High winds that were responsible for a fallen tree in Apodaca Park and a broken branch in Pioneer Women’s Park on June 12 has compelled the Parks and Recreation Department to conduct an additional assessment of tree health in parks where older trees are located. Results of this assessment could impact the number of trees that need to be removed, pruned, or otherwise require specific maintenance associated with their current health status. To inform the public about this process and to provide additional information about the situation, the City is hosting a virtual meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 24. Go to https://www.las-cruces.org/215/Community-Engagement-Office to access the meeting information.
“We are looking at trees specifically in Apodaca, Klein, and Pioneer Women’s parks,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Sonya Delgado. “And community members may be seeing some tree removal in these parks depending on our assessment results. Our highest priority is to ensure that our city parks are safe.”
Delgado added that for each tree that must be removed, the department will replace it with two additional trees. She also explained that city park tree health is routinely monitored, but weak trees don’t always show signs of problems, or their condition can rapidly deteriorate between monitoring schedules. Severe weather events such as wind are often the only way these weaknesses are uncovered.
This meeting will be held by Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic and public health orders by the New Mexico Governor’s Office and New Mexico Department of Health, no in-person public meetings will be hosted by the City of Las Cruces throughout the current phase of the pandemic. Attendees may access the meeting through the City’s website at the Community Engagement Office web page at https://www.las-cruces.org/215/Community-Engagement-Office. You must be a registered user of Zoom before you can sign up to attend this meeting. Instructions are included on this website page. Once you are a registered user of Zoom, then click on the meeting title Park Trees in Pioneer, Klein and Apodaca Parks.