Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2002/04/15/the_trees_of_dartmouth.php
Monday, April 15, 2002
Men of Dartmouth, give a rouse
For the college on the hill!
For the Lone Pine above her,
And the loyal sons who love her,
Give a rouse, give a rouse, with a will!
Men of Dartmouth—Richard Hovey, Class of 1885
All Dartmouth students hear and learn the Alma Mater in their first days at the College. The history and importance of these words in our school song demonstrates the importance of trees to the spirit of Dartmouth. Only the stump of the Lone Pine remains, but Dartmouth and Hanover continue to value their trees, believing that many of these plants do, in fact, lend their individual personalities to the greater community.
Many people think that if trees are not cut down, they will remain healthy. In fact, conditions, such as sidewalks, pollution, harsh winters, and general urbanization, around a tree often tilt the odds against its survival. Preserving trees requires much more than the mere idea of stewardship. Hard work, technology, and careful planning all must come together for our trees to survive and flourish. Hanover and Dartmouth have devoted extensive resources to meet these needs.
As increasing numbers of students and people chose to make Hanover's pastoral New England environment their home, the area will inevitably continue to grow. Housing and other physical infrastructure will have to be built to satisfy the increased demand. A number of trees will either be cut down to make room for these improvements or they will be choked out by a combination of physical factors surrounding the developments. Either scenario is possible. Hanover hopes to minimize these natural disturbances through smart planning and innovative programs.
Jonathan Edwards is the planning and zoning director for the town of Hanover. Edwards approves all new projects and developments before they begin, but correct zoning makes up only one part of the process. Each site plan proposal must include a comprehensive treatment of the grounds surrounding the development. While his department cannot prevent the removal of trees from a site, they can insure that many be replanted. 'Our regulations require reasonable planting and maintenance of vegetation,' Edwards said. 'Bonded survival provides an incentive for the developer to maintain this landscaping as well.'
These regulations extend to both public and private developments. Edwards especially focuses on trees in parking lots where they 'provide shade and break-up the otherwise unattractive, featureless area.'
While Edwards enforces the local ordinances, Urban Forester William Desch actively works to plant and maintain trees on town property and tries to educate locals of the importance of tree stewardship. His jurisdiction includes the margin of land between all sidewalks and streets—the esplanade—and all public lands. Employed by Hanover since 1988, Desch has shaped tree policy in Hanover and at Dartmouth.
'What I have really tried to advocate is what I call 'tree sites,'' Desch said. 'By securing a commitment to the site itself rather than to the finite lifespan of a single tree, we insure that trees will grace a certain space indefinitely.' The tree sites program ensures that a tree will always exist in a certain area, even when the tree currently in the location dies.
Desch has had some success with the tree sites program. When Dartmouth wanted to dedicate an elm located on the Hanover easement portion of the southwest corner of the Green to alumnus Gordon DeWitt, Desch suggested that the spot become a tree site instead. Although he hopes the elm has many more years to live, a new tree will replace it upon its eventual death. There are also many tree sites at the Pine Hill Cemetery, which has become a local arboretum. Families can donate memorial trees that will enhance their loved one's final resting place for many years to come. Desch has also experimented with many different varieties including several non-native oaks and some ornamental pines.
Dartmouth has struggled to implement a program to protect and maintain its trees. The main obstacle initially proved the master plan itself, which called for only grass and elms as the two landscaping mediums for campus. For years, trees went unpruned. The de-limbing process is necessary to free the plant of stressed limbs, which are more susceptible to disease. Many irreplaceable trees have fallen victim to the chainsaw as well. 'I find it a bit disappointing that the College continues to cut down some huge heritage trees in the name of progress at a time when many institutions value these specimens enough to integrate them into the design of their new buildings,' Desch said.
Dartmouth has recently removed trees in the name of progress. One removed elm northeast of Baker Library 'was probably 175 years old,' according to Desch. Another removal was 'the nicest white oak on campus' at the site of Whittemore Hall. Despite his concerns, Desch does point out that Dartmouth's treatment of its trees 'has improved a lot.'
The problem for Dartmouth is its resources. 'The city often collaborates with the College, especially regarding the few surviving heritage elms on campus,' Desch said. 'The main problem is Dartmouth needs staff.'
The College has increased its arboreal staff in recent years. Much of this newfound commitment by Dartmouth to its trees stems from the hiring of tree warden David J. DiBenedetto in 1993. The College first created the tree warden position in 1901. Since taking over as tree warden in 1993, DiBenedetto has gained national renown. the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine have showcased his efforts in the past two years. DiBenedetto has committed himself to preserving the older trees on campus and to planning for trees that he will never live to see to maturity.
The Dartmouth campus supports 100 elm trees, more than any campus in the nation, but these trees do not thrive by themselves. The College once had many more trees before Dutch elm disease swept across North America in the 1950s killing upwards of eighty percent of Dartmouth's elms. Now intensive care is necessary to prevent the disease from infecting the remaining elms. Beetles carry the pathogen, which clogs the phloem cells of the tree and chokes it. A labor intensive process of injecting one chemical capsule into the trunk for every inch of girth keeps the phloem cells open and staves off the disease for approximately two years. A large tree, such as the famed Parkhurst elm, requires fifty-five of these capsules at a total cost of $500.
While the elms demand much of his time, over 1,700 trees make up the Dartmouth campus. DiBenedetto knows each one personally—in 1999 he completed a Campus Tree Inventory. This ambitious project now enables him to keep a log for each tree's maintenance, much like the file a doctor keeps for each of his patients. By knowing exactly when certain maintenance was done, he can allocate his resources appropriately and plan for future action. He can even perform a 'virtual pruning' of a tree using the photographs contained in the database to see what it would look like if he trimmed it any number of ways.
Except for their Dutch elm disease vulnerability, elms are remarkably resistant to other processes that plague trees on campus like salt, compaction, erosion, and construction. In addition to trying to minimize these ever-present hazards, DiBenedetto must fertilize, mulch, attach cables to sagging limbs, screw rods into splitting crotches, and remove girdling roots. Despite these tasks, DiBenedetto still finds time to work with landscape architect Bill Flynn to insure that the master plan calls for more than just 'grass and elms.'
'The campus grounds are an integral part of the identity that Dartmouth is trying to protect,' Flynn told the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. 'Part of the role of the trees is to help reinforce that traditional character.'
DiBenedetto will keep with tradition by replacing old elms with new ones grown at a nursery DiBenedetto started at the organic farm in 1999. The new elms resist Dutch elm disease. And, to prudently avoid a situation in which a single blight can kill such a large proportion of the College's trees, new varieties, such as the gingko, Kentucky coffee tree, and Kwanzan cherry tree will gradually be introduced to define certain areas of campus.
DiBenedetto and his assistant pay their own salaries and accomplish all of this on a $225,000 yearly budget. This may be one of the best deals at Dartmouth—for nothing defines our physical sense of place more than our trees.