Kirkland residents dream of tree city: Tree removal frustration grows into shared group with hopes for a greener community

KIRKLAND – About 10 months after some Kirkland residents expressed dismay at a village project that required trees to be cut down, the group has turned that frustration into a goal: to make Kirkland a green city.

Residents recently reformed the Kirkland Tree Commission, a cooperative effort meant to enhance the community’s canopy in collaboration with the village.

Dozens of trees were removed by the village of Kirkland from the strip of grass between Kirkland neighborhood roads and the adjacent sidewalks in August 2022 to make way for a new curb and sewer system.

Village officials said they’d tried to find a way to install the new sewer system without needing to remove trees, but they determined that removal was the “safest, most viable solution,” Village President Ryan Block said at the time.

The felling of those trees didn’t sit right with Kirkland resident Dawn Darling, 56, one of the founding members of the Kirkland Tree Commission.

Darling said Kirkland’s Village Board approved the creation of a tree commission four or five years ago, but it fell by the wayside in 2020.

“So when we went back to the board meeting to discuss all of these trees being taken down, it was discovered they were favorable to us forming a board to be able to handle if something like this comes up again – the right way to handle it,” Darling said.

Formed in the fall of 2022, Darling said she and the six other members of the Kirkland Tree Commission “are still trying to work the kinks out” but have ambitions to use the new commission to turn the village of Kirkland into a tree city.

We just are trying to support homeowners who are trying to put tree in front of their houses. Obviously our committee isn’t about controlling what they’re putting in their own yards.”

—  Dawn Darling, Kirkland Tree Commission member

Tree City USA is a 47-year-old Arbor Day Foundation program that encourages urban forests. In 2022, 3,559 municipalities were designated tree cities by the Arbor Day Foundation. According to the foundation’s website, trees and urban forests create cooler temperatures, cleaner air, higher property values and healthier residents.

Trees can help to keep pollutants out of waterways and can reduce urban flooding by managing stormwater runoff, according to Kirkland Tree Commission documents.

The tree commission also planted a swamp white oak tree in Behnke Park on April 28 as a way to celebrate Arbor Day.

Founding commission member Jeff Miller, 68, of Kirkland said trees in his neighborhood were decimated by an emerald ash borer beetle infestation. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the emerald ash borer is responsible for the destruction of tens of millions of ash trees in 30 states.

“If you go up there now, it looks like a wasteland,” Miller said.

The emerald ash borer had devastating effects on the tree canopy in Miller’s neighborhood because the majority of trees planted there were ash trees. Had more diverse trees been planted, the effect of the bug could have been less severe.

Removing dying or dead trees isn’t the problem, but getting replacement trees planted in their place has been, Miller said.

A recommended tree list has been developed by the tree commission to help Kirkland residents identify trees that can be resilient to known infestations. The list also includes tree species that are safe to grow inside a parkway – the strip of land between the street and sidewalk – without causing damage to the sidewalk or curb.

“We just are trying to support homeowners who are trying to put tree in front of their houses. Obviously our committee isn’t about controlling what they’re putting in their own yards,” Darling said.

Kirkland Public Works Superintendent Jim Stark said he’s learned a lot since he was asked to join the tree commission when it formed.

“I appreciate it myself. I like trees. ... I really don’t cut down trees unless they really have to come down,” Stark said. “You know, there’s all kinds of stuff you can do to trim them to try and save them before you take them down.”

The Kirkland Tree Commission hopes that Kirkland’s Village Board will approve a new permitting process for the planting of trees in homeowners’ parkways. If approved, that process would create a path forward for new tree cover in areas of Kirkland that recently lost its shade.

Not all parkways will be deemed fit for the new trees, Stark said.

When a permit application is placed, Stark assesses the location to determine whether a tree is permissible.

“My parkway on Main Street – I’m right by downtown, Main Street Kirkland – and I’ve only got a 2-foot parkway, so there’s no trees going in that area,” Stark said.