Quincy’s next tree warden should be as qualified as our last

Have a question or concern about a tree on your street? See a city tree being cut down and wonder why? Until last week, you could have called Quincy’s first ever tree warden, Chris Hayward, for answers. And when you reached him, you would have encountered a knowledgeable, patient, and good-natured professional, an exemplary representative of the city.

Sadly for Quincy, Mr. Hayward was offered a job managing vegetation at an electric company, an offer he couldn’t afford to pass up. That leaves Quincy without a tree warden, a position it is required to fill, according to the state’s public shade tree law. We at the Quincy Tree Alliance want to make sure that the next tree warden has the expertise and experience, not to mention people skills, that Mr. Hayward did, and we hope the public will help us convince the city of the same.

Prior to November 2019, when Mr. Hayward started, Quincy did not have a dedicated arborist in charge of overseeing the city’s street trees, so residents’ calls about trees they were concerned about could go unanswered for months or years. Mr. Hayward started to organize what had been a haphazard process, assessing the health of trees he got calls about. If the trees posed a threat to the public, he would arrange for their removal, and if they didn’t, he would potentially add them to a list to be discussed in public tree hearings. He used the hearings as opportunities to educate residents about not only the issues affecting those specific trees but also general threats to trees, such as invasive insects. 

Mr. Hayward also began surveying the city’s estimated 20,000 trees. An accurate survey is crucial for gauging the health and diversity of our trees so that the city can prioritize their maintenance and the siting of new plantings. Mr. Hayward also worked closely with utility companies and other city departments to ensure that when they were going about their work, tree health was prioritized.

He also graciously shared his time and expertise in public talks hosted by the Quincy Tree Alliance and the Wollaston Garden Club, saying ahead of one such talk that a street tree is “just as important as a utility pole, as a fire hydrant, as a catch basin – even more important because it does more than just one thing.”

Quincy was extremely lucky to have a tree warden as knowledgeable and communicative as Mr. Hayward. With a degree in environmental geography, certification as an arborist, and years of experience managing urban forests and municipal conservation programs, Mr. Hayward could expertly assess a tree’s health, determine the best tree for a given location, and find solutions when utility or road work threatened healthy trees. His calm, clear-headed demeanor also helped him deal with pressure from residents who demanded that the city cut trees down as well as from those who wanted to save them whenever possible. 

The Quincy Tree Alliance is grateful for Mr. Hayward’s work over the past two-and-a-half years engaging with the public, managing the city's trees, and planning for the future. We encourage residents to reach out to their ward and at-large councilors, Commissioner of Natural Resources Dave Murphy, and Mayor Koch to ask that this important work continue with a new tree warden as qualified and responsive as Mr. Hayward was.

 – The Quincy Tree Alliance Board