By CRAIG FREILICH

MASSENA – With $50,000 from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Massena has hired a contractor to inventory all the trees in the village.

“They will be collecting data on the type, age, and size of our trees to help us develop new strategies as we plan for the management of our urban forest,” said Andrew McMahon, general manager of the Massena Electric Department and the appointed chairman of the village’s Arbor Committee.

While the village has worked on such a plan before, “the Massena Arbor Committee is very pleased that we are going to have a professional road map provided for us through this DEC forestry grant,” McMahon said. “We have made progress in recent years but having this guidance will point us toward the most effective deployment of funds.”

The grant will pay ArborPro, a contractor in the business of urban forest management, including inventories, assessments and management plans for municipalities, colleges and companies.

An ArborPro employee will be doing this inventory in the village over the next several weeks.

“We hope we’ll have sufficient funds to purchase tablets to be used by the Electric Department and the village DPW to track exiting trees and new trees,” McMahon said.

He said they are counting on a “clear professional plan on how to best manage the community’s forest, particularly with the infestation of EAB (emerald ash borer) concentrating on how to manage tree stock.”