I have been actively involved in environmental stewardship since 1990 when I became a watershed educator with Washington State Cooperative Extension. Since that time, I have been involved in several planting projects in the Green/Duwamish watershed, from Enumclaw to the turning basin in the Duwamish.

I joined the Auburn Urban Tree Board to promote the planting of trees in public places and to encourage citizens to plant and properly nurture trees on their properties. I do a lot of walking in Auburn’s parks and neighborhoods.

It is extremely gratifying to see trees that have been planted as part of Arbor Day and to enjoy areas of the city that have been enhanced by the Tree Board’s annual planting projects.

When you arrive at Veterans Memorial Park on Park Avenue from Auburn Way North, please note the recent planting of Kousa dogwood trees. These were installed as part of an Eagle Scout project and funded by an Auburn Neighborhood grant. The Neighborhood tree program is available to help neighborhoods plant trees along their public right of way.

The biggest key to planting a tree is to plant the right tree in the right spot. If you do some good deep watering in the first couple of years of the tree’s life and some selective pruning of the juvenile tree, you will have a virtually maintenance free tree over its lifetime. You should only be pruning out the branches that are diseased, deformed or crossing another branch. It is very disheartening, to me, to drive around different cities and just see how some trees are pruned incorrectly.

My feeling is if you have to top a tree, you might as well remove the tree because obviously, it was the wrong tree in the wrong place. Once you top a tree, it will never have the graceful branching pattern that Mother Nature intended. Topping a tree makes the new branches poorly attached and weak and will eventually fail. The fresh cuts from topping also open more pathways for disease and insects to enter the tree, which will eventually spell the demise of the tree.

If you plant a tree that is supposed to grow to be 60-feet tall, it will continue to send out new water sprouts every year, trying to reach its desired height of 60 feet.

The trees at Pioneer Cemetery were a perfect example of why you shouldn’t top a tree. The Big Leaf Maple trees were topped in the early 1970s and ever since, the trees started their slow decline in health and basically died from the top down, creating a safety issue. These were the right trees in the right place, and if they hadn’t been topped, they would be magnificent 70-80 foot tall Big Leaf Maples. We replaced them with some Autumn Blaze Maple trees that will eventually grow to be 75-80 feet tall and once again give us a beautiful urban canopy at the corner of Auburn Way North and 8 Street Northeast.

Arbor Day is a great way to celebrate trees and to try and educate people on proper tree care and the value of trees. Trees improve the air quality, create shade that will cool the summer air, helping to reduce electricity needs and costs.

Trees also will reduce stormwater runoff by reducing the amount of rainwater that hits the ground. Studies also have shown that neighborhoods with large tree canopies have reduced crime rates and increased property values.

If you have questions about the proper trees to plant or how to properly prune your trees, please contact the City arborist or the park maintenance manager at 253-931-3043, so we can lead you in the right direction raising a beautiful, healthy tree.

Len Elliott is a member of the Auburn Urban Tree Board.

Mike Miller, Auburn Parks maintenance manager, contributed to this article.

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Official celebration April 20

The City of Auburn cordially invites the public to attend the City’s Arbor Day celebration at 10 a.m. April 20 at Veterans Memorial Park, 411 E St. NE.

City officials, along with volunteers from the Auburn Garden Club, the Chinook District of Garden Clubs, Auburn Tree Board, Auburn Park Board and representatives from the state Department of Natural Resources will plant a Katsura tree as part of the commemoration. The Auburn Garden Club and the Chinook District of Garden Clubs donated the tree.

Mayor Pete Lewis also will proclaim April 20 as Arbor Day in Auburn and encourages citizens to support the efforts to protect trees and woodlands, and plant trees for generations to enjoy.

Auburn is recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA.