It has been a summer of strong storms, including heavy rains and winds causing overflowing lakes and flooded streets across Minneapolis.
Sadly, Minneapolis’ urban forest has taken the brunt of the storms.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Forestry Department is responsible for the planting, pruning and removal of 400,000 park trees and all city-owned trees, including the 200,000 boulevard trees on 1,100 miles of streets.
The Forestry Department reports that approximately 300 trees have been lost due to storm damage this year, including about 50 park trees and 250 boulevard trees.
This does not include the many branches — large and small — that have fallen in multiple storms or the massive storm that occurred on August 26 that did significant damage to area trees, property and power lines. The MPRB Forestry Department will remain busy with storm cleanup into the fall.
Clean up was delayed due to the park board strike but now that a agreement has been reached, parks are being cleaned up.
