Column: A tree-mendous day’s work

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Commentary by Cindy Benedict

Noblesville has been a Tree City USA since 1990 and has held this designation longer than any other city in Hamilton County, which is pretty impressive. To be a Tree City you have to maintain a tree board or department, have a community tree ordinance, spend at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrate Arbor Day.

Linderman
Linderman

In short, you must have a credible urban forestry management program and ours is run well by Paul Linderman. Linderman is a certified arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture and clearly loves his job. He is currently quite busy inspecting 5,000 ash trees and minimizing the effects of the emerald ash borer.

Linderman has many other responsibilities including improving tree diversity within the city and in new subdivisions, assisting residents with their tree questions, assessing tree/sidewalk conflicts and evaluating trees that may be hazardous. He also staffs the city’s Tree Board, an appointed board that is responsible for the development of a tree master plan.

Linderman and his wife, Andrea, moved to Noblesville seven years ago from Terre Haute and have two young children. He enjoys golfing, swimming, and helping his son’s flag football team through White River Christian Church. He became interested in trees at the Terre Haute Nature Center where he worked after graduating from Indiana State University with a degree in recreation management and biology. Linderman said the work is “very fulfilling because people appreciate learning about their trees. It is also worthwhile because this work fills a need – oxygen is kind of important and trees give us that every day.”

On a daily basis, Linderman assesses if city trees need pruning, removal or just tender care to get over disease or insect attacks. Based on his recommendation, the street department will prune, remove or treat the tree (but only those on public property). The department might also fix a buckling sidewalk or prune a bulging root. Linderman is very friendly and enjoys helping residents with general tree questions and has created a list of approved city trees that grow well to help you. You can download this list at http://tinyurl.com/n95ukxn.

You can meet Linderman at the Noblesville Earth Day-ArborFest on April 25 at Forest Park. He’ll be giving away free tree seedlings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Shelter 5. To see all the great activities that day visit http://tinyurl.com/ocdwfew.

Cindy Benedict is the community engagement manager for the City of Noblesville. She may be reached at 770-2007 or [email protected].


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