Trees and Forestry
The Village of River Forest's Forestry Division maintains over
8,000 trees (and over 90 species) in Village right-of-ways or
the area commonly known as "the parkway." The parkway
is the area between the curb and the public sidewalk or lot line.
The Village inspects, monitors, trims, removes, plants, and inoculates
(only American Elms)
parkway trees throughout the Village, through the year.
Per Village Code (Title 5, Chapter 8: Trees
and Shrubs), only Village crews or crews contracted by the Village
may perform
the above tasks. If any work needs to be performed, residents
are asked to call Public Works to request a work order. River
Forest Public Works currently has five International Society
of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborists on staff and several
Public Works employees that are licensed by the Illinois Department
of Agriculture (IDOA) as pesticide/insecticide
applicators and operators.
For more information, please contact Public
Works by telephone at (708) 366-8500 or e-mail at pwd@river-forest.us.
Arbor Day Celebration
Each year on Arbor Day, which in Illinois is the last Friday
in April, River Forest Public Works holds an Arbor Day celebration
at one of the schools in River Forest. During the celebration,
Public Works crews plant one tree donated to the River Forest
school on the school's property, distributes seedlings to most
of the students (if not all) at the school, and talks to the
students about the importance of trees both
in the River Forest community and globally.
Emerald Ash Borer
The Village of River Forest would like to inform our residents about the Emerald Ash Borer and request that you contact the Village immediately at (708) 366-8500 should you discover the beetle. The Emerald Ash Borer is a small (1/2 inch long, 1/8 inch wide) metallic green beetle native to Asia that is responsible for the death of millions of ash trees in the Midwest. The Emerald Ash Borer, which was recently found in Kane County, Illinois, was first found in the United States in Michigan in 2002 and has been detected in Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland, and parts of Canada.
The adult Emerald Ash Borer emerges in May – July and the female lays numerous eggs in bark crevices and between layers of bark. The eggs hatch in 7 – 10
days and larvae bore into the tree where they chew the inner
bark and phloem creating serpentine galleries as they feed. This
cuts off the flow of water and nutrients in the tree, causing
dieback and death.
More information about the Emerald Ash Borer can be found by
contacting the Village of River Forest as we have certified arborists
on Staff who can help identify the Emerald Ash Borer, by calling
the national Emerald Ash Borer hotline at (866) EAB-4512, the
Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Hotline at (800)
641-3934 or in the Chicago area call (312) 742-3385, or visiting
the following web sites:
For information on how to prevent EAB infestations when obtaining
firewood this Winter, please click
here to listen to a message from the Illinois
Department of Agriculture.
DED Injection Treatment Program
The Village of River Forest inoculates parkway American Elm trees with the
Dutch Trig fungus annually and throughout the Village. Dutch Trig inoculation
involves the injection of live spores of a fungus into the tree that protects
against new infections by the Dutch Elm Disease (DED) fungus by inducing resistance
into the tree. Dutch Trig is essentially a vaccine (strain of verticillium)
that teaches the tree to fight off DED utilizing its own immune system. Parkway
elms were inoculated between the middle of May through early June.
 Tree
City USA
The Village of River Forest has been a Tree City USA Community
since 1998. The National Arbor Day Foundation has named River
Forest a Tree City USA community based on the following standards:
having a forestry division, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive
community forestry program, and an Arbor Day observance.
 6-Year
Pruning Cycle
The Village has implemented a systematic approach to pruning parkway trees
in accordance with a 6-year pruning cycle. Click
here to view the map of the
areas of the Village that will be pruned during the six year cycle.
The Village recognizes the importance of pruning and removing
hazardous limbs/trees and will address those situations as
they are reported to the Village or observed by Village Staff.
Should you observe or become aware of a potentially hazardous
situation caused by a parkway tree or parkway tree limb, please
contact the Village immediately. Elm trees will be pruned only
after the first frost in the fall and thru mid-April. This
is a common and highly recommended procedure in the field of
arboriculture that is intended to prevent any further spread
of Dutch Elm Disease (DED).
Should you have any questions or if you would like to notify
the Village of a parkway tree concern, please contact Public
Works at 366-8500.
Free Wood Chips
The Village is again offering free wood chips to its residents. The self-serve
wood chip pile will be replenished as wood chips become available, and is
located on Central Avenue beneath the Canadian National railroad bridge -
between the Village Hall parking lot and the River Forest Park District tennis
courts. Residents needing wood chips to cover an area of ground larger than
20 x 20 spread 4 thick (approximately 4 cubic yards or more), can contact
the Village at 366-8500 to place an order for delivery. This is equivalent
to approximately one full pickup truck load of wood chips. Minimum delivery
is one full pickup truck load.
Drought Survival Tips for Trees and Shrubs
Homeowners are urged to continue watering trees and shrubs
due to continued dry soil conditions and a rain shortage. It
is important to know that trees and shrubs will benefit from
continued watering – even trees and shrubs that have
lacked sufficient watering throughout the summer. Here are
some drought-readiness tips from The Morton Arboretum:
-
Focus watering efforts on trees and shrubs – not
grass. Grass goes dormant and will turn green again when
water is
available. Trees can die without water.
- Depending on air temperatures, trees and shrubs need at least
1 inch of water applied every week to 10 days to cope with
lack of rain. Larger, established trees have a wide-spreading
root system and need not be watered as frequently, perhaps
every 2 to 3 weeks. Let the top few inches of soil dry
out between waterings to avoid saturation and to allow roots and
soil organisms to breathe.
- Water slowly and deeply so water percolates down into the soil,
electing one or two deep waterings as opposed to several
light ones.
- Use soaker hoses and drip irrigation -- effective watering
tools because they discharge even streams of slow, trickling
water directly to the root zone beneath trees and shrubs.
When combined with a 3 or 4-inch layer of organic mulch, plants
can use nearly all of the water that's provided with little
evaporation loss.
-
When watering small trees, let a hose run slowly at its base
until the ground is moist. For large trees, let the hose run
at various points around the tree's drip line – the
imaginary line on the ground that encircles a tree's extended
branches.
- Water shrubs at the plant base and under the spread of branches
until soil is moistened to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.
- When using a sprinkler system, place a container nearby to
measure when you have distributed 1 inch of water to the
soil.
-
Prioritize watering, caring for newly transplanted trees and
shrubs first, then those that have been in the ground from
2 to 5 years and have under-developed root systems. Next, water “specimen” trees
or important trees, then all other plants.
- Water strategically. Plants absorb more water in the early
morning, before the warming sun can cause evaporation.
- Avoid using fertilizer during drought conditions. Fertilizer
salts can cause root injury when soil moisture is limited.
For additional information, visit
www.mortonarb.org or call (630) 719-2424.
Mulching
and Landscaping Around Trees and Shrubs
With the growing season right around the corner, many homeowners
and landscapers will be applying mulch to trees and shrubs.
Some of the benefits of wood mulch products are:
- Keeps roots cool in the summer and warm in the
winter.
- Maintains soil moisture, reducing the need for watering.
- Inhibits certain plant diseases.
- Keeps damaging weed whackers and lawn mowers away from plants.
- Improve soil fertility.
The guidelines for proper mulching suggest that mulch should
be applied at a depth of 2 to 4 inches,
and spread to the drip line—the outermost extension
of the branches. In our cramped urban setting this
can be difficult to achieve,
so applying mulch as broadly as practical will still benefit
plants.
Mulch can have a negative effect should be kept away from
the trunk of trees to prevent rotting and provide good air
circulation. Applying a new layer of mulch each year creates
a buildup that can block oxygen and moisture from reaching
the roots. That “fresh” look can be achieved by
turning last year’s application with a rake or pitchfork.
Another mulching mistake that can kill a tree is "volcano
mulching." This describes mulch that has been
piled up in the shape of a cone around the base of trees, in
some cases
a foot or more high. Raised retaining systems, which commonly
include the installation of landscape blocks/bricks around
the base of the tree and filled with soil and possible topped
with mulch, are also not recommend. This type of landscaping
has a similar effect of "volcano mulching."
Storm Damage Policy
In the event a tree is damaged by storm activity, and for
the first two weeks following a storm event, residents may
place fallen tree limbs and branches that are four (4) inches
or greater in diameter, regardless of length, in the parkway
to be collected by Village crews. All smaller materials (less
than 4 inches in diameter) should be disposed of in the regular
yard waste program utilizing yard waste bags or brush tags.
Do not place these materials in the street. If it is not practical
to prepare materials for collection under the regular yard
waste program, residents may contact a tree care company or
waste disposal company to arrange for a special collection
of the material. All contractors must be licensed and bonded
with the Village of River Forest.
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