Derderian Named New Town Tree Warden

Special to the Transcript

Winthrop has a new Tree Warden with the appointment of Tom Derderian, a long-time Tree Committee member, replacing Paul O’Donnell. Derderian says, “I hope to follow in Paul O’Donnell’s deep footsteps. I see my mission as twofold: to ensure public safety by ordering the removal of trees that pose a danger to people or property and to enhance the green canopy of Winthrop for the next 100 years.

Derderian is a member of the Massachusetts Tree Wardens and Foresters Association and has been certified in UMass extension Green School arboriculture courses.

While in college at UMass in Amherst, Derderian worked summers at Weston Nursery in Hopkinton transplanting thousands of seedlings from the greenhouse into outside planting beds and on the UMass campus spent a summer working with the University tree department. He took many courses in botany and entomology at UMass but earned a degree in journalism and English literature. He worked for the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture as an apiary inspector for Worcester Country. For many years after college, Derderian was an executive at Nike in New Hampshire and Oregon. He has written several award-winning books and produced an acclaimed documentary film about the Boston Marathon.

Derderian says, “Now I want to work to enhance the number and size of the tree cover in Winthrop. We have many old trees that in the next decades will reach the end of their lives. But when a big tree with a diameter of 24 inches or more is replaced by a young tree with a diameter of two inches, the town has a net loss of three cover. That is the future Winthrop faces unless the trees lost are replaced by many more trees than are lost. To do that, the town has a memorial tree program in addition to its usual yearly plantings.

The town will plant a tree of varying species and size on private property anywhere in town. The property owner will buy the tree at the market rate which would hover around $300 to $500. The tree warden would approve of the suitability of a specific species to the site and the DPW would decide whether their equipment can dig in that location. If so, a check to the DPW would cover the cost of the tree. A memorial marker could be affixed to the tree with the name of the person to be remembered. Such trees could be planted on public property as well.

Predictions for Winthrop in the near future are for hotter weather and sudden torrential rains. Trees help ease those extremes by providing shade especially over black, heat-absorbing pavement, slowing winds in summer and winter, catching downpours, and slowing the progress of water into the town’s drainage system. Scientists expect summer temperatures to more frequently reach 100°F that can be life-threatening to vulnerable people.

For a new tree on your property send a check to The Town of Winthrop at the Department of Public Works, 100 Kennedy Dr., Winthrop, MA 02152. Explain exactly where you would like the tree and what kind of tree. A photo of the spot and an email address would facilitate a response. If it is the right tree in the right place the Tree Warden will approve the planting or suggest a species. If it is to be a memorial tree, include the name and dates.