Davey Tree Flipbooks

17 May/June 2024 | THE DAVEY BULLETIN PERSEVERANCE The Minnesota Capitol Mall, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, is undergoing a redesign to improve the grounds and public spaces for all Minnesotans, known as the Capitol Mall Design Framework, building on the State Capitol Area's 2040 Comprehensive Plan. The redesign is managed by the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, who has partnered on the TREE INVENTORY CONDUCTED AT MINNESOTA CAPITOL MALL The Minnesota State Capitol building features 18 acres of green space. Inset: This map shows the finished site data of a tree inventory completed by a DRG Environmental Consulting services team, who used TreeKeeper ® to input data from the Minnesota State Capitol grounds. project with the community, government agencies, and experts, including design firm Sasaki, and Davey. Gail Nozal, area manager, Environmental Consulting services (EC), Davey Resource Group (DRG), was contacted by the Davey Institute's Dr. A.D. Ali, manager, special projects, and Jim Zwack, vice president and general manager, with a request to conduct a tree inventory on the Capitol Mall area for Sasaki. Jack Spadafore, inventory arborist senior, EC, DRG, assisted Nozal with the proposal and bidding for the inventory, and Kyle Schansberg, inventory arborist, EC, DRG, conducted an inventory earlier this year over four days, resulting in collecting data on 850 trees and five vacant planting sites. The top five tree species were Freeman's maple, hybrid elm, serviceberry, hackberry, and crabapple. "The data will be used as part of the project's design process. The Capitol Mall Design team needed to know where the trees were located and what species they were to help inform future stages of the design around the mall," Nozal said. Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Limited's Kitchener Residential employee Matt Hare, foreman, pruned the Grand Oak heritage tree in Cambridge, Ontario. The Grand Oak tree is in the Cambridge Sculpture Garden. According to the garden's website, the tree is 140 years old and survived construction of a dike system along the Grand River, which resulted in a five-foot grade change in 1976. At the time, city forester John Kingswood put a water distribution system and drainage bed in place around the tree to protect it. In 2010, legislation was KITCHENER CREW PRUNES GRAND OAK HERITAGE TREE EXPERTISE passed to designate it as a heritage tree under the Ontario Heritage Act. "Hare was tasked with pruning and keeping this beautiful tree elevated over the park," said David Williams, district manager, Kitchener Residential office. "The root plate and base of the tree is five feet below the grade of the park, with a big enclosure around the base of the tree to allow the trunk to not be buried. It's obviously been quite a bit of work to keep the tree healthy and alive over the years after the construction project was done along the riverbank." "The Grand Oak heritage tree is estimated to have started growing in 1880, the same age as Davey," said David Williams, district manager, Kitchener Residential office. "It's also interesting that the shape of the canopy is similar to the Davey tree logo."

• Cover