The streets of Somerville are home to a wide diversity of tree species, including this flowering crabapple tree (front) and white pine (back).

By Molly Rains

As the growing season approaches, Somerville’s urban foresters are gearing up for a busy spring. The Urban Forestry Division plans to plant 175 trees in the next few months, said Senior Urban Forestry and Landscape Planner Dr. Vanessa Boukili. The springtime plantings should begin in May.

Similar planting initiatives occur twice per year in Somerville, with one planting season in the spring and another in the fall. These plantings are an important part of the city’s Urban Forest Management Plan. This document, released in 2021 by the Urban Forestry Division, outlines the city’s strategy for “building and protecting Somerville’s urban forest” via the planting, monitoring, and maintenance of trees across the city. Planting 175 new trees this spring will bring Somerville halfway to the plan’s yearly goal of 350 plantings.

This year, the spring planting season comes on the heels of the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day. This holiday, which will fall on Friday, April 29, began in 1872 as a celebration of trees and planting. Somerville has been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation for more than a quarter-century via the Tree City USA Award.

To maintain its Tree City status, Somerville must continue to meet four standards: a budget of at least $2 per capita devoted to urban forestry; a community tree ordinance; a yearly Arbor Day celebration; and a department of local government devoted to the city’s trees. Somerville’s tree department is the Urban Forestry Division, led by Dr. Boukili.

As plantings continue, the city will also continue to remove diseased or dead trees and those that it determines pose a threat to public safety. “We do our best to remove stumps so that we can plant new trees in the same location,” said Dr. Boukili, but “the timing of stump removal and tree planting does not always coincide.” Somerville residents can request a stump removal or tree planting at a specific address through 311 (via phone, the smartphone app, or at somervillema.gov/311).