Castine Elm Tree Committee reviews tree work, budget, and planting plans

[0:00] Speaker A (unidentified): All right, thank you. The bill is what's happening for what's yet to happen. Probably be down here fairly soon. Take it out, probably be down here fairly soon. Take a couple of threes out. You need to come out. [Speaker B (unidentified): Oh, well, I] have four on the list here. There's two on Dresser, three on Dresser, and one at Lopeson Museum. Yep. There you go. Okay. Other than that, we have a tennis court project. Yeah. Does that go well? It does. It did. It was so far. I haven't seen, my end of it is done, but I haven't been up to the task. I noticed yesterday you put a stone wall behind the tree. Yup, that was the last thing to be done. Okay. So there's aeration underneath it and stone with perforated PVC. Yeah, that goes right back to the base of the tennis court. What we did goes back to the base of the tennis court. Then we just put a loose stone with rocks around the edge just to kind of you had to finish and terminate it somehow. Yeah, is this an entry? There's an element of course. Yeah, one tree affected by what they did. Yeah, that's, yeah, when they built the wall at the other end, which is so that tree doesn't have any root disturbance no more than it ever did. We did have had some to begin with. I mean, the lawnmowers. Not the tree, but there was a bunch of root between there and the tennis court that was kind of beat up. But we vertical vaulted it. And then laid in, kind of beat up. But we vertical vaulted it. And then laid in the PVC, stake that in, and then that would go after the cloth, stone cloth, and then tilt over. Okay. [2:23] Speaker B (unidentified): No, go ahead. No, go ahead. No, can be a lot of damage just mowing around trees, can't there? I mean, yeah, not right close, but the sun's fruits. Yeah, oh yeah, there's quite a bit because they [2:38] Speaker A (unidentified): kind of bound it up there straight, so you got a moment. Yeah, so there's a little bit of a little bit of damage there. Yeah, all the trees have been treated, everything's been treated. Yep, and I'll get you the spreadsheet on that one because we have to update all of it, remeasured everything. I think it's 37 degrees, 37. [3:01] Speaker B (unidentified): Seven that you're checking that we created. Oh, that you treated. Yeah. Okay. I have a few other. [3:15] Speaker A (unidentified): Questions bill for you know living stream on the third fairway a little further back from the tennis courts as you're coming into cast team that looks very poorly. Normally it's thick and now you can see right through it. Remember the one that split in two up by the sixth green and that was removed by you because the one next to the road looks like it's about to go. Any clue what's going on there because I don't see any although no probably yeah so I haven't been up to one of those but it could just be leaf disease you know some kind and so see what happens yeah you can see if that leaves out in the springs a lot of times that doesn't really mean too much especially when it happens late in season like this you just you know you figure the tree's already done the thing it turns yellow and drops leaves a month thoroughly this is all season long it's gradually looking worse and worse and Some of it looks okay around the base, but then through the middle and on the top it's... I could take a little closer look, see if there's more there. I'm just guessing from here. Okay. Question. And you're making me dizzy with this song. Oh, I'm sorry. [4:40] Speaker B (unidentified): I was trying to see if my closed captions were working to see if I could hear something sound. I apologize. [4:47] Speaker A (unidentified): It's almost like we're approaching a black hole and we're getting stretched. Especially after Don's story there. When I do my tours on Scarlet down to Fort Madison, you can't see the bay because of all the limbs that are coming down from a maple tree to the right. Is there any way at some point anytime in the winter or whatever that you can trim it up a little sure open the view up yep because that's a part that's a town it's a town land it could use a little opening up yeah we should take a look at yeah exactly which one that is yeah we've done a little bit down is it on the road it's pretty it's pretty it's at the bottom just beyond the parking at the very bottom next to the Pickleton. Yeah. And it's branched, there's a couple of branches that kind of block the view of the bay. Yeah. We haven't been down there since the last really big storm. So it's been- Let's see, the tree's been growing, that's all. And it's just, so that'll be great if that could happen. And I just have a question about the spruce trees along the coastline. A lot of the areas have dying, I think it's white spruce. Do you know what the cause is? Neocast, and that's a focus, that's a fungus. And it was not, it just didn't seem to be that prevalent before maybe 2000. Yeah, it didn't seem like spruce was fine. I don't know, we had those few rainy years in a row, early 2000s, and then it seemed like the blue spruce, everybody planted blue spruce, you don't see any of them around. So that stuff is like the most susceptible. There are a couple of different, Riesel's Ferry and Seracoff, these are the two that affect spruce and okay you know norway's spruce probably the most resistant to it the other ones are you know but it varies by individual too you can have three of them and two of them get meal cast and one of them kind of hangs yeah is there any treatment there is but it's a pain oh you get a spray that three that treatment then take a spray that goes on the outside. You can't inject them. So you spray the needles at bud break in the spring, two or three times, but the rains in between, spray them more, because the stuff gets rained on. These are coastal trees. I mean, these are huge areas. And there are some areas where the trees look perfectly normal and healthy. And when there are others like at the back shore, if you look across from the beach along the Bates property over there, trees are looking pretty poorly. A lot of them are dead. They used to be lush and green. And I look at photos from 40, 50, 60, 70 years ago, and the spruce trees in the background are thick, green, dark, lush. Are these right on the water line? Yeah. Well, they're within 100 feet of the water. So the other thing is that there's like a rib of dense food everywhere right on water and of course you combine fungal right sea level right this is more than that yeah you know you get a combination right on the shore you get a fungus which limits water and then you get a little bit of salt which limits water yeah and then it's dry you know so it's all factors I was just curious about that. I remember reading that the prediction is that the spruce trees along the, within 60 miles, 66 miles of the coast of Maine are all going to be gone in the next 100 years. And they'll all be deciduous trees. [9:05] Speaker B (unidentified): Along with what else? It will be just deciduous trees remaining. [9:09] Speaker A (unidentified): Mean, oh yeah, not many experiences. Maybe there'll be pine, perhaps in places they're there in the same boat. No, just it's not as fast or, yeah, noticeable, but a lot of white pine, yeah, especially on these river valleys out in western Maine, a lot of them. Then, you know, you look at them, yeah, look at the pine trees along the interstate. We go south, we run the gas, we look through the ground, yeah, same, yeah, different but the same. We had, I think, I remember at least a couple of years ago there was a widespread like a needle cast problem with white spruce of wood pine, and the needles kind of look yellow, they were getting yellow, and our trees, we have two, and they were looking poorly as well. This year they look fine, yep, you know, so whatever it was they overcame that. Most of those beetle casts like a give and take anyway, yes, the tree will do all right if it produces more than it loses, but if it goes the other way, then you know eventually you're losing more foliage than you produce every year, yeah, so I was just curious about that, but those are the points I wanted to just bring up with you this morning, and when I get your invoice I'll update the database and we'll pay the bill [10:41] Speaker B (unidentified): Yes ma'am, yeah, could I mention on Court and State Street over from, well, it's beyond Charlie King's property, it goes right up onto the golf course, there are about three elms in a row and some of the branches are hanging way down, and it's actually the branches are way up on the top anyway, only on the top that they don't, you know, go all the way down, and they don't look very good. I didn't think, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Well, on Charlie King's property, on his property, well beyond his, I don't know where his property ends, I assume it's right up on the golf course, yeah, so what do you say you're talking about, well, right along on that [11:37] Speaker A (unidentified): on Court Street between these plays in the corner yes yeah I think his pins might be or there is a in where the rough grass starts oh that would be at the end of the edges but have you noticed those trees i 'm not i've got to find out what and then you mean the trees that are on the streetscape yeah it's going right up the side they look okay they one of them is on the corner another one is further around toward his house there's another one in front of his house [12:15] Speaker B (unidentified): There are at least three along there, but these are further down beyond his house [12:19] Speaker A (unidentified): Beyond his house? What do you mean by beyond his house, toward the golf course? Yes, there's no trees out there. Oh no, you're talking about the same trees. I don't know what you're talking about. Okay, if you get a tag number that would be great, then we can talk specifically. [12:41] Speaker B (unidentified): So up here is the round school, right, to the left. Where are we looking to go, way behind you? [12:46] Speaker A (unidentified): Back towards, back towards Storm Street. Oh yeah, right down at the bottom of the hill. Okay, back and there's this, you can get over here. Yeah, see those two on the left? Yes, by the right, on the left is this and that's, no that's on the left. Oh okay, the ones in the field. Yeah, you've got them, go to the left. Yeah Derek, go to the left further. Oh there you go. Yeah, about those. Yeah, well those [13:32] Speaker B (unidentified): are on the McMahon property. Oh well no, that's not, they are scrawny. Yeah, and they have what are they [13:41] Speaker A (unidentified): called, suckers on them, Bill, is that? Yeah, those are elms. Yep, they are. Yeah, one of them, this isn't Charlie King's, that's not Charlie King's land on the left, these are on the right. Yeah, and one of those, one on the very corner has suckers on [Speaker B (unidentified): yeah and] then there's one further up the street there on the left. So they look pretty healthy, I think. Oh, jeez. Yeah. Yeah, the ones that you're talking about are rock dead. Oh. Yeah, one of them has no original branches left on that. It's kind of like a stick. Yeah. [14:27] Speaker B (unidentified): And on the property below where Lisa Hogan's house is, on that very end there, are two. The upper one runs right into the other one. It doesn't go straight up. It just runs right into that first one. Yep. [14:49] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, I'm not sure what the story is. I know which one's paying. Oh, yeah. Yeah. [14:55] Speaker B (unidentified): Oh, well, sorry. That's okay. [15:00] Speaker A (unidentified): You've got four removers this fall. Yep. Okay. Give me a ring or text when you're in town. I will. We just, we went to the Wells Museum a couple of times and then the other trees were the Clouse tree. I don't have my hopes for just, I'm looking at it as it's getting in the fall and the crown is getting more and more in the upper on that one side besides the house looks pretty good, but that one side. And then the only ones I have, all those here are the Castine tree and Jackie Thomas's and I don't know what status is. So those are our, hopefully this list will get smaller, we don't have as many. Things to worry about, so Bill, thank you. Anybody else have questions for Bill? Finances, we're ready for your invoice, Bill. I'll tell you that you got money. I'll get something together this year. We got to kind of go through it. Yeah, just update. Yeah, the dates and stuff. Are you doing DBH adjustments too? We did. I think there's one tree that we didn't. Yeah, okay, which it's probably pretty close to where it was. Some of them have grown a lot. Yeah, some of them have not grown one little tiny bit in years. Yeah, okay, and we get the new ones. Yeah, down off the water stream, and I have people asking me at least a few weeks ago what's wrong with the village elements looking yellow, and I'm like, it's one of the earliest ones, so decide that fall is arriving, you know. The other trees don't have that at all, so something I try to explain something happened. He better sleep by out here saw that early leaf drop, I guess. Yeah, thank you, early permanently because it's destroying one of the little young elms, so not. With the back of it, and it's bittersweet, nasty stuff. Oh, so anyway, okay, so we have our operating budget is at 22 400. We had one invoice from Bill for 2600. The preservation fund, which is our fundraiser fund, is at twenty thousand one thirty five, so we have forty four thousand dollars to deal, forty two thousand dollars for this wrap up this fall. We're paying a bill for 37 threes that we're treating and the removals that are coming, and then we'll see what we've got for the stump grinding, because we have, we're going to have several of those, probably not as many as last year, and the replanting button is still at 1541. Has every anyone done any research on suitable street trees that we could use other than what we've done, because if you ever run into an article or you know any information about that, let me know. I do get the main DACF newsletter, and the latest one is all about all the different diseases, of all the different diseases. It's a long newsletter, and I had Nancy Beach call me about her maple trees, and the maple leaves on our maple trees have these big black spots on. But when you Google black spots on. Maple leaves, AI goes whoop, and it gives you the full description of what it is. It's a giant tar spot, maple leaf fungus, something like that, and it describes what it is and that it isn't going to kill the tree, but it's very unattractive and you've got to clean up the leaves in the fall and not leave them lying around in order to prevent prevented from perpetuating. Where is that tree though? One of Nancy's, Nancy Beach down at the back door. Oh, Nancy Beach lives in formerly the what was his name, David, and let's check before you go down there, water cocoa, but they're everywhere. I mean, all around town you can find it because it's particularly attacks Norway maple, which is our non-native invasive maple. It's everywhere and you'll find it on those trees in the lake from Norway. We can tell because the well the leaf, I think the leaf looks just like the Canadian flag. It's five points whereas the sugar maple is not so pronounced like that. It's still a maple leaf but the lower lobes on the either side are smaller and the samara on let me think about this only sugar maple samara go down like this whereas on normally maple they go out like that like a mustache. So you can tell the difference between the two, so let's see, just, you know, the top for a little sticky. Oh, the sticky notes. Yeah. [21:14] Speaker B (unidentified): It's a nice name. So I want to name a girl tomorrow. Yeah. [21:24] Speaker A (unidentified): Okay. Money. Good. Other business. We haven't planted trees in a couple of years. so i think we ought to try to do that but i don't i don't get much in the way of feedback from project canopy about what trees would be suitable these days because we've got beach loop disease happening we've got you know mlf border maple trees don't like streetscape particularly because of the compacting of the soil on the salt and things of that oaks are appropriate probably but not near a sidewalk because of the acorns so we have planted in lower court down by you guys oh on there 's easy need of trees and we'll see how that to go to below black gum that should look toast class here but it's like you can imagine branch it looks like it's dead for the rest of me it's pretty still. I'm thinking these young trees when we have summers like this they need to be watered but the one further down the tulip tree look okay but it's not really rolling yet it's just than they are. So I'm wondering if I could try some 10-10-10 for a line of 10s. Sometimes it takes a couple years for them to figure it out. Yeah, they hang out for a while, and then they also establish their feeder routes. So the elms all along the golf course, when you come around the curb from Monmouth Hill Road to Battle Ave, they all look pretty darn good. They have their, they're a combination of Princeton and Valley Forge. And they've got good, thick canopies on them. So that's encouraging. The accolades on the common look good. And this one up on the clinic, got a way that looks good. Joe Slocum? Yeah, across the street. You know, he planted two elms under his swamp maple that's in front of his little porch there on Court Street. I said, Joe, what are you doing planting these trees underneath the rock? He goes, oh, the maple tree is gone. [24:03] Speaker B (unidentified): We're going to take it down. [24:04] Speaker A (unidentified): That was three years ago. [24:06] Speaker B (unidentified): I was going to say, now it's gone. [24:08] Speaker A (unidentified): And the poor elm trees are like up in the branches now. You know, and I said, so what kind of cheese were they? He goes, here, does he resist? I said, no, job, no, which kind of, but he had the labels that were on him, and he gave them to me. I said, thank you, now I know what kind they are. And what he planned was a new harmony. So we now have a new harmony. We have the accolades. We have Princeton, quite a few Princeton. We have Valley Forge, and there's one down on the Sweets property that the Central Maine Power gave us one year. The Pollocks planted a St. Croix in their yard, without saying a word. [25:11] Speaker B (unidentified): What do you plant at the Manor? [25:13] Speaker A (unidentified): I don't know. It doesn't tell me. And all the trees that were done back in the early aughts were Liberty. [25:23] Speaker B (unidentified): Were what? Liberty. Liberty, oh. [25:27] Speaker A (unidentified): And that's sort of a suspect tree because it was, turned out it's a, it was a labeling confusion of a lot of them. There are six sub cones on it, and one of them is used for something, all the others are not. So we don't know what we got here. And they're the ones you see on Court Street, like at the Buchanan house. No, yeah, the Buchanan's, the Galen camera, Galen's house right across from the clinic. And they all have trunks like about like this now. And it's just a matter of time to see whether they survive long enough to become better too. [26:11] Speaker B (unidentified): Don, I'll send you, I know the city of Portland has their recommended tree list for streetscapes and lawns and everything. Good. So there's a different list of small, medium, and large. I just found it again, so. So that it's a good list of like on their website. Yeah, it's, yeah, I think it's in the practicing racks, but they have small trees, 15 to 25 feet, medium, 25 to 45, and large trees, 45 plus. One of the things they talked about was zeltova. It's promoted as an American elm replacement. Some bay shape that's smaller than elms. Difficult branching angles cause some problems later on if not pruned correctly. Many beautiful specimens exist in the west end. So and they have tulip tree and are we looking just for indigenous trees are we looking for any [27:11] Speaker A (unidentified): Well, we're looking for trees that would survive here. Yeah, in this climate and we've sort of sort of risks to do the tupelo. Yeah, that's on that list and then the tulip tree eriodendron is the one we planted down opposite the fire station. Yeah, that's on their list. Yeah, out and that gets pretty thick although it's more columnar. They're sort of like tall and they don't open up like an umbrella like the elm trees do. There's nothing like a country really [27:54] Speaker B (unidentified): or speed skate. Yeah, like honey locusts, american yellow wood, caps or a hornbeam, american or your river birch. I don't think there's one. Yeah, indian bean tree, the catalpa. Yeah, beach, no, ginkgo, tulip tree, cucumber magnolia. Earlier, of course, the oak mounds, alcova, and then they have the smaller one, which are only 15 to 25 feet, but aren't as big. [28:37] Speaker A (unidentified): No, I mean, oak, I mentioned oak, but what's happening now is there's called oak leaf disease, and it's wiping out oak trees, and it can kill them in six weeks. Wow. Yeah. Great. Great. So, you know, the notion of going all to the effort of planting trees, of wanting to know that they're going to be vulnerable to a rapidly spreading disease, is not conducive to wanting to do that. So we'll see what we can see. I guess I've got to communicate with Jan Santerre to Roger Kennedy about all this stuff. Other business observations, that's kind of what we're talking about right now. Remember if you see anything, let me know, because I'll let Bill know. So all our elms are, all the elms that are alive and well are still alive and well, but they're old. You know, they might start showing issues here and there, around here, around there. And if you see something, let me know. Some of the off-neck trees are pretty good, and they're in the minutes the last time around about which ones are treated and which ones aren't treated. There's just a few that are treated, and there's five that are treated. You know where the pink house is, there on the corner, there's a little parking area. There's two big elves right there, and they have talked to me about those and I said, no, they are not treated. It so, but I haven't heard any of them, and then there's one down Mark Clinton if you know his house, the extended cape. He has two in his yard, one of them is not looking good. I don't think it's going to survive. I don't know, I'd have to go off and play the tag number off because it's not on our GIS map. This is just the peninsula here, and then there's one at the entrance to the Burley and Spryway. So when you're down along the sea, keep a look out. And that's what time is it, five? Anything else? Do I hear a motion to adjourn? Hi, thank you everyone. Next meeting October 28th, the week before Halloween.