Tree Commission Chair and Town Council member Linus Bicker speaks about the West Virginia Department of Forestry’s Demonstration City grant in Town Hall on Jan. 8. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Over the next couple of months, German Street will be undergoing some noticeable changes, thanks to the hard work of the Shepherdstown Tree Commission.

During the Corporation of Shepherdstown’s monthly Town Council meeting on Jan. 8, Town Council member and Tree Commission Chair Linus Bicker announced that a West Virginia Department of Forestry matching grant should enable all of the trees lining German Street and King Street to be pruned and for new trees to be planted in the empty tree wells along German Street.

“The grant’s going to be over $10,000 in funding, directly applied to the tree work that we’re having done,” Bicker said. “This is all work that needed to be done anyway, so the grant will be a great benefit to us.”

According to Bicker, $9,619 in funding will be provided by the Corporation the Shepherdstown. That funding, combined with the Demonstration City grant, will come to a total of $21,189.

“There’s a tremendous amount of pruning on German and King that we need to do, along with the planting of new trees,” Bicker said. “We’re fortunate that this grant funding is available to help us offset some of that [cost].”

He noted that the West Virginia Department of Forestry is currently in the process of approving a draft agreement for this project. The Demonstration City grant uses federal funding that is given to the department at the beginning of each calendar year. Although the draft agreement has not yet been approved, the funding for the project has already been earmarked by the Department of Forestry.

“There’s a window of time during the colder months when larger trees should be pruned,” Bicker said. “We’re currently making sure we’re getting on a cycle and that we have a good process for monitoring which trees have been pruned and which ones need it.

“The planting is being done, because we’ve had trees get removed for various reasons along German Street. We have a number of empty tree wells that we’d like to see filled,” Bicker said, mentioning tree planting should also be done during the colder months, to ensure tree survival. “We want to increase the tree canopy over town. This is a great opportunity to do that!”

He said the pruning will begin in February and the planting will begin in March. A total of 12 trees will be planted, with all but one being a native species. That non-native, but noninvasive tree — a Japanese maple — was selected due to the appearance of the location in which it will be planted.

“The Japanese maple was fitting for the character of that area,” Bicker said, mentioning the tree will be planted at 134 East German Street. “That was an exception that was made by the Tree Commission — we don’t want to be too rigid in our approach.”

The 11 other trees will be a mix of different native species, including: eastern redcedar, dogwood and seedless sweetgum.

“We’re excited! It definitely will be nice to have more trees on German Street,” Bicker said. “It will give more shade and will offer more opportunities for wildlife to build a habitat. Plus, it’s just pretty to look at!”