Announcements

Tree Planting and Tree Bag Program 2024

Every year, the city of Viroqua plants 50+ new trees in public areas, such as boulevards and parks. In order to ensure the heath of young trees planted in recent years, the City of Viroqua, with the help of a Wisconsin DNR grant, has created the Viroqua Tree Planting and Tree Bag Program. In the first few years of a tree’s life, it requires regular watering. Wisconsin often has long stretches of dry weather during the summer months. This deficiency of water can put stress on young trees. In order to ensure the health and growth of young trees in the community, the city is setting up tree watering bags around trees planted 1-3 years ago located in the street right of ways and boulevards. In Viroqua, a boulevard is described as the area between the sidewalk and the curb, while the right of way is the area between the curb and the property line (roughly 5-15 feet).

During the month of July 2024, these bags will be installed around the city on boulevard trees that require the extra watering assistance. Informative flyers about how to use these bags will be handed out to residents who have a tree watering bag set up in their boulevard. Before the winter months, the city will recollect the tree bags for winter storage. 

What is a Tree Watering Bag and Why is it Used?

Tree watering bags are an efficient tree watering tool to make sure that young trees have enough water to grow. These bags can hold 20 gallons of water and have small holes at their bottoms that allows the bag to empty over a 5-8 hour period. Watering this way allows for the soil around the roots to be saturated up to 8 inches below ground. After a few years of growth, tree’s roots develop and spread deep enough so they are self-sustaining and no longer need the assistance of watering bags.

            Figure 1. Young tree being watered with a watering bag.

Water Bag Setup, Usage, and Care

The watering bag setup includes these steps:

1. Wrap bag around the trunk of the tree.                                                                   
2. Zip up the bag from bottom to top.                                                                           
3. Insert a hose into the opening and turn on your water.                                                             
4. Fill bag until it is roughly a quarter filled, then carefully lift the bag by its straps to expand the bottom. Gently set the bag back down.
5. Fill the rest of the bag until you reach a desired level.

The watering bag should be filled once a week to provide enough water for the tree. If there is an inch or more of rainfall during the week, you should not fill the bag. If the leaves on your tree show signs of wilting, being undersized, and/or browning, it may be that your tree is not receiving enough water. In these cases, you may increase watering to two bags a week. 

Any questions about the program or how to use the tree watering bags can be answered by emailing [email protected].

 

View Announcement Sidewalk Hazard Program 2022

The City will continue with the sidewalk hazard program this year for the NE quadrant. For the past three years the City has been identifying the sidewalk hazards in quadrants, this quadrant will finish the work for this time around. Safe-Step, located out of Hortonville, WI. will be the company that will be identifying the hazards.

They will be surveying hazards and putting blue numbers on the sidewalk in the NE quadrant of the City.

 

When Safe-Step comes through this is what it will look like if they have to do a sawcut. A sawcut is when they have to cut a small piece of the sidewalk out and have to just replace a small amount. 

 

This is what the sidewalk will look like if they have to replace the whole square of the sidewalk.

View Announcement City Council approves new ward maps

At the City Council meeting on November 9th the City Council approved the second reading of ordinance 21OR005 which establishes the new wards following the 2020 census for the City of Viroqua.  The ordinance below explains the new ward boundaries along with the map.  The new wards will be in affect for the 2022 elections and going forward.

Ordinance 21OR005 – Establishing City Wards based on 2020 census

Wards 36X48

View Announcement Friendly Neighborhood Reminder from City Council

Friendly Neighborhood Reminder from the Viroqua City Council

 

VIROQUA Wis., August 26, 2020

 

Please take some time during the next week to create neighbor-friendly sidewalks and boulevards in Viroqua by keeping the following in mind:

• Please water the young trees on your boulevard.
• Aside from grass, trees and mailboxes, only flowers and other non-woody plants are permitted in the boulevard space between the sidewalk and the street.
• Plants on the boulevard may not exceed 30″ in height.
• The full width of the sidewalk and street must be kept clear of all plant vegetation.
• Tree and shrub branches must be pruned to allow comfortable clearance for all residents, including the tall ones, to walk upright without ducking to avoid having an eye poked out.

 

For more detailed information, please contact the Viroqua City Hall at (608) 637-3251 and request “City Ordinance 12.12: Obstructing Streets, Sidewalks, and Other Public Walkways,” or go online to the City of Viroqua website.

 

Thank you for your cooperation!

View Announcement