Re-Tree WNY donates 25 American elms to town
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

It has been seven months since Western New York was hit with one of the most devastating storms in history and the effects can still be seen on almost every street in Amherst.

The trees, still bare from the winter season, are noticeably damaged with broken or missing limbs, and orange X's or tape still marking them.

In some cases only an empty plot remains with a stump from where a prominent tree once stood.

"Some of these trees were 200 and 300 years old and they were taken away in just two days," Re-Tree WNY Co-Chairman Paul Maurer said about the clean-up efforts following the Oct. 11-12, 2006 storm.

In response to the extensive damage, Maurer, general sales manager for Citadel Communications, said a group created Re-Tree WNY to plant trees to replace those that had to be removed because of excessive damage.

Amherst, one of the hardest hit areas, will be the site of several plantings.

"I think of Amherst as ground zero of the storm problem," he said.

On Arbor Day, April 27, Re-Tree WNY will co-sponsor the Enviro-Fair in the Alumni Arena at the University at Buffalo's North Campus. Former vice president Al Gore, who is speaking that day at UB about his Academy Award-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming, is scheduled to take part in the ceremony.

At the April 2 Amherst Town Board work session, John Redman of Home Depot in West Seneca said the town would receive 25 American elm trees - all to be planted on April 27. Home Depot has partnered with the Re-Tree WNY efforts.

Amherst Highway Superintendent Bob Anderson said the exact locations are not yet set but will be announced prior to Arbor Day.

He is also estimating an additional 300 trees will be planted this year using town funds.

"I think this will help us once again meet our Tree City USA requirements," Anderson said.

The town was honored for the 11th time with the title in 2006.

Every replanting will help as the town is currently facing the possible loss of 8,000 trees from the public right-of-way.

Re-Tree WNY is holding a training session from 3 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 14 at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo., to address how to most efficiently plant a tree using the "bare root" method.

Of the 30,000 trees being planted by Re-Tree WNY, one-third will be planted using the bare root method.

"We will be doing a lot of this type of tree planting because it gives us the ability to use most volunteers to plant with a minimum of heavy equipment. This eliminates the need to buy or rent a lot of cumbersome machinery," said David Colligan, co-chairman of the organization. He added that the method is also a cost-saving measure.

For information on the organization's efforts and planting dates, visit www. re- treewny. org.