Town of Irondequoit & Winona Woods Partner to Secure $87, 560 In Street Tree Grant Funding
Last summer so many of our neighbors, young and old joined together to complete a community led neighborhood street tree inventory. This was an important first step in identifying the varieties, determining the age and assessing the health of the urban forest that our neighborhood is named after.
Once the results were in and numbers were tallied, the news was clear. Our shady canopy was in rough shape. Crunching the numbers revealed that over 75% of our trees were a variety of Maple leaving the entire community incredibly vulnerable to a pest or disease. In addition to this, nearly one quarter of those trees surveyed were over 100 inches in circumference and reaching the end of their safe and serviceable lifespan. This raised uncertainty about the future of our trees as well as concerns for the capability of our community to continue to capture storm water run-off. On average, each of our street trees will gather about 3,000 gallons of run-off per year. When trees are removed and not replaced it adds additional stress to our already overburdened sewers and further contributes to non-point source pollution in our nearby lakes and rivers which is carried by this run-off.
With mounting apprehension, surrounding the future of the character, quality of life and the environment within our community the Winona Woods Neighborhood Association and the Town of Irondequoit Conservation Board worked together with Bria Mastrogiovanni, a student at SUNY Brockport to map the data using GIS software and determine the best course of action to advocate for sensitive removal of unsafe trees and informed replacement for new ones. With this data Winona Woods and the Town Conservation Board again partnered with the Town Department of Public Works this spring to plan and host an Invigorate Irondequoit work site right here in Winona Woods where residents worked together to plant five new street trees with the generous support of Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care.
However, it was clear that a much larger effort was needed. Therefore, when WInona Woods learned about grants available for such projects from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative via Garret Koplun at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. We immediately reached out to Kerry Ivers, Town of Irondequoit Planning and Zoning Administrator in order to suggest pursuing the funding. Thanks to Kerry’s leadership, an incredible team at Town Hall and tremendous community support the Town of Irondequoit was awarded a substantial grant totaling over $87,000 to bolster efforts to improve and maintain our aging canopy as well as work to protect our nearby waterways from the effects of storm water run-off.
These funds will be used to support the aptly named Run-off Re-Leaf Program which will help the rest of the Town to complete street tree inventories in their own neighborhoods as well as help fund the replacement of missing, damaged and unhealthy trees with diverse and appropriate varieties in the town right of way. The grant also supports community education about the value of street trees. Each new tree will include a weather resistant break-away tag which includes information about the program and the name of the tree variety. In addition to this the program also develops a “tree tender” system, where homeowners will be encouraged to care for the new tree for the first two years- a critical time period for a new tree.
Residents living in the Winona Woods Neighborhood looking for a new street tree may do so by clicking here to request one. Other town residents should contact the Town of Irondequoit Department of Public Works at (585) 336-6090
We are so excited for the opportunity which this grant presents to our town. Coming together to further enhance the quality of our neighborhoods as well as working to protect the purity of the shoreline environment which we share is a testament to our community and respect for the meaning of the name Irondequoit – “where the land and waters meet”.
Fore more information, including the the official press release from the Town of Irondequoit please click here.
Please join us in thanking the following people who led and supported the grant writing efforts:
Kerry Ivers, Town of Irondequoit Planning and Zoning Administrator
Kimie Romeo, Town of Irondequoit Conservation Board Member
Bob Kiley, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works the Town of Irondequoit
Bria Mastrogiovanni, SUNY Brockport
Lynn Zicari, HIPP Oranizatioon
Ann Burns, HIPP Organization
Miriam Ganze, Friends & Neighbors of Seneca Park
Garret Koplun, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb.