Tree removal projects finishing up

Eight months after the derecho swept through Jasper County, Westwood Golf Course is teeming with golfers even when some areas have less shade.

Several trees throughout the city were damaged by the August 2020 storm. Newton Community Services Director Brian Laube said every city park had some damage to the trees or structures from the derecho.

Cleanup efforts began the day of the storm, but the damage was so great that the city eventually was forced to hire a number of tree removal contractors to cover its parks, cemeteries, the golf course and public right-of-ways.

About 440 trees were affected by these contracts, totaling roughly $543,000. Newton News previously reported 75 percent of the funding will be reimbursed by the FEMA and 10 percent will be reimbursed by the state.

One month ago, the city finally accepted the completion of the tree removal project at Westwood Golf Course. The golf course was “severely affected by storm,” Westwood Golf Pro Brad Sponseller said.

“We had over 100 trees that needed to be removed or trimmed to make them safe,” Sponseller added. “We had a few greens that suffered some damage but we were pretty luck that most widespread damage was on the outer limits.”

According to city documents, about 105 trees at Westwood Golf Course were either removed or trimmed by contractors. The damaged trees were both unsightly and created safety hazards for visitors of the golf course.

DW Tree Service, of Newton, was paid $120,990 to complete the project.

Westwood Golf Course closed for 10 days after the storm hit town, and several other parts of the county and throughout Central Iowa. The course was without power for more than a week, much like other areas in town.

However, the loss of power meant the course had no way to use its irrigation system. As a result, the course and greens were very dry. Sponseller said staff was lucky enough to rehydrate the greens a little bit before power returned.

With the trees removed, the course is now safe to open for players.

“Golfers were very understanding to some of the mess that was left following the storm,” Sponseller said. “We had many brush piles and stacks of logs that needed to be removed. Most of these areas were way from normal play.”

Volunteers were plentiful in the initial cleanup efforts. But Sponseller gave special recognition to park operations superintendent Nick Cummins, who “spent countless hours” at Westwood during the 10 days of shutdown.

Cummins did “anything he could to get the course back to playable conditions.”

On March 15, the city accepted the completion of two other tree removal projects for Union Cemetery and public right-of-ways. Earlier this year, the council approved the completion of tree removal projects at Maytag Park and other miscellaneous city parks.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com