In the summertime, the beautiful trees all around Great Falls provide nice shade, but at other times they’re cause for confusion among the community. Todd Seymanski, the city forester for Great Falls Park & Recreation, filled us in to clear up some of that confusion.
“We pretty much handle most tree related issues in Great Falls, unfortunately, where some of the confusion begins is we have an area of town called the Boulevard District that the folks that live in that area pay a special assessment for us to take care of the trees on the right of way,” said Seymanski.
Park & Recreation does not need permission from homeowners in the area before trimming or removing trees located in the right of way inside the Boulevard District.
These individuals pay a portion of taxes to allow the city to care for and maintain these trees.
Seymanski said, “We also take care of all the trees in the parks and the two city-owned golf courses.”
Aside from the City of Great Falls Forestry Division, there are other companies who also trim or remove trees for various reasons.
“The Northwestern Energy folks, [and] a couple different companies, they're doing line clearance, so they are going through all the alleys and that type of stuff, and they themselves contact the private landowner,” Seymanski said. “Also in the alleys, there's a little bit of city right of way, but the care and maintenance of that, by city ordinance, is up to the adjoining property owner.”
Back in August of 2023, trees that were affected by Dutch Elm Disease were marked for removal. These trees are still in the process of being removed by the city forestry division.
For a map of the Boulevard District or for more information on the forestry services provided, you can visit the Park & Recreation website by clicking here.
