Trees are tough… they are the Fremen of the plant world. They want to grab and store water… They want to be left alone and will provide what we want if we leave them alone… but if we mess with them… they will fall on you
Part One of XX about Tree Protection Making Trees part of the Plan
Part Two of XX about Tree Protection Assessment
February 17th, 2010 at 5:10 am
After looking at your website… I don’t think your trouble is the assessment… its the political push to remove trees they don’t like. To many problems are solved by removing the source of the problem even if that means losing some other benefit. Your national arborist association will have set standards to assess risk… but… if some person threatens to sue the city if they get hit by a fallen limb or trip over something… then leaders will ignore professional advice.
I recommend outside experts whose credentials can’t be questioned. I also recommend looking at how other similar communities in your area deal with the same issue. Ask questions that make sense like… Have you considered keeping the trees and still developing the site? They may say no and then you can ask why not? If they say yes… ask how and what tree experts were consulted to help with the plan? What will the cost of protection vs cost of removal and loss to the site be? Make them prove their point instead of you having to prove yours…
Good Luck… I ‘ll keep watching!
February 15th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Do you have any thoughts on assessing tree risk? It’s probably the bane of your life. I and others in my town are currently trying to keep an avenue of 80 year old fig trees. It seems to me so difficult to get someone to commit to paper that they believe trees are safe, even though they’ll say it off the record.It’s so difficult for a lay person to argue with eg QTRA ‘experts’ for example, when Council’s will is to get rid of trees that are in the way of some development.