Author Archives: City4ster
Its Pop… not Soda
USA map of responses This map is cool. Data is from 2003.
Its POP… not soda . Soda might have been OK but too many call it’ sody’. Soda Pop is somewhat acceptable
When I lived in TN… most people would ask for a cold drink which always reminded me of Cool Hand Luke
I will try and post a survey next
My site is Android smartphone ready
Have you looked at this site on your smartphone?
how cool is that? I have a new Photon 4G… very nice…
Plus I just figured a serious tech problem I was having so all is well again
Will it work on an ipad?
Android 4G
1919 Book advocating for trees as part of the plan
Click here for a free google book
I think I linked this so it will open right to the pages I am talking about. Page 130 – 137
People knew that trees needed to be part of a city plan. Read a few pages and see how its stated that trees look nice in spring and fall, that trees “purify the air of carbonic gas”, “modify the temperature of streets, making life more comfortable for the residents”, it quotes the Health Commissioner of New York in 1872 wanting trees planted to reduce heat related stress, that trees add value to property... and it goes on
ITS NOT AN EVIL PLAN… ITS A GOOD PLAN
It also says to plant all the same species on one section of street which in short sections I can understand but don’t recommend myself.
Good reading and good history to what we are today
Park Service Emerald Ash Borer Strategy ‘EAB at the Arch Plan’
Link to NPS EAB at the Arch documents
SO the National Park Service is trying to convince themselves to keep all the ash trees at the Arch in St Louis. I read the documents trying to convince the world that they ( landscape experts) are sure that keeping the landscape the same as it was implemented is more important than all the trees dying from mismanagement.
All the public meetings and they ones they had with state forestry and other TREE experts… say the keeping the ash is a waste of time and money. Apparently since we all know that when the trees die… they blame tree people… not the landscape architect who made the decision to place trees on this site with poor drainage from compacted soil, construction debris,pavement surrounding the root zone, and tree grate around the trees…so who is going to get the headache? Appearance is winning over over health, safety, or cost. Really 46% of all trees on site are ONE species… Rosehill Ash… Ash are
Read chapter 2 – It starts with “alternatives considered but dismissed” which include mixed species to increase diversity and prevent these types of problems (dismissed because they want them all the same), replacing all species in one season (dismissed because it will upset people too much but apparently dead trees don’t) and no action alternative which they don’t dismiss or endorse and a part of this alternative is to not replace at all? Their proposed alternative which is replace all the ash with another monoculture. If you read further you will see they only propose replacing ash along the paths and leaving all the rest around the margin of the park… you know… the ones along the streets that every person in STL sees when they drive past and the first thing to be seen as a tourist. They also want to replant in the ‘tree pits’ and amend the soil ‘in the pit’. This terminology makes me cringe plus amending the soil in a ‘tree well’ is poor practice especially since they state elsewhere the surrounding soil is compacted construction debris with poor drainage. They should start over… remove all along any path excavate as wide as possible and start over.
Then they quote some research paper that says trees in urban areas only 7-10 years. I have had almost every landscape architect I have ever met ( good and bad) quote that to me. Its obvious they didn’t read it since the paper is about how LA’s and street engineers are designing trees out of urban areas by putting them in too small of a site, and preventing water with concrete and asphalt and compacted soil, and all the other design issues that trees have to survive in a streetscape. Since then… there has been tons of new research, lots of proof, and new materials and methods making it easy, cost effective, proper design, and usually worth LEED points to make trees happy in urban sites. Plan for trees and they pay us back
This is not a final thing yet… but if you read the documents… they spend page after page trying to convince everyone that appearance is more important than any other factor. I hope my comments at least are considered.
So there is my tirade for the day
Ask me about the federal funding we requested to help Joplin? That is going well
Ask me about the competitive grant ideas I have for the community trees of Missouri? Some cool ideas with cool people
All my Big Honking Stout is gone… No new homebrew lately… sadness
Alien Cactus… anyone know what it is?
So I am organizing pics and came across this one I took at the TecH2O Center in El Paso, TX. It was a good group I was teaching about trees in cities in xeric environments. Could it be any tougher on a tree to be surrounded by concrete, asphalt, get polluted and compacted soil, and only get water like a drip IV?… just enough to keep you alive? Well there are ways it can be done…. and I’m getting off track
What kind of cactus is this? It looks like something I should have found near some crashed alien wreckage in Roswell… maybe its a pineapple cactus… it looks like pineapple to me?
There were a few of these metal animals… but the roadrunner was the best
NPR on Shawshank Tree
NPR Story on the Shawshank Tree
I listen to NPR all the time. I like the variety. I like that the people aren’t angry all the time like some radio. I really like that it’s not full of loud ads and crazy noises. Ever seen the Family Guy episode with ‘Dingo and the Baby‘?
Are any NPR people out there reading? I will donate far more money to you if you STOP MAILING ME THINGS. I give 50 and you spend 60 mailing me requests for more money. I feel like my money is wasted so I don’t give anymore. Make an option for no paper mail and I will fill out online surveys, reply to emails, whatever…
Anyway… I love the movie. It’s where Morgan freeman became the best voice as a narrator for everything. I have never read the Stephen King story and I would have looked for this tree in Maine… but its in Mansfield , OH
A little about my time in Joplin
We were told we had to go and we had to go now. Every ISA Certified Arborist we could grab went to look at trees. What a mess. I expected trees down and destroyed houses and I have seen tornado damage before… but nothing said can do justice to what I saw. Look at the pics.
The city had a F5 tornado, then 3 inches of rain 3 days later… and less than 1 inch of rain since then… plus this heat. This city needs any happy thoughts.
I met some other MDC foresters and we all got to work together on this. I was happy to see everyone doing their job well and getting along. What a change from ABQ where is all about just doing enough work to not get fired
A FEMA Public Info officer tried to tell us what to say on TV and we all explained calmly that we had our own message and she couldn’t tell us what to do. She had obviously never dealt with people willing to say NO to FEMA but the end result was pretty good. I got to talk about what we did and support the whole mission of FEMA without claiming something wrong while on TV.
More to come as we visit again in 2 weeks for training from the USFS Urban Forest Strike Team.
Only sycamores and sweetgums seemed to still be upright
House gone but watering the lawn
Well rooted but not enough
City passing the buck on tree care
The City is proposing to pass all tree maintenance to property owners and I see only two possible outcomes…. 1) most everyone will ignore their new responsibility and the city will have to respond anyway to blocked signs, limbs in the street, and lawsuits from accidents… 2) some will take on this physically dangerous job end up hurting themselves, someone else, or damaging their (or neighbors) car/house, and probably blocking the street. The only way to avoid either of these outcomes is to have an army of arborists doing inspections and that won’t help everyone’s mood or help the city budget.
I know most cities require the adjoining property owner to manage certain things out front of their home or business. Most people have no problem keeping it clean, shoveling snow, mowing grass, even pruning limbs that block the sidewalk. These things need some physical effort or cost but it’s expected of all of us to do our part. To force people to be responsible for street closure permits, time off work to check, probable costs exceeding $500 even for a minimal amount of work, and take the responsibility for specialized work is dangerous and unfair.
Does anyone know of any city where this works? Maybe very small rural towns where traffic is light and most people feel comfortable doing the work they have found the balance between city and homeowner work. A city the size of SF will have 1000′s of people who can’t do this work and can’t afford it either. In any larger city the majority of people might prune a tree once or twice in their lifetime and what are the chances it will get done right? How many trees die or become dangerous when pruned wrong? The chances of them getting hurt are very high. How many people on ladders with chainsaws getting hurt will it take for the city to realize this is bad?
Most recent stats I could find show over 36,000 chainsaw injuries a year with an average of 110 stitches required.
A chainsaw is the most dangerous tool anyone can walk out of a store with. You need a license for a gun or explosives but what else can you buy that can destroy an entire house and potentially kill several people just by not knowing how to use the tool?
There are also cities that make homeowners fix sidewalks but there are standards and approved contractors ( with insurance and permits and can lose their ‘approved status’ if they screw up) and frequent or routine inspections. Plus… every city will fix sidewalks when enough spots in one area is bad or political pressure from the right people comes along. Will SF do all of this as well? It doesn’t matter anyway when some ignorant chainsaw owner cuts a whole tree down or shapes it like a meatball… trees can’t be fixed like a sidewalk.
Trees are a renewable resource… Cities need to stop treating them like they are a replaceable one
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