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Let the planting begin: Trees return to Main Street

Unlike the monoculture problem of the Bradford pears, no more than 10 of any given species will create a wide diversity. Even some American elms are coming to town, too, and will take majestic gateway positions.

Great Barrington — The trees are back. Well, almost.

After widespread despair since 32 beautiful but troublesome Bradford pears and some other “bad trees” were removed last spring during the state’s Main Street Reconstruction project, 81 new trees are going in on Main Street from Taconic Avenue to Cottage Street at a rate of more than 10 per day.

Landscape designer Chuck Schnell overseeing the planting of hornbeams in front of Mason Library. Doing the planting, Willie Harrison, middle, Michael Allen right, both of CLS in Ludlow. Photo: Heather Bellow
Landscape designer Chuck Schnell overseeing the planting of hornbeams in front of Mason Library. Doing the planting, Willie Harrison, middle, Michael Allen right, both of CLS in Ludlow. Photo: Heather Bellow

On a gorgeous spring afternoon, arborist Tom Ingersoll and landscape designer Chuck Schnell were overseeing the delivery, planting and care of the new trees, already with small blooms. Having started on a rainy Tuesday (April 26) on the eastern side of Main Street in front of the Wheeler and Taylor office just south of Bridge Street, a day later they were up to the Mason Library.

Ingersoll said unlike the monoculture problem of the pears, “no more than 10 of any given species” will create a “wide diversity.” The plan, he added, is to “reintroduce trees, flowers and foliage into the landscape we call the ‘central corridor,’ where the pears were.” He said the plan to go from Taconic Avenue/St. James Place to Cottage Street will “extend the feel of that corridor,” and provide shade and beauty for people to walk where before they may not have.

“The look and feel,” Ingersoll said, “will pull people all the way down here to the flying church and Prairie Whale,” and to the newly developed cluster of shops at the corner of Main and Cottage.

Chuck Schnell observes as another hornbeam is planted in front of the Mason Library. The hornbeams size won't interfere with the large shade trees already on library grounds.
Chuck Schnell observes as another hornbeam is planted in front of the Mason Library. The hornbeams size won’t interfere with the large shade trees already on library grounds.

Schnell, of Walter Cudnohufsky Associates out of Ashfield, said they had a “good system” going and were making “good progress.” Schnell and Ingersoll put stakes down to mark the exact location for the planting before workers from CSL (Construction, Landscaping and Sprinklers) out of Ludlow dug the holes and put the trees in.

Overseeing the planting of a hornbeam tree in front of Mason Library, Schnell explained that the hornbeam, a medium-size tree at maturity, has a flower that is “not showy,” and was decided upon to avoid competition with the large shade trees in front of the library. The hornbeams will, however, spice things up with red and orange fall color.

The planting started on a rainy Tuesday (April 26) and is expected to end next Tuesday (May 3) or Wednesday, Schnell said, as long as deliveries from Bigelow Nursery in Northborough keep coming.

The trees have a one-year warranty, and will need continued care, Ingersoll said of varieties chosen and located based on complex and troublesome variables like road salt use, soil compaction, exposure, dogs and delivery trucks.

As a result of all this combined with a lack of aftercare, he said, the average lifespan of a “commercial tree” is about 7 years. He said that wouldn’t happen here because the town and citizens won’t allow it, and because of “this new design, many will be huge and get really old.”

He explained how things used to be, and why we are here, replanting again. He pointed all the way down Main Street to the roughly 150-year old “iconic American elm” in front of Town Hall. He said Main Street used to be lined with them before Dutch elm disease knocked the species out for decades. Crab apple trees were put in their place in 1959, and cut down in 1985. The bradford pears replaced those and were taken down in 2015.

Tom Ingersoll prunes a young tree just planted in front of United Methodist Church. Photo: Heather Bellow
Tom Ingersoll prunes a young tree just planted in front of St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Photo: Heather Bellow

“That’s not ok,” Ingersoll said of the 30 year life span of each species. “We’re not gonna do that again. The mistake was that they were all the same and it created a monoculture.” He also said the trees weren’t taken care of, either.

Ingersoll says this time the species selection was smart, as well as the layout, which will create the “gateway effect the elms had prior to 1959.” The trees were also selected and positioned for flower or color with “seasonal intent.” Even some American elms are coming to town, too, and will take majestic gateway positions at the intersection of Bridge, Castle and Main Streets, as well as at the Post Office crosswalk.

Now flowering ornamentals, Ingersoll said, will be “punctuated” by large shade trees that will grow to 50 to 70 feet at maturity, and will “double in height and triple in breadth in 10 years.” Those large shade trees, he added, “if well-cared for,” should grow 12 to 24 inches per year.

He said there needs to be a “commitment on the part of the town and the community to support the urban landscape,” and by that he said some money would need to go in the direction of the trees. As part of his contract with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT), Ingersoll will deliver a tree care manual that will identify all the species and what each one needs. He says he would love it if each species had a plaque identifying it. He says he’ll stay involved even after his job is done.

“I live in Sheffield, but Great Barrington is the center of our universe,” he said. “I will always give my time. It’s important to me.”

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