T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown Parks and Recreation Director Kelsie Stafford addresses the city council about the post-derecho tree replanting project during Monday night’s meeting. The city has received to a $200,000 grant from the Iowa Economic Development authority to plant 200 new trees.

It’s no secret that the tree canopy within the city of Marshalltown took a huge hit when a derecho ripped through the community on Aug. 10, 2020, and since then, a concerted effort has been undertaken to restore it. During Monday night’s council meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Kelsie Stafford reported that the city has received $200,000 in funds from the Iowa Economic Development Authority to offset the cost of planting 200 new trees.

During the public comment period on the item, local Trees Forever volunteer Erin Carpenter told the council she was “so excited” about the project and hoped it would serve as a springboard for more planting in the future.

“Putting the trees in Ward 1 is a fantastic project. They are most needed there. I did a little bit of math, though. If we’re gonna replace our tree canopy, if we want to have a canopy that is resilient and serves the community, $890 per tree would cost us $100 or $200 million to re-tree the whole community,” she said. “So we cannot do this on a grant-by-grant basis. Two hundred new trees is great, but I hope that after this, we will have support for expanding plantings, expanding and frontloading more replanting efforts in the community.”

With no further public comments, a motion and second were made to proceed with the plans before Councilor Jeff Schneider, recalling his time at the University of Iowa, raised concerns with the scent that emanates from Gingko trees, though he wasn’t sure whether they were male or female.

“Whatever one doesn’t produce the smelly fruit is what we should get because I would hate to be a neighbor to one of those,” he said.

Stafford replied that they do have a specified list of which species they are asking bidders to submit. She couldn’t remember if Gingkos were on it, but she said they could make substitutions if necessary.

“The Gingkos are on there, and they’re a beautiful tree. But there’s one that’s bad. So please look into that,” Schneider said.

A motion to proceed carried by a unanimous 7-0 vote. Bids are due by Aug. 5, and a contract is expected to be awarded at the Aug. 11 meeting.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.