Glen Noonan has fond memories of the drive from his family’s Kasson Township farm to Traverse City when he as a child.
What impressed him the most were trees along the road.

“The Ruthardt family had planted sugar maples along the roads going into Traverse. Riding in the car, when I was a child, those trees were so beautiful,” said Noonan, who is 82.

As the longest-serving county Road Commission member (nearly 38 years) in state history, Noonan has had to decide the fate of some of the sugar maples, or hard maples as he calls them. “I’ve been on the board and had to decide to take down a lot of these trees due to old age or disease,” Noonan said. “I felt they should be replanted.”
SUGAR MAPLE saplings along M-72 and County Road 667 were planted earlier this month.
Noonan and his family have set aside $5,000 to start up a county-wide tree replacement program. With the help of the county Parks and Recreation Commission, of which he is a member, the Leelanau Conservation District and the county’s maintenance staff, he saw his wish for new trees come true earlier this month.

On May 6, Noonan, his son Roger and two of his sons, county Drain Commissioner Steve Christensen, Chris Garthe and county maintenance staff members Jerry Culman, Len Beyers and Dennis Briggeman, planted 100 sugar maple saplings along M-72 and County Road 667. The trees were purchased through the Conservation District by director Buzz Long from the Zelenka Nursery in Grand Haven. Long said the trees were about three-quarters of an inch in diameter and eight to 10 feet tall when planted last week.

Christensen also serves on the county Parks and Recreation Commission. “Some of those maples were planted 150 years ago, it’s a real shame to see them dying off,” he said.

Christensen said Noonan first came to the commission with an idea to start a county-wide program and provide some seed money through private donations. The commission accepted the Noonan family donation and put together a plan for a program.

“We presented the concept to the county board, they said it was a great idea, and we started putting it together,” Christensen said.
Working with Conservation District personnel, the county tree replanting program accepts donations of funds and trees to replace those that have been removed along roads in the county. If a private property owner wants to participate, a new tree would be planted to replace the old one.

“One of the biggest concerns we have is watering. It’s very important when you first plant a tree like a sugar maple it has to be watered on a regular basis,” Christensen said. If the property owner can’t water the tree, Christensen said the county will find volunteers to help. Property owners should also understand the trees will be planted outside of the public road right-of-way, he said.

“Really, the most important aspect of this is we want to get trees planted in the ground to replace the ones we are losing to old age. Sugar maples are a hardy hardwood tree, long lived and highly resistant to infestations,” Christensen said. Other varieties of trees will be offered as well as shrubs.
“Sometimes due to height concerns, like under or near power lines, we can’t plant trees that will grow real tall. There we can put shrubs or bushes,” Christensen said.

Christensen said it was Noonan who made the program possible. “Glen was the one who went out and got the support for this program. He made the arrangement to have the proper equipment on hand when we planted the trees, he lined up the property owners interested in having the trees on their property. Glen isn’t one for seeking the spotlight but it has been real inspiring to me to have Glen spearheading this,” Christensen said.
For more information about the county tree planting program, call Christensen at (231) 256-9669.