Recently, certain trees throughout the parks of Waynesburg have been tagged with a peculiar fluorescent mark, signifying their status for removal.

The process of identifying which trees need to be cut or left alone goes through a local, retired forester, Bill Wentzel. Without any real timetable, Wentzel said he tries to take note of the trees that might need to be removed whenever he passes through the parks.

“I pass through [the parks] all the time and I just keep an eye on the trees and I just notice which ones are hazards to the public,” said Wentzel. “They are dying at the top or they got dead, rotting places in the bottom of the tree, trunk and so forth, and big limbs hanging from the tops – usually it’s the older ones that have been there for a long time.”

Wentzel said he compiles a list of the trees which need to be removed and passed them on to the Waynesburg Borough.

“I report that [list] to [Michael Simms, borough manager,] and he gets a hold of a tree removal company and they come in and cut them out,” said Wentzel.

Although Wentzel has selected which trees he believes are no longer safe to leave standing and marked them, he said he has not sent the list in yet.

“It’s always a matter of money with the parks and if the borough has enough money to do this work,” said Wentzel. “I haven’t given them my final report yet on which trees [should be cut], but if you walk through the park you can see some trees have an X at the bottom in florescent paint, those are the ones I thought should be removed because they are a danger to the public.”

Simms said the removal of the marked trees serves a dual purpose for the community.

“For one thing, it’s for the beauty of the park – plus the fact it is a safety concern if some of those trees were to die and fall,” said Simms.

This year, Wentzel said he estimates eight trees will be removed from the parks of Waynesburg. A majority of the trees which need to be removed, he said, are American Linden, along with Red Maple and White Ash. While some of these trees have just gone through their natural life cycle, Wentzel said some of the ash trees are dying prematurely.

“The White Ash ends up being affected by this emerald ash bore, which ends up killing a lot of ash trees,” he said.

Along with the removal process, comes the replacement efforts. Wentzel said the borough typically replaces the removed trees with new ones to grow.

“We try and plant a variety of native trees; oaks, maples and that sort of thing,” he said. “We also try and mix in some flowering trees.”

This year, Wentzel said the borough is planned to replant about 10 of these trees, which will go into the ground Arbor Day, April 28.