By Dan Buckler, DNR Urban Forest Assessment Specialist, Daniel.Buckler@wisconsin.gov or 608-445-4578
Cemeteries are important and, to many people, sacred spaces in our communities. The landscaping of these places serves the dead, of course, but can also have a profound impact on the experiences of cemetery visitors and nearby residents. This is accomplished by vegetation and art, which encourages expressions of grief and melancholy but also celebration and hope.
Trees are a prominent part of this landscaping and this mission.
DNR Urban Forestry staff in the Milwaukee office became interested in these spaces and exploring whether we could offer ways to assist cemetery managers.
Because of fantastic help from our State of Wisconsin Student Development interns, Kylie Dypvik and Zack Stockdale-Pederson, we conducted a sample tree inventory of cemeteries across a five-county region of southeast Wisconsin. This winter, we produced a report from the study, summarizing our findings, making management suggestions and providing species lists for cemetery managers.
Our results ranged from the incredible to the concerning.
Let’s start with the incredible. Trees in cemeteries are big! Their average size was 18 inches in diameter, 10 inches more than other maintained spaces (e.g., parks, yards, golf courses and other manicured spaces) in southeast Wisconsin.
A large Norway spruce in Union Grove. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR
They also, for various reasons, have more trunk rot and canopy dieback than trees in other areas. This lends them an interesting aesthetic character and also means they are excellent trees for wildlife. Cemeteries are full of life!
DNR Urban Forestry intern Zack uses a stake to measure trunk rot in a silver maple in Milwaukee. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR
And now the concerning part. First, cemeteries have similar species diversity problems as other parts of the urban forest. Maples, for example, represent over 30% of cemetery trees, compared to about 26% of trees in maintained areas overall across the region. The overreliance on maples or other genera or species reduces these properties’ resilience to future disturbances such as insects, diseases or climate change.
Secondly, there is a lack of young trees in cemeteries. While the presence of large trees should be celebrated, there are too few small, young trees to replace them over time. This presents a challenge to the long-term appearance and atmosphere of the cemeteries.
Percentages of trees in three different diameter size classes across cemeteries, maintained spaces, all trees and street trees in the five-county area.
In the report, we also provided recommendations based on the study results. For example, while we don’t want to encourage over-management of cemeteries, almost every property engages in pruning of some kind (mostly crown raising), and we wanted to showcase proper pruning cuts. We also pointed to funding mechanisms (for example, some cemeteries are qualified to apply for DNR Urban Forestry grants) and offered species suggestions for cemetery managers.
We are grateful to all the cemetery managers who permitted us to study their trees and grateful to all of you who help to support these important parts of our communities and our social fabric.
The congressionally mandated National Urban and Community Forestry (NUCF) Ten Year Action Plan creates a guiding framework that optimizes innovations, resources and collaborations for the field of urban and community forestry. Input gathered through this voluntary form is part of the stakeholder engagement process and will help update the NUCF Ten Year Action Plan.