
"Having this designation allows folks to see these trees in a different light," New Urban Forestry co-founder Kevin Hamman said.
Hamman and business partner John Ritzler said they spend most of their time caring for and managing nonlandmark trees for profit. But along the way, they encourage tree owners to register their unusually large or otherwise noteworthy trees with the county and work to ensure future generations can enjoy them.
"I think people want to take tree-preservation measures, but they don't necessarily know how or that it's available," Hamman said.
Ritzler and Hamman worked Tuesday on a newly designated landmark tree, a water oak just feet from a historic North Pope Street house.
The oak, which measures about 80 feet tall and more than 3 feet across, was threatened by construction work. The Athens Land Trust is renovating the house, donated by Emmanuel Episcopal Church, to turn it into a new office for the affordable housing nonprofit.
They are attaching cables to branches to ensure they don't grow too close together and become diseased, pruning dead wood and loosening up the soil around the roots to keep the 60-year-old tree healthy.
"Pretty much all our urban trees could benefit from this practice," said Gregg Bayard, a sustainable developer and Athens Land Trust board member.
Next, Ritzler and Hamman said they are cooperating with owners to do similar volunteer work on a large water oak that shades the Chase Elementary School playground; a white oak near Jefferson Road that's one of the biggest in Georgia; and two other landmark trees. They plan to pick new landmark trees in other neighborhoods for free work in future years, they said.
Urban trees are part of the attraction of city life, but they need special care. Cars, pavement, construction, pollution and runoff can weaken them and make them susceptible to drought and storm damage, Ritzler said.
"Just about every stress you can think of goes into a tree that's trying to survive in an urban environment," he said.
Athens-Clarke Community Forester Andrew Saunders credited New Urban Forestry with popularizing the landmark tree program. He encouraged other arborists to volunteer their time as well.
Saunders said Tuesday he plans to add five new landmark trees, including the Pope Street water oak, to the registry today, bringing the total to 994.
About three-quarters are on county-owned land, and the rest are on school property or in private hands, he said.
Benefits of the program include pride for homeowners who register their trees, but it also gives developers incentive to save them. A tree ordinance passed in 2005 requires developers to keep tree canopy, and landmark trees are worth twice the credits of newly planted trees under the law.
Criteria for landmark trees include size, age, rarity, historic significance and value to the community.Anthens Banner-Register
