Houlton tree project wins county support

HOULTON – Aroostook County commissioners on Wednesday evening rooted their support in a program that will both garnish land around the Superior Court building and celebrate the town’s coming bicentennial.

Commissioners agreed during the hour-long meeting to allow County Administrator Doug Beaulieu to work with residents and the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce planting 200 trees to help celebrate Houlton’s 200th anniversary in 2007.

The idea for the townwide tree planting blossomed in the mind of Kay Bell, a Houlton resident who talked with commissioners about her idea Wednesday evening.

Bell told the group that there are several sites around town where the trees could be planted, and that she hopes that some local property owners also will allow trees to be planted on their land.

To kick off the event, Bell asked permission to plant five trees on the grounds of the Aroostook County Superior Court building. She said that a $500 donation recently made to the project could be used to purchase the trees.

“We plan to look around town and see where some trees could be planted,” she said. “We used to have a lot of trees in this area. Houlton has lost a lot of them over the years.”

A handful of town officials and volunteers have been working to organize the celebration since early last year. The fete will recognize the year that Joseph Houlton and his wife, Sarah, founded the town.

Bell said on Wednesday that she would like to see the first batch of trees planted by Arbor Day, which is later this month, or by the first week in June.

Chris Batby, the administrator for the Chamber of Commerce, told commissioners that the project would work in concert with Houlton’s downtown revitalization project.

“It is a big project, but one that I think is going to blossom on its own,” she said Wednesday evening. “We have teams of people willing to plant the trees if homeowners would like one planted on their land but are unable to do it. Our goal is to get 200 trees planted, and we want to get as close to our goal as possible.”

Beaulieu said at the meeting that he supported the initiative.

“I think this is a great idea,” he told commissioners.