ORlEANS ANNUAl TOwN REPORt FOR YEAR ... - Town Of Orleans

Tree Department:The Tree Warden (Municipal Arborist) Dan Connolly continues to improve and maintainthe Towns Urban Forest.The duties and responsibilities associated with roadside trimming, tree planting and treemaintenance are year-round tasks. We continue to focus on our proactive approach toroadside cutback work to remove and regain control over unwanted vegetation toensure and a safe roadside and improve roadside maintenance efficiency.NStar continues to work on the reliability of large distribution circuits. This wintertrimming was done in South Orleans.The Town’s use of chainsaws in daily and emergency work requires proper ongoingtraining. The Tree Department partnered with the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension andthe Cape Cod National Seashore to provide hands-on workshops for chainsaws andchippers. Personnel from Tree, Water, Parks and Highway Departments participated inclassroom and field instruction for safety and performance. We then incorporatedcontinued training into daily operations and special projects. This successful effortprovided mandatory training for personnel, cooperation between departments, efficientexecution of responsibilities and improved emergency response.Other notable accomplishments:• The Tree Warden received the 2008 “Outstanding Citizen ForesterAward“ from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation andRecreation’s (DCR) Urban and Community Forestry Program.• The Town of Orleans has received the Tree City USA Award from theMassachusetts DCR Urban and Community Forestry Program. This is the11 th consecutive year that we have received this prestigious award.• The Tree Department participated in a large work project with the OrleansElementary School. Along with the Orleans Improvement Association, theBarnstable County Extension Service, Ameri-Corp Cape Cod and PrincipalCarreiro, we had volunteer work days. These efforts included installation oflarge memorial stones, creation of a school butterfly garden and an invasivespecies program.• Sponsored 2 nd Arbor Day Event at Bike Path forest restoration site.Volunteers from Nauset High School and Ameri-Corp planted 12 large treesdonated by NStar.• Awarded an Ameri-Corp intern two days a week for one year. This individualwill concentrate on the Orleans Tree Inventory.• The Tree Department continued coordination with the Ameri-Corp Cape Codvolunteer program. This year’s projects included environmental work at SeaCall Farms, Orleans Elementary School, Orleans Rail Trail and the Town’sWatershed.• This winter a suitable Tree Department workshop was built at the HighwayDepartment. This allowed for a dedicated storage and maintenance spacefor equipment. The work was done in-house and built with materials donated162