You may have noticed you’ve been around town that the Nature Resources team at Bolingbrook Park District have been removing a number of trees. Rest assured, there are good reasons for this. At the start of 2020, Bolingbrook Park District worked with Graff Urban Forestry Professionals on an inventory of all the trees across the 1,100+ acres of open space.
Of the 4,438 trees that were inventoried, a number of them were rated as a 5, which means they were up for immediate removal. Trees rated with a 1 were noted as specimen perfect trees. On average, we received a rating of 2.88, which is above average.
As summarized in the final report: “Bolingbrook Park District should be commended for its commitment to maintaining an overall healthy tree population. BPD is clearly committed to maintaining this tree population, and continuing to improve it in the future.”
Daniel Finn, the Horticulturist/Arborist for the park district is in his second year in his current role. He graduated from University of Illinois-Chicago with a degree in Earth & Environmental Science. He worked closely with Graf to understand the final report and what to do with it in the future.
“It’s important to have a diversity of tree species,” said Finn. “If a fungus or disease moves through, it won’t wipe out half the trees in the park district.”
Not including the 400 acres of natural areas, it is estimated that there are 5,200 trees across Bolingbrook that our teams maintain. A total of 140 trees have been removed as they were either dead or in poor/hazardous condition this year. In addition, 58 trees will be planted during this fall season, either as replacements or memorial trees.
