Each fall, as temperatures drop, people in this suburb can count on head-turning displays of richly hued maple leaves. But maples make up about one-third of the city’s street trees, and Overland Park has learned the hard way that too much of a good thing can mean fragility. So last year, the city put the kibosh on planting more maples. The emerald ash borer — a tiny, shiny green hitchhiker from Asia with a voracious appetite for a different beloved street tree — taught this city and others across Kansas and Missouri a painful lesson. Now some communities are hedging their arboreal bets and protecting local home values and tax bases by embracing variety. Streets with mature trees command higher home prices, temper the dog days of summer, and draw more people outdoors for fresh air, walks and chats with neighbors. “It is likely the emerald ash borer will kill all of Overland Park’s ash trees,” city spokeswoman Meg Ralph said in an email. “The more variety we have in our tree canopy, the more resilient it will be when the next invasive species or tree disease comes to our community.” Ash made up about a fourth of the city’s street tree canopy when the insect arrived a decade ago. In a thoroughly globalized world, the city has no guarantee that a bug with a taste for maple syrup won’t turn up next. So last fall, its forester dropped maples from the list of trees that people can plant along residential and commercial streets in the public right-of-ways — such as that strip of turf between street and sidewalk. For now, Overland Park won’t add more maples to any city property. It will steer developers away from those trees, too. Builders need city forester approval for their landscape plans.
Source: The Lawrence Times
