The City of Bloomington has been working for the past few years to grow its urban forest and plant more storm-resistant trees.

There are about 24,000 trees in parks, medians and other city-owned and managed property.

Between January and June, the city planted 201 trees across 27 species. Crews pruned 265 trees and removed 98 dead, dying and/or hazardous trees. The city also inspected over 3,600 trees and assessed 530 ash trees.

Haskell Smith, urban forester for the city, said in 2022, there were over 1,200 invasive Callery pear trees. Since then, crews have removed about 76 Callery pear trees a year as part of a plan to eliminate the invasive species.

The city has been planting more storm-resistant trees instead, such as oaks and sugar maples.

“It really boils down to removing the ones that --- like the Callery pears --- fail a lot on a long-term cycle and replacing them with ones that we've seen over time have resistance to storms,” he said. “You know, nothing's really necessarily resistant to a tornado, but our average winds of 40, 45 miles an hour, they handle very well.”

Smith said a variety of grants have helped pay for the work he’s done to plant and manage trees around the city. Over $95,000 in grant funding will help expand the urban forest this year.

Smith said the city tries to plant 20 percent more trees than it removes a year; crews aim to plant a minimum of 300 trees a year. He said the trees support beautification and heat island reduction.

“Trees are a long-term thing,” Smith said. “Unlike mowing grass, where it's kind of a weekly thing, trees are a decades-long process, so, we're planting now for 30, 40, 50 years from now.”