Title

"Cover Story" piece on Jeff Tarling, 44, of South Portland. Tarling, Portland's

Authors

Chris Busby

Source

Casco Bay Weekly

Date

6-17-1999

Pages

10, 11, 1

Abstract

"Cover Story" piece on Jeff Tarling, 44, of South Portland. Tarling, Portland's city arborist, is trying to restore Portland to its former glory as the Forest City, a nickname it earned because of the 20,000 majestic elms that lined its streets and parks for a century. Most of them were elm trees planted between 1850 and 1910, but Dutch elm disease killed all but about 20 of them during a devastating blight in the 1950s and '60s. Portland now has about 18,000 trees on public property, ranging from the towering specimens that give Deering Oaks its name to the grove of young ginkgos along the Eastern Promenade. Tarling and his crew have an annual budget of $220,000 to do everything from pruning to removing dead or damaged trees, and he tries to plant 300 to 500 new trees each year. Portland currently has six trees on the Maine Register of Big Trees, more than any other municipality in the state.

Subjects

Trees, Jeff Tarling

https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cbw_1999/24/

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