What's up with the trees in Grant Park?

Trees, like humans, get sick, old and sometimes die. To keep our forest healthy and our park safe, we must remove dead and diseased branches and trees.

Grant Park Conservancy volunteers working with DPRCA arborists recently completed a tree survey in Grant Park. The survey revealed 37 trees of varying sizes must be removed due to decline and death. Another 23 trees require pruning. The green tape and orange blazes tell DPRCA crews, who will be working in the park over the next few months, which trees to treat or remove. If you see trees being removed from the park, it is because they are unhealthy and unsafe. 

While this is heartbreaking news, it is part of the natural evolution of a forest. Grant Park is experiencing particularly high loss because most of our trees are old and have been subjected to successive seasons of drought. The combination takes a toll on the tree canopy.

So how do we respond? Well, it's important for the forest to have multiple generations of trees of various ages, so we have an on-going program of re-planting. In addition, we keep existing trees healthy through mulching, watering, fertilizing and pruning.

Over the coming months, come back to the Conservancy website to read about our work in both of these areas.