Wright City officials are considering action to preserve the life of aged trees at the Wright City cemetery.

At issue are nine mature white oak trees that cemetery caretakers fear are beginning to deteriorate with age. To preserve them for future generations, city leaders are considering spending around $5,500 for chemical treatments to rejuvinate the trees.

“The trees that are on this list are all the old, established trees in the cemetery,” said Marie Hollenbeck with the Wright City Cemetery Memorial Society.

Hollenbeck spoke to the Wright City Board of Aldermen Aug. 27, relaying an assessment provided by Hoette Farms and Nursery.

“The arborist said in 2012 we had a severe drought in Missouri, and that really affected the white oaks. Now they’re very prone to disease,” Hollenbeck conveyed. “The two largest white oaks in the cemetery ... are really showing that decline. They’ve got lots of dead limbs.”

Two cemetery trees were recently removed because they were dieing off. That required hiring a tree service and using special care to avoid damage to the cemetery stones.

To stave off additional tree removal, city leaders are considering a treatment that would add vital nutrients to the soil around trees to help them stay healthy.

City Administrator Jim Schuchmann said the Hoette arborist proposed the service while visiting to care for other, privately donated trees at the cemetery.

“They had treated a couple other trees a year or two ago, and they noticed those trees were doing really well,” said Schuchmann. “Basically, they inject vitamins into the soil. The trees, as they get old, they’ve used up all those nutrients, and they need new nutrients put in the soil.”

The arborist with Hoette advised that the nutrient treatment could extend the life of the trees by 30 to 50 years, Schuchmann said.

“If you don’t do anything with them, you’re probably going to be cutting down more trees over the next 10 years. And it’s going to take another 100 years to get a tree that’s that big and robust,” Schuchmann added.

The treatments cost about $500 each from Hoette, Schuchmann said, including for two trees that would need multiple treatments.

Because of the total cost of the service, Mayor Dan Rowden said the city would need to seek price quotes from multiple businesses before approving the work. Because of that, the board of aldermen is withholding a final decision until their first meeting in September.

Aldermen will need to make a determination to proceed, or not, within the next month so the treatments can be done before the trees start to go dormant in fall, Schuchmann added.

The board may also request for the Cemetery Memorial Society to help cover the cost of the treatments.