Project Awareness: Supporting Healthy Vegetation in Aubrey Davis Park

The Aubrey Davis Master Plan, adopted in 2019, recommends that sections of the park’s forested edge be selectively thinned to improve forest health. Thinning is the term foresters apply to the selective removal of some trees in an area when necessary to give the remaining trees more room and resources to grow. This results in an overall healthier and more resilient tree canopy.

Approximately two acres of forested edge in Aubrey Davis Park – near the westbound I-90 on-ramp and the I-90 trail – are scheduled to be selectively thinned this fall as part of the City’s ongoing vegetation protection work throughout the park. Several trees in this area have died, and others are showing signs of significant decline due to competition for resources. Invasive trees will also be removed, and invasive English ivy will be cut from all trees to keep them healthy. This project also includes planter bed clean-up and landscape replanting.

While much of this work is done to maintain forest health, public safety is another important aspect to forest thinning. Limbing up low branches on trees and thinning dense stands improves visibility into the forest, allowing for improved sight lines for park users. Additionally, reducing the density of dead or declining trees also lowers fire and fall risks.

Trees that are too close together compete for necessary resources, such as water and sunlight. These trees may become stressed by the lack of necessary resources and die, blow over in wind events, or have their growth “stall” and stay at a relatively small size year after year. This is where thinning comes in: selectively removing dead and unhealthy trees from an overcrowded stand (a group of trees) improves the conditions for the remaining trees and allows them to thrive. Light and water are immediately made available, allowing for renewed growth and strong health, and sunlight can hit the forest floor, prompting seed germination – this creates an understory of plants that are beneficial for insects and wildlife, and aid with soil enrichment and development.

If you’d like to learn more about the Aubrey Davis Park Master Plan, visit the full project page here on Let's Talk.