Springfield, MO has fewer trees following severe weather in spring and early summer. But regular maintenance work can help protect trees from falling during high winds.
In early May, just after the April 29 severe weather that caused damage in southwest Missouri, including Springfield, then Springfield Interim City Manager Colin Quigley told City Council the storm toppled at least 1200 trees in the city limits.
Severe weather since then has felled even more trees.
Travis Stokes is an arborist for the City of Springfield. He said, on June 29, an estimated 230 trees fell city wide.
But Stokes believes trees in city rights-of-way were largely spared due to regular maintenance the city does to them as part of their Tree City USA designation. And, he said, they plant hundreds of new trees each year -- many are natives like dogwood and redbud.
"We do a great job in the city of maintaining our trees, planting new trees," he said. We plan about 750 to 800 trees per year, and that's also part of the domains that we have to capture to become a Tree City USA and continue that recognition."
He credits Springfield’s Tree Board, which he said does a great job advising city council on the needs.
Stokes recommends private landowners contact a certified arborist about doing an assessment to determine work that needs to be done on their trees. He said removing excess dead weight in the canopy can help prevent a tree from falling during storms.
And keeping the city's trees is important for a few reasons. First, they help combat the effects of climate change. And Stokes said neighborhoods with tree-lined streets tend to have less crime, and there's also a cooling effect in the summer.
"You just have an overall better feeling," he said.
