Tarrytown: Fighting Crimes Against Trees

This afternoon, following a morning of arduous state testing, the fourth graders of Washington Irving will get treated to a special tree celebration/tour of school grounds.

Today is Arbor Day and in order for the village of Tarrytown to retain its status as Tree City USA, it has to abide a certain amount of protocol, including a bit of necessary outreach.

Have you seen the tree flag flying at Village Hall and ever wondered what it actualy means?

The Tree Commission's Eric Clingen talked to Patch about the tree education he’s not only interested in giving our fourth graders but the whole population.

The Tree City USA program is run by the National Arbor Day Foundation, but the state sends out this flag, and we send the paperwork to Albany, Clingen said.

The Foundation has developed a tree program that municipalities can fall into without having to create their own from scratch.

A tree program has to meet some criteria for a municipality to earn Tree City status:

We have to spend $2 per capita on our tree program, which amounts in Tarrytown to $24K annually – a figure Clingen said we actually exceed. “In fact, we spend more than that.”

Then, we have to have a tree ordinance in place that governs the care of our trees – the do's and don’ts of what can be done with our trees.

Come springtime, there seem to be a growing number of police blotter entries regarding tree matters – which indicates both that people may not know the rules regarding trees and that some are out there very aware and keeping watch on those who don’t.

Our tree ordinance, which was pretty good to begin with, said Clingen, is in the midst of getting a streamlining. “We already had a refined one compared to many communities,” he said. Now, he said we’ll likely be the best in the county.

The town of Greenburgh, for instance, has a tree officer in charge of minding the trees, but they lack an ordinance.

The changes made to our existing ordinance – getting a lookover now by the village attorney – make the rules less ambiguous, Clingen said.

He gave an example of one “terrible gray area – Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner have an old rotted tree in their backyard. Who can trim it? How much? Do they need a permit? This is the most dicey area,” he said. “You hire a fly-by-night organization, and two to three limbs later, your tree is dead.”

When someone fatally injures a tree, then they stand to face a penalty, he said.

“Hiring someone to cut off the top for your view is flat out illegal,” he said.

Hacking roots off your neighbor’s tree when you’re redoing your own driveway? You need a permit.

There’s also the risks of human injury when there’s a “guy on a rinky dink ladder with a chainsaw.”

The easiest answer to navigating these tricky laws is: use a certified “green” contractor who is licensed with the village and knows the specific rules here, from how to dispose of materials properly to which permits are required and what pesticides to use (and how much of them).

“We don’t want to overregulate the public but we are trying to keep really bad things from happening,” Clingen said.

It’s been bad lately for our trees – residents have been complaining about tree loss from Hurricane Sandy when some trees that didn’t topple on their own had to be removed later. Clingen said people get emotional mostly “about really big trees”  but attests that the ones removed are often badly rotten inside.

That last fun contingency of Tree City USA membership—a certain amount of outreach and Arbor Day celebration—Clingen says fourth graders are the best suited for. “They know enough to ask intelligent questions; they’re enthusiastic and curious.”

Our tree warden is landscaper Deirdre Carsto, serving in a volunteer position. She can’t go it alone, said Clingen, so the goal is getting DPW, the Environmental Council, the Planning Board, Trustees, and ultimately all citizens on the same page.

His qualification as veteran Tree Commission chair? “I’m a woodworker,” he laughed. “I turn trees into toothpicks so that’s interesting.” Nonetheless Clingen’s been on the environmental committee and then the tree committee for many years, “trying to keep up the momentum so things don’t start to slide and get sloppy.”

Things have been far from sloppy under his watch. There’s a new tree now planted next to a recent stump in Neperan Park. “That kind of thing never used to happen," he said. "Our tree program is something we can be very proud of.”

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