Brunswick battles climate change one tree at a time

Brunswick's tree nursery is small right now, just two raised beds, but town arborist Dennis Wilson expects it to grow much larger as Brunswick looks to grow an inventory of replacements. “Because of climate change, things are warming up. Storms [are] getting more severe, winds getting more [severe]. Some of these trees aren’t adapted to it,” Wilson said. Climate change, the arborist said, requires a more diverse assortment of tree species to be planted to replace the ones that break, get diseased, or become too old. The town's tree committee saw that need as they developed a plan to ensure Brunswick remains a town full of trees. “There are a number of trees in town already in rough shape and need to be replaced,” Jesse Bishop, a University of Maine forestry graduate who is chair of the tree committee, said. “So we will use some of the stock from the nursery for those pretty soon.”