The first 2025 meeting of the City of Evansville Tree Advisory Board yielded good news.
According to City Arborist Shawn Dickerson, 557 new trees were planted in 2024 by the city and partners. He thinks this is the most they’ve ever planted before.
“Which is really awesome,” he said. “We plan on planting a lot of trees again this year, thanks to Weselman Woods and a grant that they've applied for through the state.”
This will bring 600 new trees in two years.
This is part of an effort to rebuild the city’s urban tree canopy which was reduced due to development and invasive insects like the emerald ash borer.
Arborist and City Tree Advisory Board Vice President Larry Caplan said it’s also about planting a diverse range of trees to ward off invasive pests like the ash borer.
“We want a diverse species,” he said. “We don't want to over-plant any one species, because then the next critter will come through.”
Tree planting locations include schools and public land the city controls. The board is also encouraging private landowners to plant trees, but coordinate with the city, said Board President Sarah Spelbring.
“We’re always hoping to get the right trees planted in the right place,” she said. “You certainly wouldn't want to put a young oak tree underneath power lines.”
The goal is to provide guidance with tree selection and location, to give it a better chance of survival. Some trees are invasive — like the ornamental pear, the board suggests native trees instead.
When trees need to be removed from public lands or schools, they must submit a plan to the board.
Roger Lehman of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) submitted a plan to remove a tree from Tekoppel Elementary School because the district is extending a parking lot.
The good news is they are replacing it with four new trees — twice the suggested amount of two.
Caplan says that new commercial developments require a certain number of trees to be planted around parking lots over a certain size.
The rules are more than decade old and have a applied to developments like the Evansville Pavilion Shopping Center at Burkhardt Road and the Lloyd Expressway.
Inversely, much of the development along Green River Road is devoid of trees, Caplan said. “A lot of those businesses have been grandfathered in, because they've been in there long before the tree ordinance was passed,” he said, adding that many lots are also too small to require adding trees.
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