Planting Street Trees

You have surely seen young trees in green irrigation bags popping up in Lower Falls and throughout Newton. You may have also noticed the steady loss of street trees that have aged and deteriorated, leaving streets and sidewalks as unshaded heat sinks.

These new trees are planted through a Group Tree Planting Program sponsored by the non-profit Newton Tree Conservancy. The NTC selects the best tree species for each site from large canopy trees to smaller ornamental trees that will not disrupt the sidewalks or overhead power lines.

Under utility wires: serviceberry, crabapple, Amur maackia, tree lilac, and cherry. Where wires are not present: swamp white oak, red oak, linden, London plane trees, disease-resistant American elms, and pear. Other species have included hornbeam, hophornbeam, Kentucky coffee tree, Turkish filbert, Worplesdon sweetgum and mountain ash.

Last year we planted 21 trees Lower Falls!

We are putting together a group application for the Spring of 2022. This is a great opportunity for kids to be involved. The deadline for our group application is January 9, 2022 and the expected planting date is sometime in April

If you have an open space of 20 feet or more in the berm (space between the sidewalk and curb) in front of your house, then you can plant a tree there and add shade to your street and sidewalk. Trees help the climate by cleaning the air, cooling, adding oxygen and moisture. 

There is no cost for the tree or water gator. You only need to commit to keeping the tree watered, using the tree gator provided, for two years and be available to assist in planting in April. Last year, due to COVID, the city Forestry Dept. did the planting. In 2022 we will be helping to plant. If you are interested download the application form the LFIA website (Ted, do you have a link already?); review the attachments 1 (expectations) and 3 (details). Complete Attachment 3 and return it to Ted Chapman by December 15^th, 2021. Ted will consolidate the group order and coordinate the process with the Newton Tree Conservancy volunteers. 

Let Ted know if you have any questions or need support in completing the application. If you need to download/print an image of your house lot to show where you want to place the tree(s) in front of your house, you can do so on the city  GIS website  — type in your address, zoom in and take a screen shot of your lot. If you add the aerial layer it will show existing trees and overhead wires.

Forward the application form and image of the proposed planting location to Ted Chapman, 91 Cornell St., digitally or in print form. The NTC folks will review the application including a site visits to determine the best tree for your proposed location. This will be largely dependent on whether or not there are power lines overhead.

Trees are especially needed on Grove, Concord, Cornell, Pine Grove, Colgate, and Hallron. But there are openings on every street in Lower Falls. Let’s all do our part to keep our neighborhood green and prevent climate change.

Whether you want to plant a tree or not, consider supporting the Newton Tree Conservancy!

Down load your application.  Deadline for applications for the Fall 2022 planting is July 15th 2022.