Tree Warden
What is a Tree Warden?
A Tree Warden is the person in charge of shade trees in towns and cities. The word "warden" was a common title for natural resource officials in the late 1800s. Being a warden signified a unique legal responsibility: to guard public resources against destructive forces that might include persons, insects, or diseases.
Since 1899, Massachusetts General Law has mandated that all cities and towns in the Commonwealth have a Tree Warden. The Tree Warden mandate is still in effect today under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 1 and Section 106.
What do Tree Wardens Do?
The scope of a Tree Warden's job is broad. In addition to having responsibility for trees along streets, a Tree Warden may have responsibility for all community trees - those in town commons, parks, schoolyards, and town forests. The position of Tree Warden requires qualified training in arboriculture; the science of tree care.
Some of the duties of a Tree Warden include but are not limited to:
- Pruning trees on streets and parks
- Removing dead or dying trees (from storms, insects, disease or old age)
- Sighting locations and planting new trees
- Conduct street tree inventories & hazard tree assessments