The Suffield Tree Committee has the pleasure and responsibility to follow the directives of two special Funds. The first was left in memory of Helena Bailey Spencer, in care of the Town to be administered by a committee of the First Selectman, Town Treasurer and the President of the Suffield Garden Club. The second was a bequest from Vallyn Gallivan, a forward looking woman, who left her gift in care of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to be administered by that same committee. Additional members have joined this committee and many of the past presidents of the Garden Club have stayed on. In the past few years the committee has planted 46 new trees with 39 of them planted within the Main Street Historic area. The Garden Club has also planted 20 dogwoods in this area. The sad news is that in the past 5 years we have lost 56 damaged and dying trees from storms and general removal. The Tree Committee does not become involved in removal decisions because their purpose is to decide where to plant trees in order to enhance the beauty of the town and to preserve the landscape of our Scenic Byway.
The purpose of many interested people gathered at the February meeting of the Suf-field Tree Committee was to come to an understanding of how decisions are made for the removal and care of trees in the Town of Suffield, especially those in the Historic District on North and South Main Street. Gathered were all members of the committee, Town representatives and some employees of Asplundth Tree Experts who do the tree work requested by Eversource. The State of CT also does tree removal but was not represented there. The many reasons of tree removal and pruning were discussed such as power line infringement and dangerous limbs of dying and decaying trees. A greater understanding of what permissions and guidelines are in place have cleared some misunderstandings. The committee believes we emphasized the importance of trees in our Historic District for the beauty and health of our community. Our goal is to continue to plant trees that are both correct in size and are historically appropriate. Our work continues.