SALT LAKE CITY — It takes decades to grow the shade Utahns often take for granted and desperately need during the hot summer. For one Rose Park woman, making sure we don't lose what we already have has become her mission.
At the Rivers Bend Senior Center, Margaret Holloway enjoys a good puzzle. When she's not putting puzzle pieces together, she's driving through the neighborhood looking for trees that are dying, then reporting them to the city.
"Trees talk. They communicate," said Holloway, adding that the trees are telling her "that they need help."
Last year, Holloway reported about 50 struggling trees between Rose Park and the state fairgrounds. Salt Lake City's Urban Forestry Director says what she's seeing has been years in the making.
"Over the course of the last 10 years, Salt Lake City residents have been providing less water to trees," explained director Tony Gliot.
Gliot shared how that long-term thirst is one reason the city now removes three to four times as many trees each year as it did a decade ago.
Farmers, ranchers believe drought concerns in Utah grow beyond this season:
The city explained how watering the trees is essential, even during a drought, when they urge people to limit watering their lawns. Salt Lake City Public Lands said residents should water mature trees once a week between May and October.
The city is also receiving $11.5 million to plant more than 400 new trees, including along the 9-line and in the Fleet Block neighborhood.
But Gliot said planting the trees is the easy part.
"Keeping them alive. That's the quick answer here in Salt Lake City," he said.
For Holloway, saving the trees that are already here starts with something simple.
"A soaker is 15 bucks," she laughed. "It's 15 bucks!"
So one tree, one address, one piece at a time, Holloway works to keep Salt Lake City's shade from disappearing.
Anyone concerned about the health of a street tree can report it through the city's Urban Forestry page, which will send an arborist to check on it and replace it if needed.
