Town: 1,000 'hazardous' trees have to be removed
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

As a matter of safety, the Town of Amherst will remove 1,063 trees beginning this week. Streets that have any of those trees, labeled "dangerous," will be listed on the town's Web site.

"This is to give the green light to start felling those dangerous trees," Supervisor Satish Mohan said at Monday's special meeting.

The resolution, passed 6-1 with Council Member Dan Ward voting no, allowed for Highway Superintendent Bob Anderson to hire the company to remove the trees. The cost will be billed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Monday's resolution did not address the remaining 8,400 trees. Since Erie County's arborist, Davey Resource Group, released its report that 9,500 trees were recommended for removal, questions have arisen on whether the town should remove these trees now or wait.

Anderson said by removing the trees sooner it would allow the town to start its re-forestation plan more quickly. He added that the town has a small variety of tree species, and this could be an opportunity to replace the damaged tree with a new one.

The Tree Advisory Committee, formed in January, had two representatives speak at Monday's meeting, recommending the removal of all 9,500 trees.

Bill Snyder, a certified arborist, said trees leafing this year are doing so because of stored energy, but the damage suffered won't allow the tree to bring in the energy it needs for the years to come.

He also said that many of the damaged trees will need to be trimmed, which requires funding and manpower.

"We are a bunch of 'tree huggers' here but we recommend alternative two," Snyder said, which calls for the removal of the 9,500 trees.

The survey of the town found that 194 trees are dead; 762 are critical; 220 are severe/high risk; 8,538 are moderate risk; and 1.321 are fair/good/very good. These numbers are subject to change.

The Town Board will review a resolution - titled "Saving Trees Reasonably" - being presented by Council Member Deborah Bruch Bucki at its 7 p.m. Monday, July 2 meeting.

As submitted to The Amherst Bee on June 26, the resolution calls for the town to support a request to FEMA for a one-year extension on reimbursement of felled trees; and should it be granted, that the town only remove trees labeled critical or dead that pose a severe risk.

The resolution also contains a plan for the "adoption" of trees by businesses or residents. That is for trees that had been marked for removal (but aren't hazardous at that time). The resolution will be presented during Bucki's committee report.

For information on the location of hazardous trees, visit www.amherst.ny.us. Call 631-7117 for highway.