Bradford Pear 'Bounty' coming to Wake Forest March 18
Area residents can remove an invasive Bradford pear tree from their property and exchange it for a free native tree at a Wake Forest Bradford Pear Bounty Saturday, March 18, from 9-11 a.m. at the Public Works Operations Center, 234 Friendship Chapel Road.
The initiative is offered through Bradford Pear Bounty NC, a partnership between NC Wildlife Federation, NC State Extension, NC Urban Forest Council and NC Forest Service to help control the spread of invasive Bradford pears by removing them from communities and replacing them with native alternatives.
Registration is required at https://bit.ly/WFBradfordPearBounty and will remain open until the event reaches capacity. Trees are unable to be shipped or reserved for later pickup, so pre-registered participants must collect their trees from 9-11 a.m.
Before registering, please note the following:
Only homeowners can register and receive replacement trees.
Tree removal is the homeowner’s responsibility. Select local tree care companies will offer Bradford pear tree removal discounts for program participants.
Pre-registered participants must take before-and-after photos of the Bradford pear trees they’ve cut down.
If the tree was not flowering when cut, an additional photo with a close-up of the leaves or bark is required. Participants must show the images to event organizers, who will then provide a 3-gallon native tree for each (up to five) they’ve cut down.
Tree species cannot be reserved, and tree selection will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Replacement native trees are subject to availability and may include boxelder (Acer negundo), red maple (Acer rubrum), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), flowering dogwood (Benthamidia Florida), river birch (Betula nigra), Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), swamp blackgum (Nyssa biflora), sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) or swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor).
Residents who cut down their Bradford pear should cut as close to the ground as possible and paint the stump with an effective systemic herbicide to kill the root system. Alternatively, homeowners can remove the stump from the ground entirely to help prevent it from re-sprouting.
Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana) is a medium-sized, deciduous, invasive tree native to China and Taiwan. For years, they were planted in urban areas as ornamental trees. Since its introduction to the United States, the Bradford pear has escaped cultivation and entered natural areas and disturbed habitats where it spreads rapidly, creating a monoculture and displacing native plants.
Bradford pears have waxy, dark green leaves and five-petaled flowers that grow in clusters on the terminal ends of the tree. The flowers have an unpleasant, musky scent in spring. Once pollinated, the flowers develop into abundant fruits, contributing to their dispersal. The trees have weak branches that often break due to high wind, snow, and ice, making them hazardous trees on the landscape and relatively short-lived.
The so-called ornamental tree threatens the balance of environmental biodiversity by competing with native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and young trees, negatively impacting the wildlife and pollinators that depend on those native plant and tree species.
“Everyone initially believed Bradford pears wouldn’t spread, but they did - quickly. It wasn’t long before they escaped into our natural forests and began to outcompete native species,” said Tara Moore, NCWF’s director of conservation partnerships.
The first Bradford Pear Bounty occurred last year, and Triad-area residents cut down 250 Bradford pear trees in the region and replaced them with native ones.
Leslie Moorman, executive director of N.C. Urban Forest Council added, “We were happily overwhelmed with the positive response the program received at the first tree exchange in Greensboro. Residents were eager to give the boot to these meddlesome and foul-smelling invaders, and we look forward to hosting future tree exchange events around the state as funding and logistics permit.”
For more information about the Wake Forest Bradford Pear Bounty, contact Tara Moore at [email protected] or 704-332-5696.