Point Gratiot Park tree push takes root
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An initiative to replace trees at Point Gratiot Park has taken root, with organizer Mary Louise McGraw discussing plans with Dunkirk's Department of Public Works Committee last week.
McGraw approached the committee a couple months ago, with the general idea of replacing ash trees at Point Gratiot destroyed by the emerald ash borer. She has moved further along with a plan to pay for the cost of the trees by selling memorial plaques with them.
She has formalized the name "A Tree for Thee" for the project and organized an 11-person oversight panel for it. McGraw also showed the DPW committee a letter she has written to seek support from area businesses.
"It is our intention to start (planting trees) next spring," she said. "The way this group conjures this up is… we are going to collect seed money from organizations and businesses."
The group will use that money to buy the first round of trees and memorial plaques. "Let's say we collect $5,000, if each tree costs $200 to put in with a plaque, we will plant those (25) trees and people will be able to say, 'we want a tree' and it's already done," McGraw said.
The plaques, which can memorialize any person or event, will be set low to the ground to assist lawn mowing. DPW's Jason Cieslewicz suggested that the group refrain from clumping trees together, as clumped trees are bad for mowing.
McGraw said the group wants to start near the entrance to Point Gratiot Park, where trees were clearly devastated by the ash borer. The large, dead trees on the shoreline there are immediately obvious to anyone who enters.
DPW has removed many of the dead trees near the entrance and elsewhere in the park, but still has a ways to go. Cieslewicz said they have taken down 200 dead trees in recent months -- but there are still 100 more to get.
Randy Woodbury, DPW Director, wanted a pilot project of new trees at Wright Park before doing plantings at Point Gratiot. However, McGraw disagrees. "Our way to sell this is Point Gratiot," she said.
Woodbury, who did not attend part of McGraw's presentation, made no indication that he would stand in the way. According to McGraw, a few trees will be placed at Wright Park, but the vast majority will be at the Point.
She promised to work with DPW and plot out sites for tree plantings on a map, before they take place.
McGraw put out a call for more volunteers. She is seeking a locally prominent person to be the "face" of A Tree for Thee. "If you have anybody in mind, let us know," she said.
"We're in the beginning of this. I implore your patience of us," McGraw added. However, "I think you are going to all be so proud, delighted and just excited."