Oswego has a fledgling Tree Stewards volunteer group dedicated to caring for our urban forest.  We wanted to learn more about how the Syracuse community obtains and plants the shade trees they use to enhance the city.  A couple of our members were there when the truck pulled in with hundreds of bareroot trees ready to be unloaded and distributed around the neighborhoods.  

I went up with a group on Thursday, November 4th to actually get some of them in the ground.  I was expecting little one or two years old seedlings and was not prepared.  The trees that were waiting for us already at their site were more like four or five years old, ten feet tall, five inch diameter trunks with their roots dipped in hydrogel and covered in plastic bags.  Huge!  It was drizzling Thursday and I was wearing a down jacket, jeans and sneakers.  The local people showed up dressed like they were ready to face a New England Nor'easter and I'm sure they went home much more comfortable than I.

The holes had already been dug by the DPW, trees waiting next to it with the sturdy stakes that would be put in after getting the tree properly planted.  Our group of four were assigned five trees to plant on Syracuse's east side near Kinne Street.  

Soil in Syracuse is not anything like the soil in Oswego.  It was incredibly clay-ey, sometimes with chunks that we mistook for rocks.  The rain just added to the goop.  Our task was to check the trees over for any shipping injuries - remarkably few!  Then we were to insure the trees were planted at the proper depth, move the sod and large rocks and wrapping from the trees to the curb then place the stakes.  The DPW would then come by to pick up the discards, wire up the trees to the stakes and mulch them.  The process was extremely well orchestrated and everyone was incredibly helpful and pleasant in spite of the weather.  Which was, of course, very helpful for the trees.

As we moved about in the mud, the clay adhered to our footwear and at times gave us another few inches of height!  It made for slippery footing on the pavement but on the tree lawn we would just pick up more clay.  I was wearing my leather work gloves which soon wet through as did my down jacket.  We weren't really sure of what we would be doing, we just wanted to learn and help.  We did.

We were impressed by the wide variety of trees that were used in just that neighborhood.  Our trees were Tilia, Prunus, Gleditsia.  We also noticed Quercus, Sycamore and Acer, among others.  They will add immeasurably to a wonderful tree canopy and environment for the city.  We hope to bring this kind of habitat to Oswego.

And that cup of hot chocolate on the way home was a great reward.