11/20/2024
Let me take a few moments of your time to offer some context for the tree trimming work currently being performed in the village. These are my own thoughts and do NOT in any way represent the village of East Aurora or its officials.
First, I'd like to apologize for your Tree Board's failure to get these trees cared for in a more timely fashion - if we were able to trim and replace trees individually over the years, we would not be where we are today with a mass trimming project underway. We should have been pushing NYSEG for years to do something - burying lines, moving poles, or trimming individual trees. It was a blind spot that we regret terribly.
But... we love the trees! The last thing we wanted was to do any damage to trees that have stood for decades, and we knew we couldn't just trust NYSEG to pay an arborist to do the right thing - they're well-known for hiring lowest cost bidders and firing up chainsaws.
Unfortunately, maintaining a community canopy takes a lot of attention, and ours has been focused too much on planting new trees (over 50 per year over the last decade+) and dealing with problem trees in a reactive manner (like when a large limb falls in the middle of the street or a giant red oak needs to be removed from Hamlin Park).
Historically, many times East Aurora had planted the wrong tree species in the wrong place. Apparently few cared or understood what the result would be 40, 50 years on. We have hundreds of trees with mature heights of 50 to 100 ft, planted directly below power lines. What did our fore-folks expect would happen?
For the record, the Tree Board and village DPW try our best to NOT do this any longer. Tall trees should only be planted on open sides of the street or well "inland" of any overhead wires.
The fact is, those hundreds of trees leave the village far less resilient in the face of bad weather, changing climate, and resulting lawsuits. They impinge on NYSEG's utility poles, for which they do have a legal mandate to keep clear of vegetation (regardless of their lack of actually doing so over the years). Many of these trees require maintenance trimming or are in serious decline and need removal and replacement.
The community forest canopy is an ever-changing canvas. Trees leave us, and we are left to deal with that aftermath by planting new trees, repairing sidewalks, and so on.
All we can truly be certain about is that trees as they are today are not permanent, as much as we'd like them to be!
For this project in particular we are left with questions such as why an environmental review was not required for work of this magnitude. Any other business doing just about anything in the village needs to at least fill out some paperwork and show up to various boards. Unfortunately, we have had little luck on that!
And so, unless we can convince NYSEG to bury these utility lines at incredible, withering cost to everyone involved - not to mention the damage caused to tree roots, front yards, and disruption to our our daily lives - the overhead lines must be cleared and we are stuck working within the confines of that mandate.
We apologize for allowing the village's tree canopy to reach such a state. We are in fact working daily with the project contractor's arborist to minimize the overall impact, give the trees their best chance at continued survival, and to do something meaningful with the wood that is removed - more to come on that as the plan gets finalized. We'll work with village hall and our fine DPW to replace as many trees as we can - with the right trees going in the right places!
It is gut-wrenching to see. It's horrible to live through! We volunteer a lot of our free time for the betterment of the trees and it's killing us to see! Because of the harsh results we see now we will likely lose members of our board. If you're interested in doing the work to keep an eye on the village canopy and help it recover and grow into a better future, please contact us and join us!
Jesse Griffis
Tree Board chair
Send a message to learn more
