Kane Rotary Speaker Series: Tom Hartman and Tom Kase - The Trees of Kane Borough
KANE—EACH week the Kane Rotary Club invites a new speaker for their Monday lunch meeting. Member John Cleland is in charge of April’s programming. This week two men were invited to speak to the Rotarians about trees in Kane, Tom Hartman, the Chairman of the Borough Parks Commission and Tom Kase, the President of the Borough Council. Both men are retired foresters with extensive knowledge about trees.
Their visit coincided with Earth Day, April 22, and also fell close to Arbor Day which is on April 26.
Tom Hartman gave the history of Earth Day, which was first observed in 1970. The day was created to show appreciation for our planet and to focus the efforts to protect.
It led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Environmental Education Act, and the Clean Air Act. Today more than a billion people 190 countries use Earth Day to take action for the environment we all share.
Arbor Day, Hartman explained, had a far earlier beginning when it began in 1872 as a local celebration in Nebraska City, Nebraska. A man named J. Sterling Morton gathered people from across the state and together over 1 million trees were planted. Nearly 100 years later in 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.
Hartman explained why trees are so valuable,
particularly in cities. Trees provide a host of benefits that improve the environment, like cleaning the air, preventing erosion, and filtering water. The shade
they provide helps cool cities too. They shade paths and buildings, reducing heating and cooling costs overall.
Urban forests provide a sense of community and instill a sense of pride. They have been shown to make people happy in general. Hartman said, “They improve your mood, reduce stress, they’ve been shown to lower blood pressure, and boost the immune system.”
Kane has a strong historic connection with trees, with many over 100-150 years old. Many of the early plantings used native species like sugar maple and red maple. However, some of the trees planted over the years were the “wrong” species or the “wrong” place, sometimes both.
Some trees were planted directly under power lines and had the wrong structure needing constant maintenance and having a shorter lifespan. Some caused heaving and breaking of the sidewalks they shaded. “There’s a lot of problems that you run into just because the species or the site that you plant the tree isn’t really appropriate for that tree.” Hartman explained, “Those are all considerations to take when you decide what species of trees and where to plant them.”
Tom Kase has been planting trees in Kane for almost 30 years. He joined the Kane Shade Tree Commission in 1997 when he first moved here. He brought his planting records from the past decades, showing many successful projects, always attempting to choose the best tree for the location.
The Rotary Club has been generous to the Shade Tree Commission over the years and their contributions and volunteers are responsible for many trees in Kane.
Kase and the Shade Tree Commission were challenged by a Rotary member to plant 150 trees for Kane’s 150th Anniversary. With the help of a Collins Company Foundation grant, they exceeded the challenge. “We ended up planting 203 trees between the fall of 2013 and the summer of 2014.” Kase said.
More recently the annual volunteer day, KARE for Kane, has become a dedicated partnership for plantings. Fifty trees were planted in 2017, and another 20 were planted in 2018.
The newest partner is the State of Pennsylvania and its Treevitalize Program. They offer trees to communities under the condition that data about plantings is added to a specialized software called Treekeeper.
This spring was the first time that Kane participated, and 10 trees were purchased through the grant. Eight of the ten trees were planted at the Knox and Kane Trailhead that will grow into a beautiful welcome to residents and visitors using the trail.
In conclusion, Kase said, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.”
The borough plans to apply for the program again in the fall of 2024 and may add up to 30 trees, ensuring that Kane has a healthy population of street and park trees for years to come.