04/02/2008
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Staff photo by Joe Phelanfrom the Kennebec Journal
KENNEBEC COUNTY Both list experience in commission race
Allen, Collins cite differences during their debate for Senate
STATE'S DEMOCRATS SHRUG OFF PALIN VISIT
Red Sox on edge of abyss
HERE'S TO HOPE
Event to offer ways to stop teens' alcohol abuse
HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY: Ramblers barely hold on for win
SOCCER NOTES: Rams battle to the wire
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
OAKLAND Manager accepts new job
WATERVILLE Mayoral hopefuls no novices
Tea room evokes Victorian era's genteel customs
NEIGHBORS SPURN STUDY
SKOWHEGAN BLAZE CLOSES KFC/TACO BELL
SOMERSET COUNTY Manslaughter suspect appears in court
Pair of goaltenders battle for ice time
Mt. Abram makes big statement
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
While the park appears clear-cut, it will soon be alive again.
The city Bureau of Parks, Cemeteries and Trees has plans to rejuvenate the park with hardy trees and plantings placed according to a landscape plan drawn by Larry Harty, a bureau employee with a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture.
The park contains stone memorials for those from the city who fought and died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Last spring, the city began work to rehabilitate the 50-foot-high Civil War monument that centers the park.
After stumps are removed, the next phase of the landscape work will be to bring in new trees and shrubs.
"Just like a home, foundation planting should be changed every 20 to 25 years," former city arborist and former City Councilor David Gomeau said Tuesday as he watched the work progress.
He pointed to a 6-foot-tall shrub masking the bottom of the central monument. "This is really showing its age," he said.
Jim Goulet, director of the Bureau of Parks, Cemeteries & Trees, said he hopes most of the work can be completed by Memorial Day, including restored copper plaques.
Harty helped take down some of the trees.
"We'll have a clean slate to mark out where the new trees will go and see how it looks," he said.
Goulet and Gomeau said the existing landscaping had matured.
"Any plant or flower or tree, once it matures, starts to decline," Goulet said.
As work continued Tuesday, students from Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta taped Gomeau for his local cable television show "What's Growing in Our Valley."
The replacement plant stock includes Canada red cherry trees.
"This is a real hardy cherry tree with reddish-green leaf," Goulet said. "It's absolutely gorgeous, very hardy for this climate and the intended purpose."
The landscape project is estimated to cost between $17,000 and $18,000.
Goulet said the Augusta Tree Board raised and donated $6,000 to the project and Kennebec Savings Bank, whose headquarters borders the park, also made a sizable contribution.
"It should cost taxpayers about $6,000," he said. "We have had this project on the burner for well over a year. We were just looking to replace those crab trees which have had years of environmental damage" from car pollution and being surrounded by pavement.
Betty Adams -- 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com
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