ST. LOUIS 鈥 Christine Drane grew up on a Mississippi farm and migrated north, putting her busy hands to work on the factory floor. After McDonnell Douglas laid her off, she went to Mallinckrodt Chemical for 29 years, until retirement.
She鈥檚 lived in the same well-kept brick house in the 5000 block of North Kingshighway since 1968.
鈥淚t was nice around here then,鈥 said Drane, 86, a former block chairwoman who also served as treasurer of the Mark Twain Community Alliance. 鈥淭rees lined the parkway. Trees lined the curb. Everything has gone to pot, I tell you.鈥
Part of her frustration stems from one leafless ash tree standing in the front yard, a constant reminder of the deadwood plaguing her small share of the urban forest. Eight feet around at the bottom, it鈥檚 in the city鈥檚 right of way, between the sidewalk and the street. Like thousands of other residents, she鈥檚 been calling the Forestry Division. Then, in the July 1 storm that smacked the region, a large limb fell from the tree, onto her house, blocking the entryway.
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City workers cleaned up the main mess. But there were more pressing needs and a shortage of staff to run heavy equipment and saws. The crew left the rest of the tree standing for another day 鈥 a day that has not yet come.
鈥淭hat tree is dead-dead, and it鈥檚 going to fall anytime,鈥 Drane said Aug. 18 from her front porch.
On the same day, the Forestry Division鈥檚 north side crew was cutting down a large sycamore and trimming a few other trees, farther south on Kingshighway, in the Central West End. They spent the rest of the shift trimming three trees near and in Fountain Park.
The Forestry Division is supposed to take care of weeds and trees. There are 13,000 trees already in the city鈥檚 records to be removed or trimmed. Jerry Overmann, superintendent of the division鈥檚 tree side of things, said many more are not yet officially discovered.
En route to Fountain Park, he had the crew trim back an overgrown American elm he noticed draping too closely to street level on North Euclid Avenue.
鈥淲e are moving forward, but it鈥檚 slow going,鈥 said Overmann, 62.
Soon, a foreman was hoisted up in a bucket, by a power line. His chainsaw ate into the thin limbs. The crew fed the branches into a roaring chipper.
鈥淕ot a truck coming,鈥 Overmann, keeping an eye on traffic, told them.
Like first responders
Eric Morgan, supervisor of the north side crew, was born and raised in St. 亚洲无码. He said he loves the city.
鈥淢e, being in this position, I feel like I have a lot to offer the city and the citizens,鈥 said Morgan, 46.
When storms hit, he said tree trimmers are like first responders, in some cases clearing the streets before fire and police vehicles can gain entry into neighborhoods. Staffing is starkly different than when he came on board in 2005 as a tree trimmer trainee. Back then, he said, there were people waiting to get in the door. Those who were hired felt lucky to have the job.
Today, there are supposed to be 29 tree trimmers citywide. Fourteen of those slots were filled as of Aug. 18; five of the tree trimmers had more than two years of experience. A collection of orange dump and bucket trucks sat idle, as well as division tractors and other heavy equipment. The ranks are so thin that if somebody calls in sick, it can severely limit basic tasks 鈥 let alone cutting into the backlog of complaints or expanding healthy canopy coverage throughout the city in meaningful ways.
Morgan said he鈥檚 supposed to have two foremen and 11 tree trimmers split between two groups in the north side crew. One group to remove dead trees like the one in front of Drane鈥檚 house, the other to cut limbs. On Aug. 18, he barely had enough to field a team. One foreman and three trimmers showed up to wrangle deadwood in the northern half of the city. An additional crew member was out sick, another on bereavement leave.
Miguel Marquez was his foreman. Lamar Cooper, Victoya Frost and Anthony McKnuckles were the tree trimmers.
鈥淚 applied for so many positions in the city,鈥 said Frost, 27, the mother of two small children. 鈥淔orestry was the first to call back.鈥
Finishing her third week, she hadn鈥檛 yet been up in the bucket. She left early that day to pursue an opportunity to be a 911 dispatcher.
Cooper, 34, sported red chaps and easily handled the chainsaws. He was drawn to the job after a stint in prison.
鈥淚 wanted to do something in my life, for real, to better my life,鈥 he said, face covered in sweat.
After three and a half years as a trimmer, he was moving over to a street sweeper position soon, ready for a new role in the city.
That left Marquez and McKnuckles.
McKnuckles had a few years of college credits under his belt. He did a stint at UPS. Finishing his second day in the field, he seemed to like the pace of feeding limbs into the chipper.
鈥淚t can be intimidating at first, but it鈥檚 not that bad,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a lawnmower for trees instead of grass.鈥
Management described Marquez, about a month and a half into the job, as a diamond in the rough. He drove the big trucks, went up in the bucket and hustled around the job site in a nice pair of steel toe boots. Originally from rural Mexico, he said he had about 25 years of tree trimming experience, including a pension and 401(k) from doing union work.
With two grown daughters 鈥 one鈥檚 a cop near Chicago, the other a doctoral student at Washington University 鈥 he tried to encourage Frost to stay on longer. He grabbed the end of a heavy log to help McKnuckles heave it to the chipper. Stepping aside to visit, he said he liked working with the dwindling crew, and being home every night for supper.
Even still, his time seemed limited.
鈥淭hey have great benefits, but the pay rate is not there, man,鈥 said Marquez, 57. 鈥淚f they paid more, I would stay here definitely. Another thing, they don鈥檛 provide water. We can鈥檛 be out here working like this with no water. We have to bring our own water.鈥
City tree trimmers start at $15.93 an hour. After one year, they get bumped up to $16.55.
鈥淭his is the issue,鈥 said Overmann, the superintendent, who has seen a revolving door of talent leave to chase better pay. 鈥淭he only way to retain them is money.鈥
Master plan?
Pull into a St. 亚洲无码 parking lot in August and the benefit of a large healthy shade tree is obvious. But the benefits get much more technical fast. That mature tree absorbs pollutants, including 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, while churning out clean oxygen. It can retain more than 300 gallons of water. Grouped together, over the same parking lot, trees can reduce storm water runoff by 20%.
Through the broader ecosystem, well-shaded streets and neighborhoods can be 10 degrees cooler than 鈥渉eat islands鈥 without trees, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Lower temperatures mean fewer emissions created by the fight to keep things cool with fuels. Three properly placed trees around a house can cut your home energy bill 30%.
Healthy trees also boost property values and even reduce crime.
鈥淪tudy after study, the more trees and green areas a city has the better off mentally and physically those residents are,鈥 said Russell Hinnah, part of a Missouri Department of Conservation effort to support urban forests.
He said many cities are trying to boost canopy coverage by maintaining healthy trees. Cutting out deadwood and replanting are part of that process.
A 2018 master plan says Kansas City has 31% canopy coverage, which helps provide over $28 million in services annually. Kansas City wants to increase coverage to 35%, while recognizing 鈥渟ignificant risk鈥 from climate change, ash borer beetles and a high inventory of existing trees in fair or worse condition.
鈥淣ow is the time to plan for the future of the canopy to be sure the species selected for planting can withstand both the anticipated changes to precipitation and temperature,鈥 the master plan says.
Asked if St. 亚洲无码 has a master plan, Alan Jankowksi, commissioner of the Forestry Division, said in a recent interview: 鈥淚t鈥檚 simple. Grow a healthy tree canopy.鈥
The division doesn鈥檛 have a heat map of canopy coverage, but he acknowledged that some areas of the city are losing canopy.
鈥淒isadvantaged areas will have less canopy,鈥 said Jankowski, 54. 鈥淚t takes a community that wants trees, requesting trees. That may not be the highest priority.鈥
Shrinking canopy
The July 1 storm death of a 33-year-old woman, who was crushed by a walnut tree that fell on private property in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, raised new concerns about the state of mature trees in St. 亚洲无码.
The urban canopy is supported by a mix of private and public trees, but the city has the largest forest to manage in town. Street trees, of which there are 82,400, live a third as long as those with more desirable soils and conditions. On an annual budget of $9.3 million, the Forestry Division also oversees about 45,000 trees in parks, though Jankowski said that鈥檚 an estimate because some parks, like St. Marcus Park, Joseph R. Leisure Park and Jackson Place Park, haven鈥檛 been inventoried.
City ordinance requires that one tree be planted for each one cut down.
鈥淲e do our best with that,鈥 Jankowski said.
In a typical year, he said the division cuts down about 3,000 trees and plants 3,000, not including work from a private contractor targeting ash trees doomed by an invasive beetle. In 2010, the city reported there were 15,000 ash trees alone: 6,000 have been removed so far, another 8,000 are in the queue and 1,000 are being treated.
鈥淚鈥檇 like to be planting 8,000 trees, and try to grow that canopy,鈥 Jankowski said.
Blocks of canopy are also opening in prominent areas of the city, where a lot of towering pin oaks have been cut down in recent years or remain standing with dead or dying limbs loaded down with horned oak gall. Though Jankowski downplayed the significance of horned oak gall citywide, he said southwest St. 亚洲无码 is hit hardest.
Horned oak gall is caused by a tiny, non-stinging wasp that lays eggs under the skin of oak trees. Over the course of up to three years, the unsightly galls grow larger, reaching the size of golf balls. Galls cut off water and nutrients to small branches. The spikes, like those on an overripe potato, are exit tunnels for baby wasps. There is no proven treatment.
Numerous trees infested with horned oak gall have been removed or remain standing in St. 亚洲无码 Hills.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like a brick oven,鈥 said Holli Will, 59, looking out on a block of Childress Avenue that has been particularly cut back. 鈥淓verybody feels the heat now. It鈥檚 changed the whole vibe, but we are all determined to replant and begin the whole process of growing a canopy again.鈥
Bill Fortenberry, 82, of the same street, said he was drawn to the area about 15 years ago because of the canopy.
鈥淥h my, God, above,鈥 he said. 鈥淭here were trees all over place. Let me tell you it was beautiful.鈥
Many that remain are unsightly and messy, if not dangerous.
鈥淟ook at that one,鈥 he said out on a bike ride, pointing to an oak in the 6900 block of Jamieson Avenue. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a leaf on that tree.鈥
The tree, standing dead in the city鈥檚 right of way, with a circumference of 13 feet at the bottom, has a familiar story.
鈥淲e call the city all the time and they say it鈥檚 supposed to be taken down,鈥 said Judy Stanfield, 79. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been two years. You can鈥檛 park under there anymore because you are afraid it鈥檚 going to fall on your car. I just wish they鈥檇 get out and take it down.鈥
At least two other nearby neighbors have similar complaints about different street trees. What鈥檚 more, Chris Mckinney, who likes to play disc golf at nearby Willmore Park for his mental health, pointed out one dead tree after another 鈥 some still standing, some recently fallen.
鈥淵ou can pretty much see,鈥 said Mckinney, 47, walking through a grove. 鈥淭his one. This one. This one. 鈥 This one. They are all dead.鈥
鈥楻unning out of things to say鈥
After a complaint comes in about a tree, Jankowski said a city arborist comes out to do an assessment, usually within two weeks. They carry tablets now to make an electronic record.
Asked what to tell residents like Drane, on the north side, and Stanfield, on the south, Jankowski said: 鈥淚 am running out of things to say. We are trying to take down the most hazardous trees and work from there.鈥
He said vacancies are holding them back. The city recently doubled a contract with a private firm 鈥 Michael鈥檚 Tree and Loader Service of Memphis, Tennessee 鈥 to $2.1 million to help address the backlog of complaints.
鈥淚t takes a special person to work out in the elements every day for eight hours,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hen to run hazardous equipment, such as a chainsaw or chipper.鈥
Not to mention pay.
There is a $1,500 hiring incentive. The city residency requirement will be lifted at the end of the month. Though it hasn鈥檛 seemed to help the police department much, Jankowski hopes that will make a difference for the Forestry Division, along with more reliance on modern machinery. As is, dump trucks, buckets, chippers sit idle. Chainsaws are piled up.
And the calls come in.
The division is on the hunt for a grapple saw, an expensive machine that can take down and maintain a tree with minimal manpower.