HOLLIDAYSBURG — Members of the Hollidaysburg Shade Tree Commission are eagerly awaiting the results of a recently-completed street tree survey conducted in the borough, according to local officials.

The survey, conducted in July by staff members of the Davey Resource Group in collaboration with the Commission and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, is a comprehensive inventory of trees in Hollidaysburg and will be a key resource for the borough over the coming decade, according to Director of Community Development Andrew Holodnik.

Holodnik said that borough officials are hoping to receive the final report from Davey containing the results of the survey in about a month. The report will contain detailed information about the age, size, health and species of the hundreds of trees lining the streets of Hollidaysburg.

This data will help the commission determine which trees are dead and in need of replacement, which trees need more active maintenance and which trees are in healthy condition, he said.

These results will also come in handy when determining the best course of action for replacing a dead tree, so the new tree is a good fit in both size and species for the allotted location.

Hollidaysburg as a community is very proud of its trees, Holodnik said, so the work of the commission is essential to preserving this natural resource.

“Trees add beauty to a community,” Holodnik said.

Funding for the tree inventory was supplied by the WPC through a $1 million grant awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2024 for reducing sedimentation in the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay, a multi-state area that includes south-central Pennsylvania.

A portion of this grant is intended for community forestry initiatives, Bandzuh said, of which the tree inventory survey is a key part, according to WPC Community and Riparian Forestry Outreach Coordinator Rey Bandzuh.

Over 2,000 trees were cataloged during the survey, Bandzuh said, with Davey staff collecting multiple data points on each individual specimen.

This information will be collected into a digital database that includes data on areas where additional trees could be planted.

“Hopefully, once we get the plan and the survey back we can see what areas need improvement and how well the borough has done with their trees and how it’s helping the community,” Bandzuh said.

WPC plans to return to Hollidaysburg in the fall to plant a number of new trees, some as replacements for currently-standing dead trees, using funding provided by the NFWF grant, she said.

More than 250 trees will be planted in Altoona, Hollidaysburg, Antis Township and Logan Township using funding from the grant program.

“This grant was a pretty big deal,” Bandzuh said, “and I’m really happy to run into such a great Shade Tree Commission here in Hollidaysburg where they’ve been so involved with the community and have such a great tree canopy already.”

Hollidaysburg has been recognized as a “Tree City U.S.A.” by the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation for 36 consecutive years in recognition of its ongoing commitment protecting its urban tree ecosystem.

“(The commission) has been great to work with, and I’m hoping that the inventory will give them a lot of data they can use in what they do here,” Bandzuh said.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.