Drought killing trees; costing GR money

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The continued drought is taking its toll on the trees.

The City of Grand Rapids has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to increase the tree population -- now, that investment may be in jeopardy.

Because of the drought, the trees are stressed -- withering and dropping leaves -- and some are dying.

"The best thing to do is to get water on these trees to get them hydrated and keep them growing," said City Forester Tyler Stevenson.

But the city can't get to them all and needs help.

Lee Muller is with the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks Urban Forest Project. The group's goal is to raise awareness about the benefits of a healthy tree population.

"This is a gator bag," said Muller, showing 24 Hour News 8 how the protective bag works. "You put this on a tree just by zipping up a tree."

Muller said gator bags hold 20 gallons of water and usually take five days to disperse the water into the soil -- but during this hot dry summer, the bags are drying up within a day or so.

"They have a top here and have holes in the bottom," explained Muller. "So you can just stick the hose in here and fill it up all the way."

If you don't have a gator bag, a steady stream by the base of a tree for a few hours will do.

The water saving trees and the city's investment.

The City of Grand Rapids spent close to $200,000 this spring to plant around 800 trees. It has secured a grant for an additional $210,000 and 850 more trees in the fall.

"The calculated return on that is for every dollar the city spends on maintaining and planting trees, that equals about $3.60 in return and benefits," said Muller.

The benefits are significant: from cleaner air, sequestering carbon and preventing the amount of storm water that needs to be treated. Studies show that a 20% canopy shading a street will decrease road repair costs by 60%. Collectively, the benefits save the city millions of dollars a year.

The total goal is to increase the area tree canopy from just over 30% to 40% by 2020 -- an additional 200,000 trees. Watering is critical to save the trees and meet that goal.

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Online:

Friends of Grand Rapids Parks Urban Forest Project