Mayville’s Entire Tree Advisory Committee Resigned After Waiting Three Years for a Tree Board, Having Won a Grant for 68 Lakeside Park Trees

Laura Marsala read the letter aloud at Mayville’s Village Board meeting in October, and it was short on drama and long on disappointment. Every member of the village’s Tree Advisory Committee, which she chairs, was stepping down, effective Oct. 13, after three years of waiting for a formal tree board to be written into law.

The Mayville, New York, volunteers, whose village sits at the northwest end of Chautauqua Lake in Chautauqua County, leave behind a grant for 68 trees in Lakeside Park and, by Marsala’s count, more than 100 other trees added around the village. The village board’s reply, according to the Post-Journal, went no further than thanking her.

What the Resignation Letter Said

The committee told the board it is stepping back until conditions are more conducive to reaching its goals, the Post-Journal reported on Nov. 2. Marsala wrote that the group had waited three years for a formal tree board to be established in law and wanted to put its energy into projects that can actually be finished.

The letter also listed what the village was losing. The members include a certified arborist, an EPA research biologist, two master gardeners, a professional gardener, a high school field and environmental sciences teacher and a nurseryman with 30 years in the trade. Seven other volunteers who helped the committee also left, the paper said.

Three Years of Planting in Lakeside Park and Beyond

The Observer summarized the committee’s record in a Nov. 3 story. The group secured the grant for 68 trees in Lakeside Park and kept water bags filled so young trees could get through hot summers. It held April education sessions at the library, organized Arbor Day ceremonies, planted trees in the cemetery and ran a “Tree Day” with third-grade teachers. It also created a matching fund to encourage residents to plant trees on their own property.

Marsala said more than 100 additional trees were added to the village over that time, on top of the park planting.

Why a Tree Board Matters to the Group

The sticking point is the difference between an advisory committee and a legally established tree board. Marsala cited the duties that the village’s recently adopted Comprehensive Plan assigns to a Tree Board, among them an annual work plan, a tree care ordinance, a tree inventory, canopy coverage goals over 10 years, an Arbor Day ceremony and input on zoning and building issues.

The Arbor Day Foundation runs Tree City USA, a national recognition program that began in 1976 with 42 communities and now lists 3,636. Its four standards show why the structure matters beyond Mayville. The first standard requires a community tree board, department or position with legal authority and responsibility for public tree care decisions. The second calls for a public tree care ordinance, which incorporated communities must submit as an ordinance rather than a policy. The other two are spending at least $2 per capita a year on community tree care and holding an Arbor Day observance with a signed proclamation. Mayville’s plan, as Marsala described it, points the village toward those same pieces. Nothing in the reporting says the village has applied for Tree City USA status.

The Mayor’s Plan and the Question Marsala Raised

Mayor Rick Syper previously said he intended to make the Board of Trustees the Tree Board, according to both papers. Marsala questioned whether trustees would have the knowledge, time and experience to carry out the work. “Now the work is on the Board of Trustees’ shoulders,” she wrote.

The coverage does not describe a replacement committee, a vote on the trustees’ new role or a timeline for adopting a tree board. The letter is dated Oct. 13, and the papers published their stories in early November, after the board heard it at its October meeting. For now, the village has a grant-funded planting at Lakeside Park and a comprehensive plan that calls for a tree board, while the committee that spent three years waiting for one has stepped back.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Andre Carrotflower – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons