River Common attracts tree lovers

WILKES-BARRE – The River Common park has caught the eye of tree lovers who are coming to the city Friday for the summer meeting of the Northeast Pennsylvania Community Tree Association.

The association, a collection of regional shade-tree commissions and others interested in urban greenery, chose Wilkes-Barre for its annual summer meeting because of the new riverside park and the city’s recent designation as a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. The city has planted more than 400 trees in the past five years, according to the association.

“From what I’ve heard from people coming is they really want to see the River Common,” said Vinnie Cotrone, an urban forester with the Luzerne County Cooperative Extension who is helping to plan the meeting. “We’re going to go out in the afternoon, take a walk through the River Common and talk about what’s been going on there.”

Dave Nowak, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, will discuss studies of the influence of tree canopies in Scranton and the Toby Creek watershed. As part of the service’s Urban Forest Effects Model, the studies are quantifying trees’ economic and environmental effects, including carbon sequestration, storm water infiltration and cooling.

Toby Creek, for example, is roughly 54 percent covered with tree canopy, reducing storm water runoff by 11 percent, Cotrone said. “If we can keep canopy cover in the 50 (percent range), that’s great. The problem is we don’t know. I mean, the Back Mountain there keeps developing,” he said. “We’ve been seeing a decline in canopy cover. … We’ve been paving over things.”

Mary Pat Appel, the arborist consultant on plantings at the River Common, will discuss that project and the challenges faced in keeping large, mature trees and selecting and planting more than 300 trees throughout the park, including blight-resistant elms.

Cotrone said a host of issues came up regarding tree root systems and maintaining the structural integrity of the levee.

“I had to write a whole report about tree rooting to keep those cherries,” he said, noting that new cherry trees were planted on top of the levee south of the Market Street Bridge.

Other forestry challenges will be discussed, he said, including invasive species and climate change. He said about 50 people have already registered for the meeting, which carries a $15 registration fee.

If you go

The public is invited to join the Northeast Pennsylvania Community Tree Association walk through the River Common project, beginning at 1 p.m. Friday in the park across from Wilkes University’s Dorothy Dickson Darte Center.

The meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. in the center and carries a $15 registration fee, is geared toward specialists and professionals. To register, called the Cooperative Extension at (570) 825-1701.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.