Mayor Orders Oversight for Tulsa Park Trees
Mayor Kathy Taylor announced today she will issue an executive order placing a permanent moratorium on the removal and trimming of trees without prior recommendations or approval from the Tree Advisory Committee.
Under the executive order, the Tulsa Parks Department would be required to submit recommendations on a quarterly basis to the Tree Advisory Committee regarding regular maintenance plans for trees in Tulsa parks.
“I am pleased that the citizens brought this issue forward when they did,” said Mayor Taylor. “It began a healthy dialogue that has led to this proactive step. The issue surrounding Woodward Park highlighted the need for an overall strategic plan for maintaining one of Tulsa’s greatest assets- our parks.”
The Tulsa Parks Department has completed its assessment of trees in Woodward Park using an independent arborist who concluded removing only one of the 50 trees originally marked for removal if necessary.
“After hearing from neighbors of Woodward Park and many other Tulsans, we took a step back to reassess the condition of the trees,” Taylor said. “That dialogue reinforced that trees are the heart and soul of Tulsa’s beauty. They are important to Tulsa’s past, present and future and it is our civic duty to preserve and maintain them.”
Joe Schulte, an independent horticulturist who serves on the Park Board, looked at each of the trees previously identified as damaged or diseased and determined only one should be removed. Tulsa Parks will also team with private partners to address the short-term tree maintenance needs at Woodward Park.
The Mayor ordered the Department to suspend its tree management program in Woodward Park in early April when residents complained about the removal of damaged and diseased trees. All trimming and removal of trees in the park were suspended, and some residents have continued to protest tree maintenance in the park.
The Tulsa Parks Urban Forester program attempts to minimize damage to trees caused by diseases that spread from tree to tree. Damaged and diseased trees can present a danger to the public when dead branches and limbs fall.
Susan Neal, Director of Community Development and Education in Mayor Kathy Taylor’s office, said “Tulsa Parks has a duty to plant and maintain beautiful park trees, but also to protect the public.”
“We recognize that Woodward Park is one of Tulsa’s greatest points of pride- that message was sent loud and clear by the residents surrounding the park and those who petitioned through the Stop the Chop campaign. This action by the Mayor should remedy those concerns,” Neal said.
There are more than 1,100 trees in Woodward Park. It is the City’s goal to continuously reforest and keep the park trees healthy.
Since January of this year, the City in partnership with Up With Trees, has planted more than 300 trees in Tulsa parks, said Anna America, Executive Director of Up With Trees. “Tulsa uses a multi-agency, multi-faceted approach designed to reforest the City on both public and private land through public education, plantings, seedling distribution and support of tree plantings as a part of public and private developments. Over the past year, the City has planted more than 1,300 trees on public land,” America said.