<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Friends,<div><br></div><div>Last night, I wrote a “pointed” letter to Mayor Schlichter regarding the cutting of trees behind the armory. (See far below.) I gotta give him credit for a thorough response! But note, he is planning even more cutting in East Muskingum park. </div><div><br></div><div>I recommend that you read my letter first (far below), and then his reply (below). </div><div><br></div><div>I do plan to write back to him to thank him for his thorough reply, and ask him to explain why, if a tree fell on a house in Harmar recently, and if the city said it couldn’t come to my house to trim my “dangerous” tree until January, why they have time to muck with the trees behind the Armory that aren’t endangering power lines or buildings. But I’ll try to say it nicely. </div><div><br></div><div>—dawn</div><div><br><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><b>From:</b> Josh Schlicher <jschlicher@mariettaoh.net><br><b>Date:</b> November 23, 2020 at 2:33:43 PM EST<br><b>To:</b> Dawn Hewitt <hewitt@earth-maker.com><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>RE: Armory trees</b><br><br></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><span>Dear Ms. Hewitt,</span><br><span></span><br><span>Thanks for contacting me about the Lock One Park project. We have been working on this project since June after we started to remove the 15+ years of neglect to this area. This area was allowed to overgrow into a unmanaged forest of poison ivy, vines, dangerous and undesirable trees. We are taking an unusable area and developing a small park that will be useable and desirable to the public. We are no longer going to allow our city to be ignored and left to overgrow due to either past bad practices or no practices. My office receives daily tree complaints and just last Saturday night we had a tree fall on a house in the Harmar area and do $10,000 in damage. Luckily no one was walking on the sidewalk or in their front yard when it fell.</span><br><span></span><br><span>I appreciate your concerns but we are no longer going to ignore the fact that we have major tree issues to deal with. It would be irresponsible as city managers to do so.</span><br><span></span><br><span>I will answer your questions-</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>What happened to the trees behind the Armory? We removed several that we identified as problems. We also thinned out areas while maintaining our old sycamores.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Q-</span><br><span>The barren landscape is shocking and sad. I hate to think of the erosion that could will result from winter rain and snow while that soil lies bare. Why were those trees cut? Rumor has it that AEP cut them because some were interfering with power lines. I don’t object to that, but many stumps remain far from the power lines. I saw a stack of logs there this afternoon, and some were sycamore—a native species that does well on stream banks. Its deep roots hold soil.</span><br><span></span><br><span>A-</span><br><span>AEP did remove several as well as our plan to open up the area. The sycamores were trimmed up and one small sycamore tree was removed due to it left to grow at a 45 degree angle over the river bank.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Just a few months ago, some of Marietta residents who are concerned about riverbank protection met in the area of Goose Run and surveyed the plants there. We even pulled out garlic mustard and a few other exotic invasive species, but for the most part, the vegetation there was serving pollinators, songbirds, reptiles and amphibians as it held the soil. It was a lovely green space in the urban area. Today, it looked to me like the area had been bombed. </span><br><span></span><br><span>Q-</span><br><span>My understanding is that the Marietta Tree Commission did not approve this clearcutting, and in fact, was not consulted prior to the destruction. Is that true? </span><br><span></span><br><span>A-</span><br><span>No that is not true, First we did not clear cut we thinned and removed problem and unpleasant trees, second the tree commission chairman was notified prior to cutting any trees and every month during the meetings they are in discussion of the project. I have also had many meetings with the commission members. They are aware we are developing a plan with professional engineers. The tree commission is an advisory commission appointed by me and do great work for our city. They are the most active and serve our city with caring individuals and we support all they do. However, public safety and concern is our responsibility. I have drafted many emails to the commission to keep them up to date and stay in communication. Can we do better? Of course we can, but my office is a busy place with 37 different city projects under way, things slip through from time to time.</span><br><span></span><br><span>S-</span><br><span>I hope native trees and other native vegetation will be replanted in this area as soon as possible. Seeds from whatever was growing before the area was strafed will now be dormant in the soil, and are likely to emerge in the spring (unless they flow with erosion into the river). But when they emerge, I hope no one plans to use a herbicide on them before planting something “desirable.” Herbicide use so close to the river is a dangerous, bad idea. The pollinator garden planned on the opposite bank of the river is using “solarization” to kill exotic invasive plants, but there, we rescued dozens of native plants before we laid the plastic. </span><br><span></span><br><span>A-</span><br><span>The area has been looked at and silt socks put in place that comply with soil and water erosion guidelines and were overseen by that authority. We are not spraying herbicide on anything. We are removing the weeds and vegetation so the public can see your new pollinator garden across the river. </span><br><span></span><br><span>Q-</span><br><span>I would genuinely like to know what is planned for this high-profile location behind the Armory that is an improvement over the trees that were there. What is the plan? What is there is not only an eyesore, it’s a dirty rotten shame that those trees, that urban green space was wantonly destroyed. </span><br><span></span><br><span>A-</span><br><span>I will respectfully disagree that the high-profile location and prime real estate of the public was wantonly destroyed. The past wasteland that was left to develop and was abandoned by previous city administrations was the dirty rotten shame. My focus is on improvements to city assets not wantonly destroying them. The Armory was a $4 million investment, my administration with the development department rebuilt the Harbor this year with many more improvements planned next year. The last time this building saw any maintenance was 1993. We are developing the area with professional engineers, Washington County Soil and Water, Muskingum Watershed Conservatory, FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers ( river dredging project ) that are well suited to guide us and provide the oversight to make the improvements. I already have secured funding for the new park area that will not come from taxpayers. I have had an overwhelming majority of support for this project. We are supporting the development of the railroad bridge pedestrian corridor and in order to do that we needed to remove several trees and AEP took responsibility for that portion to protect their infrastructure and transmission lines. It might be an eyesore currently for some but those that have vision and know the plan understand it is progress in the making. Some won't understand that or care but the overwhelming majority are supportive of this new park, Harbor, Armory and pedestrian crossing. We are also planning a restoration and improvement project in East Muskingum Park and that will also involve removing a few trees. We also have plans next year to do improvements on the Levee and more unappealing trees, weeds and vegetation will be removed.</span><br><span></span><br><span>S-</span><br><span>Please understand that the citizens of Marietta care deeply about the trees we own, and that includes trees on public property. Those were our trees, and they shouldn’t have been cut.</span><br><span></span><br><span>We have about 8,000 trees we are responsible for in the city and we are going to maintain them and not let dangerous situations go on as in years past. They are public trees and the overwhelming majority of our citizens want action from me. My office receives daily calls and complaints about trees. This includes trimming, removing and maintaining all 8,000 responsibly. I have even reassigned a member of our new Public Works Department as our "Community Response Specialist" to handle tree issues.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Thanks again for contacting me and if I can be of further assistance please let me know.</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>Josh Schlicher</span><br><span>Mayor</span><br><span>City of Marietta</span><br><span>301 Putnam Street</span><br><span>Suite 1000</span><br><span>Marietta, OH 45750</span><br><span>740-373-1387 Office</span><br><span>740-516-4901 City Cell</span><br><span>740-350-1337 Personal Cell</span><br><span></span><br><span>-----Original Message-----</span><br><span>From: Dawn Hewitt [mailto:hewitt@earth-maker.com] </span><br><span>Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2020 10:42 PM</span><br><span>To: Josh Schlicher <jschlicher@mariettaoh.net></span><br><span>Subject: Armory trees</span><br><span></span><br><span>CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Dear Mayor Schlicher,</span><br><span></span><br><span>What happened to the trees behind the Armory? The barren landscape is shocking and sad. I hate to think of the erosion that could will result from winter rain and snow while that soil lies bare. Why were those trees cut? Rumor has it that AEP cut them because some were interfering with power lines. I don’t object to that, but many stumps remain far from the power lines. I saw a stack of logs there this afternoon, and some were sycamore—a native species that does well on stream banks. Its deep roots hold soil. </span><br><span></span><br><span>Just a few months ago, some of Marietta residents who are concerned about riverbank protection met in the area of Goose Run and surveyed the plants there. We even pulled out garlic mustard and a few other exotic invasive species, but for the most part, the vegetation there was serving pollinators, songbirds, reptiles and amphibians as it held the soil. It was a lovely green space in the urban area. Today, it looked to me like the area had been bombed. </span><br><span></span><br><span>My understanding is that the Marietta Tree Commission did not approve this clearcutting, and in fact, was not consulted prior to the destruction. Is that true? </span><br><span></span><br><span>I hope native trees and other native vegetation will be replanted in this area as soon as possible. Seeds from whatever was growing before the area was strafed will now be dormant in the soil, and are likely to emerge in the spring (unless they flow with erosion into the river). But when they emerge, I hope no one plans to use a herbicide on them before planting something “desirable.” Herbicide use so close to the river is a dangerous, bad idea. The pollinator garden planned on the opposite bank of the river is using “solarization” to kill exotic invasive plants, but there, we rescued dozens of native plants before we laid the plastic. </span><br><span></span><br><span>I would genuinely like to know what is planned for this high-profile location behind the Armory that is an improvement over the trees that were there. What is the plan? What is there is not only an eyesore, it’s a dirty rotten shame that those trees, that urban green space was wantonly destroyed. </span><br><span></span><br><span>Please understand that the citizens of Marietta care deeply about the trees we own, and that includes trees on public property. Those were our trees, and they shouldn’t have been cut. </span><br><span></span><br><span>Sincerely,</span><br><span></span><br><span>Dawn Hewitt</span><br><span>622 N. Seventh St.</span><br><span>Marietta, OH 45750</span><br></div></blockquote></div></body></html>