The Knoxville Tree Board

March 5, 2001

Jim Cortese (owner of Cortese Tree Specialists, Inc.) has been head of the Knoxville Tree Board since its inception in 1991.  Tree Board members include Diane Madison (Executive Director of Ijams), Frank Rothermill (Denark Construction), and a KUB representative, among others.

The Tree Board was created in response to the Tree Ordinance that was passed in 1991, where two City positions were created: "City Arborist" and "City Horticulturist."  These were to be staffed by college-degreed individuals, and were "on par with" the City Engineer position, but within the Public Services Department directed by Bob Whetsel.  A few years ago, these two positions were reorganized to allow certified arborists to take over these roles.  

In the January 2001 meeting, the board met for several hours to try to figure out how to reinvigorate their function. A classic example of the powerlessness of the Tree Board occurred during the battle in 1999 to save the giant, historically significant Catalpa in the World's Fair Park downtown.  According to Mr. Cortese, this tree was healthy (Catalpas are quite hardy, much more so than Oak, for example), and could have quite easily been saved from the impending Convention Center and KUB substation construction about to begin.  The tree had been growing in a well for the past 25-30 years, so its roots were confined.  Mr. Cortese had raised $4,000 towards moving the tree to the City/County building, three blocks to the east. The plan was quite feasible, which was to dig beneath the tree, lift the tree up, package the rootball, and then continue lifting the tree by crane onto a truck.  There were no overhead wires in the way between the park and the City/County Building.  As soon as the Public Building Authority learned of this plan, the tree was chopped down within 24 hours.  The Tree Board was not consulted.

Trees in Krutch Park

A meeting of the Knoxville Tree Board February 13, 2001 dealt with the Krutch Park tree removal proposal.  

In the early 1980s, there used to be Sycamores in Krutch Park.  At that time, it was becoming very popular to plant Bradford Pears, because people enjoyed their nice spherical shapes, which appealed to a desire for symmetry.  It was not common knowledge back then about the limited lifespan of Bradford Pears (generally 15-25 years) due to problems with splitting branches as they mature.  It was at this time that the Sycamores were removed in order to plant the trendy Bradford Pears.

There are alternatives to the wholesale destruction of the Bradford Pears in Krutch Park, according to Jim Cortese, Head of the Knoxville Tree Board.  Since it was the presence of the starlings that precipitated this proposal, this problem could be dealt with by thinning the trees' branches, which removes part of the tree canopy that the starlings seek. This also will let more light into the park, if another goal is to plant colorful flowers that need more sun.  This can be accomplished by removing 30-40% of the limbs in order to raise the branch level, to create a more "open" feeling. Cables and braces may easily be employed to remedy some of the tendency for the splitting of branches in older Bradford Pears. (Incidentally, this remedy could have been employed for the Wall Street trees downtown- another form of Pear - that were removed recently. One of these trees had split, and the City's solution was to simply take them all down rather than to maintain the healthy ones.)

Summary

More and more progressive communities throughout the United States are beginning to recognize the very tangible benefits that trees provide in the urban environment. Healthy trees reduce air and noise pollution, provide energy-saving shade and cooling, furnish habitat for wildlife, enhance aesthetics and property values, and are an important contributor to community image, pride, and quality of life. As the self-proclaimed "champion of trees," this is a marvelous opportunity for Mayor Ashe to take the lead in ensuring that a workable tree ordinance is put into place, in order to devise a management strategy for the improving and maintaining of trees in our community.  You can help move in this direction by participating in Tree Board meetings, which are open to the public.

The Board meets most months at the Lorraine Street facility that houses offices for engineering departments for the City.  Lorraine Street intersects Middlebrook Pike a little west of the State government building at 2700 Middlebrook Pike.  Go south on Lorraine, cross the railroad tracks, then turn left into the parking lot surrounded by the chainlink fence.  The meeting takes place in a large conference room in this building, and the Board welcomes anyone who wants to discuss trees in Knoxville.

-- The Webmaster would like to thank Jim Cortese for providing the background of the Tree Board and other information on this page.