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Operational Activities The following community forestry activities outline basic operations and maintenance activities and also define commonly used funding categories. Each activity represents a task or set of tasks performed by a particular crew using certain equipment and materials. Nursery - Trees for planting in Eugene are obtained both from commercial nurseries and from a nursery operated by the City itself. Nurseries may be temporary holding areas or they may produce trees to certain specifications. Trees that are specially prepared to meet space or traffic clearance requirements may be grown by the community owned nursery for less than they could be purchased elsewhere. The size of a nursery can usually be adjusted to meet anticipated needs if the needs can be anticipated three or four years in advance. One major advantage of operating a nursery is the ability to select species that are economical to maintain, but might not be readily available from commercial nurseries. If cities tend to buy the species that nurseries grow, nurseries will grow what cities buy. Both seem to be biased toward producing or obtaining low cost stock, which usually means rapidly growing species that "look like trees" within a short time. By operating its own nursery or contracting with a commercial nursery, a community balances the long -term advantages of better species against higher initial cost of the tree stock. Reforestation - Replacing trees that have been removed and planting new trees in suitable locations is known as reforestation. It is preferable to plant replacement trees before existing ones have died or been removed, or immediately after removal of the problem tree. In large plantings, species should be mixed to promote diversity that reduces the possibility of widespread damage from disease or insect attack. Species may be mixed within a given city block or mixed by planting different trees on different blocks. Although some repetition is inevitable, and may be desirable for aesthetic reasons, care should be taken to avoid planting large areas with a single species. First season follow -up care for these trees is considered a part of the reforestation process and budget. New Tree Care - Caring for newly planted trees involves mulching, straightening, restaking or stake removal, watering, fertilizing and other operations. This special care is needed for the first three to four years after planting to ensure that the trees become properly established and survive. For the first five years after planting, young trees must be pruned to shape and trained. Pruning ensures that they will grow into high quality trees with good structure and shape, that their crowns will not interfere with traffic and that they will be relatively inexpensive to maintain. Initial selection of good quality nursery stock is critical so that there is a good structure to work with.