Taking care of trees

BROOKINGS — There’s just something about South Dakotans and trees.

Maybe it’s because they don’t come easy on the prairie, where they need to be planted and tended and nurtured. Go far enough east or west, and trees are seemingly everywhere, but not here. Here they signify intention.

Maybe it’s because they’re needed.

To block the Alberta wind from the northwest each bitter February and shade the high noon August sun in turn.

Maybe it’s because a little part of our hearts die every fall when they bare their souls, thin and pale. And a little part of our mind frets every spring, waiting for the rains to come soak our roots and push through the green fuses again. We know it will happen, but knowing isn’t seeing.

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City Forestry Supervisor Ryan Burgraff and his crew are just kicking into high gear for the summer.

They were on hand Friday to plant a tree at Pioneer Park in honor of Arbor Day. Mayor Ope Niemeyer read a proclamation, and a trailer mounted spade machine dropped a new tree in a hole and that was that.

The city — Burgraff’s division, specifically — takes care of approximately 25,000 trees on public property in Brookings. That’s a big enough job in and of itself. Then along came the Emerald Ash Borer.

Around 10 percent of the city’s trees are ash. So when the invasive green bugs were confirmed to have arrived in town in July of 2024, it was only a matter of time. We were going to lose some trees.

That didn’t prepare people for the actual sight of it.

Last fall, the city had to take out the majority of the ash trees along Derdall Drive and in the Elmwood area — the city calls it Zone Four. So far, that’s where the removals have stopped.

“We’ve still only found EAB in Zone Four— the Derdall and Elmwood area,” Burgraff said. “It’s probably silly to think that it’s not elsewhere, but that’s as far as removals go. That’s where we pray it stops.”

Burgraff said there were five or six more trees in that area tagged for removal after Memorial Day. Then the task of replanting continues.

“We have 61 bare root trees that we’re going to start planting next week,” he said, “in Zone Four, where the heaviest removals have been. We got Derdall almost all the way planted last year and we’re gonna do the same thing on Elmwood and the avenues connecting those two, hopefully even over to Olwein.”

In addition to the forestry department’s work, the city is also renewing its urban forest initiative, with $25,000 earmarked to subsidise residents who want to plant trees on a first-come, first serve basis.

Here’s how that works:

City residents buy a tree on the city’s approved list and plant it, then take their receipt — dated after April 22 — to the Parks & Rec office in the City-County building on Third Street.
Reimbursement amounts are:

— up to $100 per tree

— additional $25 for trees planted in front yards

— $50 for treatment of an Ash or Elm tree

Zone Four residents are eligible for reimbursement for two trees this year, in deference to the mass removals last fall.

A list of approved trees and other program details are available at www.cityofbrookings-sd.gov/UrbanForest.

Trees planted in boulevard areas require city approval prior to planting and reimbursement. Before planting any tree, residents should call South Dakota One Call at 811 for locating and marking of all underground utility lines.

Since the urban forest program started in 2021, 767 trees have been planted throughout the community, according to Joshua Bauman, assistant director of the Brookings Forestry Department.

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Burgraff and his crew will be busy planting, as well.

The Forestry Department put 200 young trees into the city’s nursery — it’s hidden due south of The Pheasant along South Main — waiting to be planted this summer.

“So replanting, that is kind of the focus, which will take us to Memorial Day, weather depending,” Burgraff said. “Then it’s on to grinding the stumps and then pruning. People will see us out there doing that, keeping the branches out of the roadways.”

The city has not treated any trees chemically for Emerald Ash Borer — though it isn’t out of the realm of possibility, either. The problem is the cost at scale: It can cost $200-$300 per tree, and the treatments have to be repeated every 2-3 years.

“The problem is, you gotta repeat that every two or three years, right? It’s $560, $570 for a pint of that stuff right now. It’s just a cost thing.”

The city has treated some older, larger trees for Dutch Elm disease, the previous tree problem to roll through town.

“And then Dutch Elm disease. One thing we’ve done in the last two and a half years is treated 96 of our elms,” Burgraff said. “I see those as even more valuable now, because we have so much canopy with ash, and we’re trying to preserve that. Because those are awesome trees, big trees; so we’re going to continue to treat more of those. And that needs to be repeated every three years, too.”

Aside from taking part in the city program and planting a tree this spring, the biggest thing locals can do to help the forestry department out is simple: In the drought conditions we’ve been experiencing, your trees need to be watered.

“We have a designated watering person now. Last year was the first time that we had that. So we’re trying to do a better job of taking care of what we put in, but there are so many trees out there that can use some help. It’s just been so dry,” Burgraff said.

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Rains came over the weekend and soaked the roots of the trees across the county — and it wouldn’t be such a cliche if it were not so true:

We needed it, badly.

The folks out working on the urban forest this summer hope you take good care of your trees. Don’t kick over the saplings, for goodness sake.

And if you see them out working, give them a wave. They didn’t get into the job to cut trees down — it bugs them as much as anyone.

If you’ve been looking to plant a tree, the best time was 30 years ago. But we’ll settle for this spring.

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes story tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@@gmail.com