Friday, November 4, 2011

Treemageddon!

East Hadley Road 10/30/11

Trying to get Amherst citizens to think positively about trees right about now is kind of like a perfume company trying to market the scent made by a dying skunk, but the Public Shade Tree Committee will do their best to remind citizens of all the positive things trees bring to the table even though Chair Hope Crolius admitted, "Animosity is going to be high; it is trees that did the damage."

This morning's meeting, with the agenda headline "Tree Calamity," was requested by member Nonny Burack who wants the committee to "make noise," as she has had what she described as "otherwise thoughtful people" disclose their plan to clear cut all the trees from their property. Yikes!

The brutal storm affected thousands of trees, hundreds came down, hundreds more will still have to come down because of significant damage received. But if the damaged tree is in the public way (even if near a private home) homeowners cannot trim or drop the tree without permission of tree warden Alan Snow. And based on how often his cell phone chimed or vibrated during the course of the one-hour meeting, he may not be all that available over the next few days.
Committee Chair Hope Crolius, Tree Warden Alan Snow

Snow told the committee that as of this morning 3,000 cubic yards of debris had been picked up off the public roads by town crews and will be turned into biomass, mulch, or animal bedding. The town has a contract with Wagner Wood to haul it away.

I asked if the 75% FEMA reimbursement for cleaning up municipal debris would be jeopardized if private material made its way into the waste stream, and it appears that the Feds would not reimburse for private debris but would still cover the municipal waste. In other words, it is not an all-or-nothing deal.

The town could schedule alternating odd/even days to distinguish between municipal and private debris, making accounting easier.

Presumably Wagner Wood, since they are home based in Amherst, is giving the town a decent disposal rate, so why not leverage that to benefit private homeowners burdened by the unprecedented fallout?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Larry

Wagner Wood also does private hauling
413-253-5194

I don't belive that the Town should haul away my spoiled food, because it is also throwing away it's own spoiled food.

Time to let it go!

Larry Kelley said...

Although I lost a few trees and a L-O-T of big branches I don't need anyone--town or private to haul it away. I have a backyard brush pile (not affiliated with the DPW).

But I do highly recommend Wagner Wood, Taylor Davis, Gary Stosz and a few others I'm forgetting. And ALL of them will have more than enough work over the next few weeks.

Anonymous said...

Consider the source on those horrified that people might not want THEIR OWN tree to fall through their own roof!

Can you say "one can short of a full six pack!"?

Larry Kelley said...

Oh, I think tree warden said it best: "People need to take a step back. They just need the right tree in the right place."

Tom Porter said...

What kind of a week has a guy with a name like Alan Snow and a title like Tree Warden just had, if he's been out in public in Amherst?

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, also a tad ironic the Chair is named "Hope."

Anonymous said...

Th town should go back to having your waste disposal fees as part of your property tax. That way it would be deductible.

Anonymous said...

WAGNER WOOD ACCEPTS TREE WASTE AT THEIR SITE ON NORTHEAST STREET AT A FAR MORE REASONABLE RATE THAT THE TOWNS OUTRAGEOUS $100/TON. WAGNER WOOD CHARGES ROUGHLY $25 - 30/TON.

Larry Kelley said...

Now that's worth shouting about!

Anonymous said...

I have heard that other towns are doing curb-side private property pickup.

And yes, I do think the town should haul-away your spoiled food. I think the town should do curbside garbage/recycling pick-up.

Those schools suck up so much money.

Pity that so many beautiful trees were destroyed, I suppose that is how nature works, but still sad to see so much damage.

Great job to all the Amherst public service men/women, they have been working hard.

Anonymous said...

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/curbside_debris_collection_sta.html

Why can flippin' Holyoke pick up all storm debris and Amherst can't???

Anonymous said...

http://www.gazettenet.com/2011/11/05/lack-of-tree-care

Anonymous said...

springfield is picking up resident debris

Anonymous said...

The transfer station charges $50per ton. I just looked at my receipt.