Henlopen Acres continues to clean up from winter storm

It’s been about two months since a winter storm in late February dumped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow on the Cape Region. There was tree damage everywhere, but Henlopen Acres and its well-known tree canopy appeared to be at the center of the storm.

During a Henlopen Acres Tree Committee meeting April 24, town officials said there were about a dozen of the town’s large trees that fell, which doesn’t account for the large limbs and branches or all the trees on private property.

Town Manager Anna Fagan said the town removed 600 cubic yards of tree debris from about 30 locations around town. There are still hanging limbs on trees, which is why there is green ribbon tied around the trunks of some of the trees, she said.

“The green means just a trimming,” said Fagan, to the relief of committee members concerned the green ribbon meant removal.

There are still about 10 trees in an area of town called Sandy Bottoms, a lagoon critical for the town’s stormwater management. The lagoon is located at the far eastern end of Tidewaters. The trees have fallen into the lagoon from private property in North Shores.

Removing those trees will likely require a dive team and will require permission from the property owners in North Shores to gain access, said Fagan. There’s more work to come, but the town is making progress, she said.

The only way there’d be no risk is if this town was a bunch of houses in a farm field, said Jay Ashby, town contractor and director of operations for Cypress Tree Care. That was a perfect storm to cause a lot of damage, because of the heavy, wet snow and high winds, he said.

Henlopen Acres isn’t the only community still recovering from the storm.

Ashby said every tree company he knows is backed up six months, and that doesn’t account for new customers. Recovery is going to take a while, he said.

More maintenance and pruning of town trees

Prior to the storm discussion, the town and Ashby reviewed a proposed contract for a renewed tree management program.

There’s been a lot of tree planting in the past and the town has reached a point where it needs to turn its focus on maintaining its trees, said Fagan. This contract has a lot of pruning, maintenance and fertilization, she said.

Ashby, who has been working with the town for years, said routine maintenance was last done in 2021. The town has been reactive to pruning needs, instead of proactive, he said.

As proposed, the town would be broken down into zones, with the contractor rotating annually, said Fagan. There would be pruning, irrigation, and pest and disease control measures taken, she said, adding the contractor would be relying on the tree inventory the town completed last year.

The proposed contract is for five years, said Ashby. It will take that long to get through the different areas of town, he said.

Ashby said the tree inventory’s data will be updated as the work is being done. Maintenance programs become routine, but the first five years can be painful, he said.

“Every one of the town’s trees is going to need pruning,” said Ashby.

Ultimately, no decision was made on the contract. The committee members will review it again at a future date before they decide.