By Kerri Williams

WESTPORT — Have you ever looked up at a tree in one of the town’s parks and wanted to learn more about it?

Help may soon be on the way.

Members of the Tree Board on Monday presented a proposal to the Parks Advisory Committee about plans to post signs on certain trees in Winslow and Grace K. Salmon parks as well as Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum. The signs would identify about 20 common trees that can be found in the parks and on private property.

The committee could not vote on recommending the proposal to the Parks and Recreation Commission, lacking a quorum after one member left the session. However, three members still present said they support the project. The committee will revisit the proposal at its September meeting.

The signs will cost about $15 to $18 each, totaling about $500, which would be paid for by the Tree Board, according to its Chair Sarah Adair, who explained the project. She said the tree-identification project would be “a little way to give back to the town.”

The Tree Board would be following in the footsteps of other communities that identify trees in public parks, including Darien, Norwalk and Greenwich.

The signs would be screwed into the trees and would need to be maintained to accommodate tree growth. Tree Warden Ben Sykas would train board members in how to safely attach signs to trees.

The signs, which include the name of the tree along with a description and drawings, also have a QR code with a link to the Tree Board website. People would be able to print out a brochure from the website for a scavenger hunt to find more trees and signs.

Some of the trees identified by signs would include White Oak, Shagbark Hickory and Sycamore at Winslow Park; Norway Spruce, Pin Oak and Dogwood at the Wadsworth Arboretum, and Hackberry, River Birch and Eastern Red Cedar at Salmon Park.

Committee members Rob Feakins, Nathalie Fonteyne and Chair Velma Heller all voiced enthusiasm for the proposal. 

Fonteyne also suggested the Tree Board may want to collaborate with members of the Pollinator Pathway initiative and other agencies to include even more information about the trees. She noted that the Eastern Red Cedar, one of the trees being identified, supports 38 insects.

Adair said she was “all for” collaborating with other groups, but added the Tree Board would like to “start small” with a manageable number of trees being identified and updated. “It could be wonderful to involve more people and other places going forward,” she said.

Ed Picard, a Tree Board member, said he hopes the tree signs will help park visitors feel “more in tune to nature,” adding, “It’s what’s most important to us.”

Kerri Williams is a freelance writer.