By Donna Lane

According to Town Engineer and Superintendent of Public Works Mark Ryan, the Norwood Department of Public Works (DPW) recently planted 53 trees in 11 different locations in Norwood. Ryan said Norwood has had a tree-planting program in place for a number of years.

Have you ever stopped to think why trees are important? Trees provide many public health benefits. For example, trees produce oxygen, intercept airborne particulates and reduce smog, thereby enhancing our community’s respiratory health. 

How does this work? Trees get energy from photosynthesis, water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide to make glucose. Then, oxygen is released back into the air. A single tree produces almost 260 pounds of oxygen every year. Overall, trees produce roughly a third of all of the oxygen in the air. To put that into perspective, two mature trees can give off enough oxygen to keep a family of four people breathing. 

Furthermore, trees sequester carbon (CO2), reducing the overall concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere thereby helping with the climate crisis. They also help to prevent soil erosion and are a crucial habitat for wildlife. If it were not for trees, the rainwater that falls would all directly hit the ground’s soil, which would speed up issues like soil erosion and runoff. Instead, the trees  hold the water like a sponge, regulating the water cycle by absorbing it from the soil into their roots. Water is then moved up through the trunk, serving as food for the leaves and the branches.

In addition to these benefits, trees help to reduce energy costs and cool areas for recreation and relaxation, such as in playgrounds and parks. 

“It is not unusual for us to plant trees to create shade and to eliminate heat-sinks – that is, areas with significant asphalt or pavement,” Ryan said.

Trees also help to combat noise pollution. It is said that trees can reduce noise levels by up to 6 decibels, depending on how densely they are planted and their proximity to both the noise source and the person listening to it.

Trees provide such a huge range of benefits for people, wildlife and the environment; they are often called the ‘lungs of the world.’ We in Norwood are fortunate that our Town government recognizes their benefits and has, for many years, had a tree program in place.

Recent plantings include: 10 Linden and Honey Locust trees on Lenox Street; 6 Krauter Vesuvius flowering plum trees at Prospect Ave.; 3 crabapple trees at the Winter and Prospect Street traffic island; 3 crabapple trees at Washington St. and Waban Ave.; 2 crabapple trees at the Lopey Rich Park at the intersection of Washington, Bond and Winter Sts.; a London planetree on Nahatan St. across from St. Catherine’s church; a Honey Locust tree at the Guild and Broadway traffic island; and 5 trees at the Norwood Cemetery including a crab tree, beech and 2 cedar of Lebanon trees.

While Ryan typically selects the trees for most locations, 20 of the trees the DPW planted were fruit tree replacements for the public orchard at the Mylod St. field. These were selected by Holly Jones, Conservation Planner for the Town. None of the original plantings survived, likely because they were mere saplings grown in a different region and were challenged from the very start. The new trees are several years old and were grown locally, so they have a better chance of survival. Jones said there are ten apple trees, six different varieties; four cherry trees and two each of plum, serviceberry and pawpaw trees. Subsequent to the planting, 12 volunteers composted around the trees, mulched them and caged the smaller ones to prevent deer from snacking on them or rubbing against them.

When asked about maintenance of the newly planted orchard, Jones said that the Conservation Commission has been working with Mark Negron, a Boston Food Forest representative and an advocate for Norwood’s orchard to become permaculture-based, to organize a volunteer group to continue with stewardship of the orchard. (Permaculture strives to make things work together and relate to one another. By pairing different plants and other objects together correctly, one is able to take advantage of the relationships they have with one another.)

Jones said Negron was instrumental in getting the recent group of volunteers together. 

“We are hoping to cultivate and sustain this group of volunteers who will work with the Conservation Subcommittee to make sure these trees are cared for in the long term,” Jones said.

Going forward, there will be a need for pruning and other maintenance to be done by those experienced with fruit trees. 

“My vision is to hire experts not only to do the pruning and other maintenance tasks but to use this as an educational opportunity as well, such as having pruning and other maintenance workshops at the orchard so there’s a group of volunteers who are building their knowledge of how to do maintenance in a long-term way,” Jones said.

The key purpose of the orchard is to provide fruit for Norwood residents. How it will be distributed has not yet been determined. Right now, the focus is on keeping the trees in the orchard alive so they can produce fruit.

Residents are rooting for the replanting efforts to bear fruit!