The Village of Lombard’s winter tree pruning program is underway and will continue through April 2022. The designated area scheduled for pruning is between S Addison Avenue and S Grace Street, from east to west, and St. Charles Road to Wilson Avenue, from north to south.
The pruning work will be done using in-house Forestry staff and a private tree maintenance firm contracted by the Village of Lombard. Trees will be pruned according to professional standards set forth within the tree care industry. The pruning is scheduled for completion by the end of April 2022.
Trees will be pruned to a minimum height of 15 feet over the roadway for safe clearance by all vehicles and pedestrians and to remove sight obstructions for signs. Also, limbs will be removed if they are diseased, infested, broken, hanging, dead, weakly attached, structurally unsound, in contact with other limbs, interfering with utility lines or street lights or interfering with other trees on private property.
Public safety is the Village’s first priority, followed by tree health and then aesthetics. Parkway trees have different maintenance requirements than decorative landscape trees and are therefore pruned accordingly. Normally no more than one-quarter of the live crown will be removed at one time. The determination of how much to remove depends on the tree species, size and condition of the tree, as well as the duration between pruning cycles. The Village tries to maintain a 6-year pruning cycle for trees greater than 6 inches in diameter and a 3-year cycle for trees less than 6 inches. The shorter the pruning cycle, the less live material needs to be removed each time. The natural form of the tree is maintained as much as possible, with tree growth directed upward and outward.
Throughout the year, the Village’s in-house forestry personnel will continue pruning other parkway trees. This proactive pruning allows a gradual raising of the crown, correcting defects early in the tree’s life, and smaller pruning wounds that close rapidly.
For more information, please visit www.villageoflombard.org/treetrimming or contact the Public Works Department, Forestry Division at publicworks@villageoflombard.org or (630) 620-5740.