'Branching out': Bozeman's urban forest gained 25 new trees Friday

By Nora Shelly, Bozeman Daily Chronicle Staff Writer
Link to Chronicle Article

Bozeman’s urban forest grew by 25 trees on Friday.

To mark Arbor Day, the city’s forestry division partnered with the Gallatin Watershed Council and Oboz Footwear to plant 25 willow, larch, birch and box elder trees in west Bozeman’s Bronken Park.

After being planted, the trees were immediately added to the city’s forestry database, where the 25,000 trees in city parks and boulevards are tracked for species type, condition and other metrics, City Forestry Division Manager Alex Nordquest said.

The forestry division is always looking for new spots to plant trees, Nordquest said, and the wetlands of Bronken Park jumped out at them this year.

“It’s quite a naturalized area,” Nordquest said. “This will always be park space. That’s development over there, you might have some development to the south, but this is still part of Bronken.”

Gallatin Watershed Council stewardship manager Brooke Helstrom said there are some exposed portions of Baxter Creek in the park. The trees will do “all the wonderful things that trees do,” Helstrom said, like help provide shade, decrease the temperature of the water, mitigate runoff and offer some habitat for wildlife.

The watershed council is leading the “Branch out Bozeman” initiative, which aims to “protect and enhance” Bozeman’s urban forest, Helstrom said.

The Branch out Bozeman initiative started about a year ago, Helstrom said, and aims to plant trees to promote equity and water quality.

While Friday’s event at Bronken Park goes toward the latter goal, Helstrom said they are hoping to work towards equity by working with Oboz to plant trees on South 20th Avenue next week.

Housing in the area is dominated by renters, who Helstrom noted are less likely to apply for the city’s cost-share program, which helps people subsidize planting new trees.

Nordquest said they have sold out of their 200 trees for the program for the year. Working with residents is a big part of the forestry division’s work, Nordquest said.

“We’re always looking for more ways to involve the public,” Nordquest said.