Smithsonian, December 30, 2020: You Can Eat Your Christmas Tree. Here’s How to Do It
For most people who celebrate Christmas, it would be hard to imagine the holiday without the iconic centerpiece of a decked out evergreen. Each year, an estimated 25 to 30 million Christmas trees are sold in the United States. But if you’re increasingly worried about the carbon footprint of buying a real tree, there are ways you can recycle it once the holidays have passed. It can be used for mulch or even turned into something edible. In October, UK-based artisan baker and cook Julia Georgallis published a compilation of more than 30 recipes in a new cookbook, How to Eat Your Christmas Tree, to show readers how to give their tree new life after December 25. Georgallis sat down with Modern Farmer to talk about why she decided to create dozens of Christmas tree recipes and how a certain type of evergreen makes for an ideal ice cream flavor…
An 18,670-square-foot Mediterranean estate known as “Casa Arboles” because of the canopy of oak trees that greets visitors along the driveway has been listed for $14.9 million. The “House of Trees” property is owned by R. Donahue Peebles, chairman and chief executive officer of New York-based The Peebles Corp., a real estate investment and development company with a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of projects, and his wife, Katrina Peebles. The two-story gated estate sits on a 2.87-acre lot at 11501 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables. Built in 2003, it was remodeled in 2020 and has 10 bedrooms and 14 baths. Interior features include a chef’s kitchen with a marble center island, wine chiller and butler’s pantry, two offices, a “Board Room” with a marble fireplace and movie theater, a gym, elevator and a master suite with sitting area, two balconies and dual bathrooms. A commercial generator can power the entire home…
For 60 years, the Nutter family grew and sold Christmas trees in Topsfield. In what was a difficult decision, they decided to cease operations this year.“Some of our customers are third generation,” said Ben Nutter. “They’re the grandchild that came with their parents and their grandparents starting in the 60s. I’ve got to tell you it’s really emotional to be pulling the plug.” It’s especially difficult, he said, because COVID means they can’t shake their customers’ hands and hug them in thanks for all their support. vJohn and Bunny Nutter bought the property on Ipswich Road in 1948 and started planting trees in 1950. In addition to Ben, they had a son, Steve, and a daughter, Stina. “He was a young mechanical engineer at General Electric,” Nutter said of his father, John. “So his farming passion was more of a weekend farming passion…”
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and many others, a tree west of Cleveland has been a beacon of hope. It stood tall and alone on the edge of Lake Erie at Huntington Beach in Bay Village. This week, the Metroparks had no choice but to cut it down. Beverly Good said the tree gave her strength and solace and it was like losing “an old friend.” “It was a place to go to kind of even say a little prayer,” she said. “We brought our grandchildren there to visit it.” Few really understood how deep the roots of the old cottonwood truly went until now. It was a post on Facebook that let much of the community know it was gone. “To have that tree there year after year, season after season, was very special,” said Diane McGregor. “To have a sunset with the tree is my special place…”
Bloomberg, December 29, 2020: PG&E Judge Proposes Stricter Probation After Wildfires
The judge overseeing PG&E Corp.’s criminal probation is looking to tighten the leash on the utility by requiring it to take into account which power lines were cleared of trees before shutting them off during windstorms. U.S. District Judge William Alsup said he’s trying to get the company to follow California law and its own wildfire mitigation plan to “protect the people of California from yet further death and destruction caused by the offender’s continuing failure to operate its power grid safely.” In his role overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation, Alsup has expressed frustration and ire at the utility for its role in causing wildfires that have repeatedly claimed lives and destroyed large swaths of private and public property. The company emerged from bankruptcy on July 1, having agreed to pay $25.5 billion to settle damage claims from a series of deadly blazes blamed on its equipment. The judge noted PG&E’s finding that 334 trees or limbs fell on distribution lines during four Public Safety Power Shutoffs — or PSPS — in October 2019. Of the fallen trees, PG&E estimated that 234 could have caused wildfires by “arcing,” in which electricity finds the closest conducting surface, such as dry grass, he said…
Christmas Day has come and gone, but many people may still have a Christmas tree sitting at home. They’re images many Marylanders will never forget, an Annapolis mansion going up in flames in January 2015. The fire trapped and killed Donald and Sandra Pyle, along with their four grandchildren. What fueled the fire? Their Christmas tree, according to investigators. It was a tragic lesson that still remains true to this day. Officials are now reminding residents to dispose of their trees. “Having a dry Christmas tree is like having, inviting a forest fire into your home,” Captain Erik Kornmeyer, of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, said. “Once they dry out, it’s just like having a match in your living room,” Daniel Scotten, of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, added. Captain Kornmeyer said Christmas trees sold out early this year, some even before Thanksgiving…
A few months ago, those who supply America’s homes with fresh Christmas trees were approved for special aid by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help against the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. Frozen out were the people harvesting their less glamorous industrial cousins: loggers and truckers behind the nation’s construction, paper and furniture-making industries. Only farmers who provided species like firs and spruces to Christmas tree lots were greenlighted for relief, leaving some feeling like they would be Grinched this Yuletide after an already brutal year. “You see all these other businesses getting all this help from the government, and it’s frustrating,” said Thomas Douglass, a fifth-generation logger in Maine, who said his family business was “one big equipment breakdown from a disaster.” Now, tucked inside the new $900 billion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress… is $200 million in aid for the loggers and the trucking companies that transport their wares to paper mills and other processing facilities. The reason: an only-in-Washington tale of the importance of lobbying and political connections…
Fox News, December 27, 2020: Christmas trees: When and how should you throw them out?
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree — how dry are thy branches after awhile. It wouldn’t be Christmas without a fresh fir, but the day will eventually come when it’s time to kick it to the curb. After gifts are opened and the holidays are celebrated, merrymakers should remove real Christmas trees from inside the home when the evergreen becomes overly dry to the touch, for safety’s sake. Doug Hundley, a spokesperson for the National Christmas Tree Association, told Fox News that this is generally the best time to dispose of a tree, but he urged homeowners to not just haul it to the trash. “Most, if not all, county and city governments offer real Christmas tree pick-up or drop-off locations,” Hundley said. “They will all be either recycled by chipping into mulch or reused for wildlife habitats. If you live in a rural area you can burn it or let it biodegrade outdoors in a brush pile…”
Stephanie Levy and James Mason thought something was up almost immediately when they moved to Eldorado — something about the trees. “We looked at that first tree in front of our house and were like, this is not normal,” Levy said. “Somebody altered these.” With some help from experts and through their own personal research, Levy and Mason discovered their property is full of signs of an ancient society. The most notable are the culturally modified trees. Mason, who works with the National Park Service’s Vanishing Treasures Program, which supports the preservation of traditionally built architecture throughout the western U.S., has a trained eye for artifacts. In addition to the trees, he said, he has found turquoise on the grounds around the couple’s home and stones that appeared useful. “I found tools — hammers and little knives that fit right into your hand,” Mason said. “The two trees in front are so beautifully altered. They’ve been twisted and contorted in this configuration for hundreds of years.” A male one-seed juniper has a branch pointing skyward. Another grows parallel to the ground from a stump and then takes a 90-degree shift upward. Elsewhere on their 3-acre property, Levy said, they found circular clearings surrounded by junipers, more tools and one stump with branches pointing north, west and toward the Jemez Mountains and Chaco Canyon…
Head of the Harbor will use a $50,000 New York State grant to inventory thousands of trees along village roads, identifying those that may be invasive or vulnerable to storms. Stands of oak, beech and hickory make up much of the native population, though storms in the past six years have damaged or killed some specimens that began growing in the 19th century, said trustee Judy Ogden, a landscape designer who is also the village’s volunteer highway commissioner. “There’s great value to maintaining and preserving these trees,” Ogden said in a phone interview. “They’re really important for deterring erosion, filtering and slowing down the water that runs to the harbor” in rainstorms with enough pace and volume that it has undermined some driveways in the village. Starting next year, specialists working with the village’s Highway Department will use GPS to locate and calipers to measure the trunks of trees in the right of way, which can extend more than a dozen feet on each side of the village’s 20 road miles, with special attention to the steep slopes that come close to meeting the roadway in some areas. Dead or rotted trees may be marked for removal; those that are salvageable may just get a pruning. New trees may be planted, including black tupelo and flowering dogwood, as workers have done outside Village Hall in recent years. Workers may also remove invasive species like Norway maple and woody vines like Japanese honeysuckle and an invasive wisteria that kills trees by twisting itself around their trunks until they cut through bark, an act known as girdling…
Futurity, December 28, 2020: That Dried-Out Christmas Tree Is A Fire Hazard
“Firs, spruce, pine, cedar, and other Christmas tree types all contain a resin that is flammable, especially once the tree has dried out,” says Karen Stafford, Texas A&M University Forest Service Fire Prevention Program coordinator. “Live trees in the home present a certain amount of fire danger, but dried trees are much more combustible and present a higher fire risk.” There are some practical steps that you can take to remove trees with less clean-up and greater safety, says Joyce Cavanagh, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist in family and community health at Bryan-College Station. “Have your storage boxes ready and remove the tree skirt, all ornaments, and lights, and any wire or twine used to secure the tree,” she says. “Have a bucket or other container nearby to dump out any water that may still be in the tree stand reservoir.” Cavanagh says the next step should be to cover the tree with an appropriately sized plastic bag or tree bag. “If you don’t have a tree bag, you can wrap an old blanket or sheet around the tree,” she says. “This will help keep the needles and sap from getting on the floor…”
Fort Worth’s beloved “Homeless Christmas Tree” has apparently celebrated its last holiday.
The little mimosa tree that for decades stood alone atop a hill on the north side of Interstate 30 with a panoramic view of downtown Fort Worth has been removed by an unknown person or persons, apparently as part of a land-clearing operation. The hill on the north side of I-30 between Beach Street and Oakland Boulevard has been cleared of all foliage and debris in recent days, several people who have visited the site said. The trunk of the original tree, which died in 2014 (although volunteers continued to decorate it), as well as a sapling from that tree that was planted at the same site and recently had grown to about 5 feet, were cut to the roots and removed, they said. Also, a small bench that had been placed on the hill in the memory of one of the tree’s most dedicated volunteers, Carla Christian, also was removed, they said…
Although this year has been a difficult one for businesses across the country, sales activity was better than ever for the family-run Gasseling Ranches Christmas Tree Farm in Wapato. The 35-acre U-cut Christmas tree farm saw an increase in its business this year. In fact, while it intended to remain open until Dec. 20, the farm had to close Dec. 13 due to the number of trees sold. The Gasseling family believes that the desire for a fun-filled experience in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic drove many families to cut live trees from the farm this year. “This year I think people do want to get out and try and do some things with their families, just because we’ve all been locked down for so long,” said Trishia Gasseling, who operates the farm with her husband, Patrick Gasseling. The Gasselings first began planting Christmas trees in 2012. However, because the trees grow at a rate of only 1 foot per year, the family was unable to begin selling them until 2016. “This is not a crop that you’re really going to turn over real quick,” Trishia Gasseling said. “It’s a huge investment.” The family decided to take on that investment because they saw a need for a family-oriented winter activity in the Yakima Valley…
Aiken, South Carolina, Standard, December 27, 2020: How should you dispose of your Christmas tree?
What are environmentally sound ways to discard my Christmas tree after the holiday? I have responded to this question before. The answer is worth repeating. For the nation’s households that have no Christmas tree in the home, which in a normal year is about 20%, the question is irrelevant. For the multitude of families with an artificial tree that goes back into storage, the answer is easy. But even during 2020, millions of homes have been decorated with real Christmas trees. The burning question now is, where should the trees go when their job is done? The question has several ecologically gratifying answers. One thing about living organisms is that they die. Of course, a Christmas tree is functionally dead before you take it home, unless you happen to get a rooted one you can plant in the backyard after Christmas. (In my experience, these do not die until the next summer.) At the end of yuletide, most people have to deal with a dead tree in the house. Although the 12 days of Christmas last through Jan. 5, some people say that if your Christmas tree is in the house past midnight Dec. 31, bad luck will haunt you in the coming year. You do not, however, have to be superstitious or a pagan to acknowledge that keeping in the house a tree that sheds highly flammable foliage, making it a potential tinderbox, might, in fact, be a bad idea…
It’s the time of year when communities are buzzing with holiday cheer, people begin to decorate their homes and consider getting a Christmas tree. If you’d like to prolong the holiday spirit and share the gift of giving with wildlife, then the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has a suggestion. This year, instead of bringing your old Christmas tree to the curb, the not-for-profit, private land conservation group suggests putting it in your own backyard. Dan Kraus, NCC’s senior conservation biologist, says leaving it in your backyard over the winter can provide many benefits for backyard wildlife. Your tree can provide important habitat for bird populations during the winter months, especially on cold nights and during storms. The first step in letting nature help you recycle your Christmas tree is to put it anywhere in the backyard. Prop it up near another tree, against a fence or lay it in your garden. You can even get the family involved by redecorating it with pine cones filled with peanut butter, strings of peanuts and suet for birds to enjoy. These delicious decorations will provide food for birds while they find shelter in the tree. “Evergreens offer a safe place for birds to rest while they visit your feeder,” says Kraus. “Another benefit is that if you leave the tree in your garden over the summer, it will continue to provide habitat for wildlife and improve your soil as it decomposes…”
Q: The association board of my building wants to take down basic pine trees behind my unit. The trees are healthy and provide no danger to the building. These trees provide privacy, shade and comfort to my unit. It is one of the main reasons I purchased the unit. Do I have any recourse?
A: We can understand your frustration. Have you talked to the board to find out why they are taking down the trees? Are the trees infected with something you can’t see? Are they harboring pests of some sort? Is the board planning on replacing the pine trees with other trees or is their plan to leave the area clear of all trees? In any event, most association boards have wide latitude in governing their associations. Boards can decide how to decorate hallways, choose landscaping for common areas and can even decide to make improvements to common areas. An association board has broad authority to handle the affairs of the association. Unfortunately, association boards will not make the best decisions at all times and, in some cases, may make poor decisions…
When Hermosa Beach’s Carissa Catalina dreamed up the idea for an interactive wishing tree on the city’s Greenbelt, she may have started a new town tradition. Catalina said she was running on the Greenbelt one evening when she thought she could create some holiday spirit on the dimly lit trail, which is popular with joggers and walkers. So about three weeks ago, Catalina, along with helpers Gabby Barrantes and Andrea Giancoli, hung ornaments and solar panel lights on a tree at Eighth Street and Valley Drive. They also put a sign reading, “Add an Ornament… Make a Wish.” Since then, many more baubles have found a home on the tree since then. And now, Catalina said, she would like to make it an annual tradition. “I was thinking even keeping these ornaments and then coming back next year and putting them back up,” Catalina said, “and hopefully keeping it alive. It’d be, Catalina said, “a neat little community tradition…”
Associated Press, December 23, 2020: Young trees need some dressing up for winter protection
My young trees are decked out in their winter finery: arboreal attire, perfumes and cosmetics that will protect them through the winter. Insects and disease-causing fungi are dead or dormant, but larger, furrier animals now pose a threat. Deer, rabbits and mice are eager to gnaw on succulent stems, bark and roots. And then there’s cold weather to dry out or sunscald the trees. Evergreens are most susceptible to drying out because they lose water through their leaves all winter long. Sunscald, caused by fluctuations in bark temperature, is most likely to occur on the southwest-facing bark because that’s where it’s last heated by day before the sun — and temperatures — plummet…
Phys.org, December 23, 2020: Christmas trees can be green because of a photosynthetic short-cut
How can conifers that are used for example as Christmas trees keep their green needles over the boreal winter when most trees shed their leaves? Science has not provided a good answer to this question but now an international team of scientists, including researchers from Umeå University, has deciphered that a short-cut in the photosynthetic machinery allows the needles of pine trees to stay green. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. In winter, light energy is absorbed by the green chlorophyll molecules but cannot be utilized by the downstream reactions in the photosynthetic machinery as freezing temperatures stop most biochemical reactions. This is especially a problem in the early spring when temperatures can still be very low, but sunlight is already strong, and the excess light energy can damage the proteins of the photosynthetic machinery. The researchers showed that the photosynthetic apparatus is wired in a special way which allows pine needles to stay green all year long…
Christmas week 2020 — if ever there was a week suited to reflect (20/20 hindsight), or look forward (20/20 vision), this is it! Add in the winter solstice and prospect of Jupiter and Saturn shining closer together than they have in 400 years (I saw it with my grandson). Top it off with our global COVID pandemic and we have a compelling reason to reflect and muse over a sensible and restorative course for the future. Let’s talk ecosystems. To a scientist, an ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. Simply put, how do we humans “get along”? Two lessons: First, from the land, our natural ecosystem — how we “get along” with nature. Second, from the heart, our human ecosystem — how we “get along’ with each other. How we behave in these two ecosystems will determine our future on this planet! As a fifth-generation farmer, I treasure the ecosystem of our land — fields, forests, wetlands, and streams. Their health and our stewardship has everything to do with our ability to grow healthy crops in the face of extreme weather and climate change. Nutritious food, clean air, pure water, and healthy soil are treasures. King Midas was rich with gold, but you cannot eat gold or quench thirst with oil…
London, UK, Daily Mail, December 22, 2020: World’s smallest Christmas tree is made of 51 atoms
Many people strive to find the largest tree for the holidays, but one student has done just the opposite – she created the world’s smallest Christmas tree. Maura Williams from Delft University of Technology designed a festive tree made of individual atoms that is just four nanometers tall – without counting the tree-topper. Williams used a device that allowed her to scan each atom and change their position to form the iconic shape. The structure consists of 51 atoms from a perfect crystal lattice, all of which translates as the size of a DNA strand or 40,000 times smaller than a human hair. The largest artificial Christmas tree resides in Sri Lanka, which stands more than 236 feet tall and made the Guinness World Records for its height. However, Williams’ tiny artificial tree may be an even greater achievement. The tiny tree was a graduation project, in which she used a scanning tunneling microscope that is designed to scan individual atoms and change their positions…
The harvesting and sale of Christmas trees was big business in the Upper Peninsula and provided income to hundreds of forest owners, tree cutters, truckers and tree handlers. In the 1800s, trees were taken from the wilderness for Christmas celebrations. By the 20th century, they became a commodity and were planted in numbers for the Christmas season. William Mosier, from Rapid River, developed a profitable Christmas tree business. In 1942, Mosier began his business in a small way. That year, he took 600 trees to Milwaukee to sell. He then returned every December and continued to increase his stock. By 1957, he had two sales lots in Milwaukee, with 2,500 trees grown on his own land. He also brought some trees from Wisconsin because he found some Milwaukee buyers were “edgy” about dealing with a Michigan supplier. Before he entered the Christmas tree business, Mosier worked on his farm. He had a herd of Hereford beef cattle who ate almost all of his wooded range except the balsams. It was at this point that he decided to focus on raising and selling Christmas trees. Balsam fir are seeded in nature and do not thrive in nurseries or plantations. Deer will eat balsam only as a last resort. Mosier experimented with producing naturally seeded balsams and developed high quality trees. His natural large acreage could accommodate the self-seeded trees year after year, and he switched from raising beef to raising trees. He also successfully planted 50,000 Scotch and red (Norway) pine. The Scotch pine is easy to shape and was favored as a market tree. After a few years, the pines were also put on the market with the balsam on his Milwaukee lots. An average balsam sold for $3.50 and larger trees were $6.00 to $7.00. Very large trees were restricted to public buildings…
Mongabay, December 22, 2020: Critical temperature threshold spells shorter lives for tropical trees
Tropical trees have shorter life spans than trees in other parts of the world, living, for example, just over half as long as temperate trees. A new analysis suggests that, as the world warms up, tropical trees will live even shorter lives, spelling trouble for global biodiversity and carbon stocks. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that in warm tropical lowlands, tree longevity decreases when forests become drier and when the mean annual temperatures is greater than 25.4° Celsius (77.7° Fahrenheit). “Our findings — which are the first to demonstrate that there is a temperature threshold — suggests that for trees in these regions, their longevity is likely to be negatively affected,” study co-author Manuel Gloor from the University of Leeds, U.K., said in a statement. The researchers examined tree-ring data from more than 100,000 trees belonging to 438 species from more than 3,300 sites around the world. Growth rings, found within tree trunks, represent one year of growth, allowing researchers to estimate the age of trees and speed of growth…
Maine’s largest city is removing invasive trees from one of its public spaces to restore views of the Fore River. Portland is taking away the Norway maple trees from Western Promenade. The removal of the trees will also allow more room for a future play space and community garden, city officials said. City officials said future improvements to the area will include planting new native trees and landscaping. The views of the Fore River have been obscured by the Norway maple trees for decades, officials said. The work will leave native red oak and black cherry trees once the Norway maples are gone, officials said…
In Margo Robbins’s home, the first thing you notice is family: portraits of children and grandchildren in a crowded display on the wall. The second thing you notice is accomplishment: lines of academic and athletic trophies from those children and grandchildren. The third thing is baskets—Robbins is a Yurok basket-weaver, part of a tradition in her northern Californian nation that stretches back centuries upon centuries. What you don’t see is that her home is one of the nerve centers of a cultural and political struggle that has been slowly changing the North American West. Her living room is where she co-founded the Indigenous Peoples Burn Network, a growing collaboration of Native nations, partnered with nonprofit organizations, academic researchers, and government agencies. It’s focused on a single goal: setting forests on fire. In Robbins’s part of the forest, the ancestral homeland of the Yurok, she has been training teams of fire-lighters. They wear bright yellow flame-retardant Nomex suits and carry torches that drip burning petroleum. Under her watchful eye, they spread lines of flame beneath the trees. Her message is simple: You can too fight fire with fire. “There’s good fire and bad fire,” she told me during a recent visit. “And the good fire prevents the bad…”
To most people, the sound of heavy machinery first thing in the morning is a symbol of hard, time-consuming work. For Bobby Long, a disabled veteran, that sound is heaven sent. Long said that because he lives on a fixed income, he couldn’t afford to pay for the removal of two trees looming overhead that had become a hazard to his Oceanway home and property. “I wanted to get them trimmed up at first, but the tree man told me they looked like they were about ready to fall,” Long said. That’s why Canary Tree Services teamed up with Advanced Tree and Landscape Services to do the job for free. News4Jax asked Long if this gives him hope. He choked up with his answer. “Yeah, yeah it does,” Long said. “It gives me hope for mankind because you don’t see that very often.” Justin Hartmann, the owner of Canary Tree Services, said he was first contacted by Advanced Tree and Landscape Services about partnering up for the project. For Hartmann, signing on was a no-brainer. “We do a program called ‘Tree Work for Heroes’ where we do 100-percent free work for veterans who are disabled or unable to pay for the service,” Hartmann said. “We’ll come out and do it for free for them…” Hartmann said not only is this a great way to give back, it’s an appreciation felt by everyone involved. “My guys love it, it brings a camaraderie to the crew,” Hartmann said. “We appreciate the opportunity to be able to be able to go out and give back to the community. It feels great…”
Yes, we know it’s still prime holiday season — but planning ahead is never a bad idea. Some people like to keep their tree up long after December is through, and others are ready to transition just days after Christmas. Whatever your vibe, there’s no denying that it’s always a bummer to see a Christmas tree cast out on the curb — let alone unceremoniously thrown into the back of a trash truck. But turns out, there’s a better way. If you want to keep things merry and bright even after the holidays are over — and you have a vehicle at your disposal — all you have to do is bungee-cord your Christmas tree to the top of your car and make your way to Germantown. Why, you ask? Well, Philly Goat Project is hosting tree-cycling on select dates, to help you bid farewell to your beloved Christmas tree in a fun and generous way. Instead of it being destroyed by a garbage truck, your tree will be eaten by the organization’s ridiculously adorable goats. (Seriously, just look at how cute they are!)…
The mountainous forests of northern Madagascar are biodiverse beyond measure, containing plant and animal species found nowhere else on the planet. Other forests in Madagascar have been lost in recent centuries and decades, but these have stood the test of time and remained relatively unscathed. They are difficult to access, and some have been officially protected since the 1920s. And yet their protected status is no longer enough: satellite data show they are now being cut down at an increasing rate. In May, Mongabay reported on the dire situation in Tsaratanana Reserve. Since then, deforestation has continued apace, both in Tsaratanana and a neighboring protected area called COMATSA. Levels of deforestation have spiked since September, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland (UMD) visualized on Global Forest Watch. The dry months of September and October are normally peak season for slash-and-burn, and sources say the clearing is especially severe this year due to economic pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic…
Santa Cruz, California, Sentinel, December 20, 2020: PG&E’s toppling of trees creates new hazards
Kristi and Brian Anderson have some thoughts about how the first year of California’s “get-tough-on-utilities” approach to preventing wildfires is going: Badly. Very badly. The Andersons, who live in Bonny Doon, lost their home four months ago in the CZU Lightning Complex fire. But their plight only got worse after the fire was out. They returned to their property to find that Pacific Gas & Electric crews had felled 20 trees on their 2-acre lot, toppling 100-foot Douglas firs and leaving them where they fell. In an attempt to clear vegetation from around power lines, the workers cut down old-growth redwoods, and in some cases simply sawed off the tops of the beloved giants, creating a “horrid Dr. Seuss kind of tree,” Kristi Anderson said. “It makes us sick to our stomachs.” Worse, after spending weeks clearing away the remains of their incinerated home, Brian Anderson arrived at his property to find a massive pile of trees atop a new trailer pad where he and his family were planning to live while their new home was being built. Facing a potential bill for tens of thousands of dollars, the couple is wondering who is going to pay for the cleanup after PG&E left the piles of timber and woody debris that are themselves fire hazards…
Salon, December 18, 2020: Does your Christmas tree have pesticides, and how dangerous are they?
Each winter, millions of Americans buy Christmas trees — but not everyone is privy to the intense process behind growing one. In fact, the tree sitting in your living room right now is probably around 10 to 12 years old, or maybe older, depending on the species and the size of it. Throughout its lifetime, depending on the year and conditions on the farm, it’s likely that it’s been sprayed with pesticides — perhaps even the herbicide in Roundup – to prevent damage from insects or other substances that can stunt a tree’s growth and yellow the foliage. Insecticides have been linked to affecting the human nervous system, so does this mean the Christmas trees are a threat to a person’s health inside the home, or your pet’s health? We asked Chal Landgren, Oregon State University’s Christmas tree specialist, who also has a seven-acre Christmas tree farm, to find out. First, can you briefly explain the process of growing a Christmas tree? Yeah, it’s a long process. Most of the seedlings that are planted are anywhere from 2 to 4 years old. So they’re 2 or 4 years old when they’re planted. And depending on the species, it can take up to 10 or 11 years before you get a tree that’s a harvest size…
Ever since Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer pioneered genetic engineering in 1973, it has slowly gained popularity. Despite its potential misuse, many scientists believe it could be the answer to eliminate genetic disorders and even many other diseases. While research in the human genome has been restricted, many are trying to apply similar techniques in plants to fight climate change. Canadian forest genomics scientist Armand Seguin began his journey in genetics two decades ago and modified a poplar plant’s DNA, making it immune to pests that wreak havoc, killing the plant. “To me, this wasn’t something we were planning to develop at a larger scale, but it was proof of a concept. We proved that it was feasible,” Seguin said. Now, there are hundreds of such genetically-engineered trees in the research station in Quebec City. For years, scientists have recommended planting more trees to fight climate change. With more trees, the rate of photosynthesis will be more and will help in reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Apart from that as the mechanism produces oxygen and converts carbon into biomass, it will lead to a reduction in temperature. The carbon will be stored in leaves, trunks and soil, increasing natural carbon reserve called carbon sink…
An international team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang A & F University and the University of Eastern Finland have found that regardless of whether flowering or leaf unfolding occurred first in a species, the first event advanced more than the second over the last seven decades. In the four European tree species the researchers looked at: horse chestnut, scots pine, alder and ash, the time interval between leaf unfolding and flowering increased at a rate of 0.6 to 1.3 days per decade between 1950—2013. Similar trends were seen geographically, with the time interval between the two life-cycle (phenological) events being greater in trees in warmer areas of Europe. Although leaf unfolding and flowering have both been shown to be happening earlier with climate warming, this is the first large scale study to examine both phenological events together and show that they are not advancing at the same rate in response to climate warming. Leaf unfolding and flowering are key annual events for trees with each signalling the start of growth and reproduction, respectively. The timing of these events is crucial for maximising fitness…
Bloomberg Green, December 17, 2020: The Real Trees Delivering Fake Corporate Climate Progress
Jack Branning is a prosperous Mississippi businessman, with commercial interests stretching from Hattiesburg to Baton Rouge, La. He’s seen a lot of deals in his 89 years, but few were as curious as the one he was offered back in 2013. That’s when a forester walked into his office in Vicksburg and inquired about 1,700 acres of former soybean fields he owned nearby. The man worked for GreenTrees LLC, a small company that says it combats climate change by reforesting thousands of acres of farmland along the lower Mississippi River. GreenTrees says it pays landowners to convert their croplands to forests, tallies the planet-warming carbon absorbed by those trees, and then sells credit for the carbon reductions to big corporations that want to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions. GreenTrees couldn’t reforest Branning’s land, because he’d already planted trees there more than a decade earlier thanks to a government conservation program. But the forester said the land still qualified for carbon payments. In effect, GreenTrees was offering to pay Branning for doing something he’d already done—and then take credit for it. “It worked out good for a guy like me,” says Branning, who’s collected thousands of dollars from the deal so far. “I had the trees there anyway, and they were not going away…”
An invasive species of tree-killing insect may have found a way to eastern North Carolina via Christmas trees, according to officials in Onslow County. The Onslow County Cooperative Extension is warning people who bought live trees in recent weeks to examine the limbs and trunk for a moth-like creature known as the spotted lanternfly. It’s also possible some trees are infested with lanternfly “egg masses,” which resemble patches of tan or gray mud stuck to tree bark, officials say. “There is concern that the spotted lanternfly may have hitched a ride on some trees that came from Pennsylvania and we want to catch this pest as soon as possible if it is in our county,” the cooperative extension posted on Facebook. Onslow County is a coastal county between Wilmington and Morehead City…
In October 2020, a healthy 150-year-old plane tree in Hackney facing removal was voted the Woodland Trust’s tree of the year by the public, but two months later the tree is now due to be felled as part of local redevelopment plans, and any protesters who attempt to halt the destruction can be jailed for two years, according to a High Court order. The plight of the Happy Man Tree, as it is known due to its proximity to a former pub called the Happy Man, inspired an outpouring of love from those who live nearby, who have dressed the tree with garlands and hung signs and banners up drawing attention to the plans to chop it down. The tree is being removed as part of a housing redevelopment project, which will provide social housing, but the developer – Berkeley Homes – admitted earlier this year that had they known how much the tree was valued they would have drawn up different plans which could have kept it. Though they said it was too late to do so. As well as seeing the tree named England’s Tree of the Year, the plans to cut it down have sparked street demonstrations, court injunctions of protesters and the opposition of over 25,000 people. But this week it appears Berkeley Homes are now on course to remove the tree as planned and fearing a backlash, have obtained an order by the High Court which states that anyone who peacefully stands under the tree after 9am on December 13 could face a prison sentence of up to two years and may have their assets seized…
In 2004, while I was a member of the Horry County Stormwater Advisory Committee, it was a privilege to have the counsel of two very concerned and well-educated men in the field: local residents Hobart Kraner, former director at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Ian Marceau, who was heavily involved in writing (and negotiating into law) the Clean Water Act. But the county did a very poor job of listening to us. There was much angst expressed by the citizenry about clear-cutting tracts of land for development, the loss of mature trees to development and the resulting acceleration of stormwater runoff, flooding and other related problems. Horry County Planning Director Carol Coleman listened to my suggestions and agreed that a strong tree ordinance should be considered. Unfortunately, she left the county for another opportunity before this could be accomplished. Throughout these times, development interests expressed disdain over the proposals we made regarding stormwater and tree preservation, and a very minimal (and inexpensive) stormwater ordinance was adopted. It took a few years to get a tree ordinance done, and it, too, was way too little, too late…
New York City, The Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2020: BP Boosts Its Bet on Trees
BP PLC has bought a controlling stake in the largest U.S. producer of carbon offsets, doubling down on a bet that preserving forests will be key to companies meeting their carbon-reduction goals. The oil giant in late 2019 made a $5 million venture investment in Pennsylvania’s Finite Carbon, which helps landowners sell their forests as carbon sinks. With majority ownership of Finite, BP plans to take global the business of paying landowners not to cut down trees. BP and Finite didn’t disclose financial terms of the latest deal but said that the forestry firm was now part of the energy company’s Launchpad. The unit functions similarly to a private-equity firm by taking big economic stakes in businesses with an eye toward steering them through expansion. “Finite Carbon has the potential to build a global platform for managing and financing natural climate solutions,” said David Eyton, BP’s executive vice president of innovation and engineering. BP itself has been one of the world’s biggest buyers of forest carbon-offset credits, a type of climate-change currency. The company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on offsets to comply with California regulators. They operate a so-called cap-and-trade system that aims to reduce greenhouse gasses by making it more expensive over time for companies operating in the state to pollute…
Natick will replace a row of ash trees culled over the summer due to an emerald ash borer infestation with three new species, according to the Public Works Department. The town had to cut down the row of ash trees along Park Street in July. It was the first appearance in Natick of the invasive ash borer, which have infested and killed countless ash trees along the East Coast since first appearing in the U.S. in 2002. The town’s replacement plan was drafted by Stephen Cosmos of Cosmos Associates, the landscape architect who helped redesign the 1840s-era common in the 1980s. Cosmos’ plan calls for nine new trees to be planted along Park Street. There will be one Amur maackia tree planted on the north and south ends of the Park Street side of the common. The tree produces a white flower in summer. Below the northernmost Amur maackia will be a stand of three wildfire sweetgum trees, and then four Elizabeth magnolia trees, which produce large, fragrant flowers in the spring. “This plan was developed with careful consideration to complement the existing Town Common planting design, to provide shade where shade was lost, and to provide a new experience with specimen trees,” Land Facilities and Natural Resources Supervisor Arthur Goodhind wrote in a letter about the plan to the Board of Selectmen on Dec. 4…
Diana Karvelis spent 15 minutes choosing just the right Christmas tree — a five-footer that cost $65 — at a stand in the East Village on a freezing weekday night. “In the past it’s been a ‘nice to have,’ now it’s a ‘need to have,’” she said. Ms. Karvelis, who was laid off from her job and moved to a new apartment in the midst of the pandemic, said that in a year when she could not see her family in person, the experience reminded her of cutting down a Christmas tree while growing up outside Detroit. She is one of many New Yorkers searching for comfort in conifers, clamoring for Christmas trees as balms of normalcy in the middle of a pandemic that has turned everyone’s life upside down. But the Christmas tree business, like seemingly everything else, has been disrupted by the virus. There are fewer sidewalk stands in the city, with some vendors citing public health concerns as the reason they are staying away, while others have noted an unmistakable spike in demand from pent-up New Yorkers desperate for holiday cheer…
Insurance Journal, December 16, 2020: Virginia City Plants Trees to Slow Flooding Woes
In Ocean Lakes, 100 more trees will soon be popping up in yards throughout the flood-prone neighborhood in southern Virginia Beach, each gifted at no cost from a local environmental group. And in nearby parks and other green areas, dozens of volunteers recently planted nearly 400 oaks and bald cypresses, among other trees, with plans for another 500 to be in place next year. This roughly $25,000 initiative was a partnership between one of the biggest homeowners associations in the city and Lynnhaven River NOW, a local environmental organization. “We hope it’s the first of many,” said Karen Forget, who leads the group. The goal is to slow flooding and the tree planting is a part of a broader initiative to create additional networks of forests near at-risk areas throughout Virginia Beach, which is just now getting started. The city, along with a host of volunteers, has been busy planting trees, too. It added 800 trees in Ashville Park, a nearby neighborhood in the southern part of the city that has drawn criticism over its inadequate stormwater system. Councilwoman Barbara Henley said it would only be roughly four years until the trees start providing significant benefits. Henley, whose district includes the Ashville Park area, said the recent reforestation was a statement that the city is moving forward with its green infrastructure solutions…
Christmas tree provided the tinder for a house fire early Tuesday morning to grow out of control and eventually injure a firefighter attempting to squelch the blaze. The San Jose Fire Department responded shortly after 3:30 a.m. to a call in the 1100 block of Lick Avenue, where they found a single-family home engulfed in smoke and flames billowing out the back of the house. Almost two hours later, firefighters were still working to contain the blaze, which had spread from the main floor to the attic. According to fire officials, who spoke with the residents of the home, the blaze was sparked by a faulty electrical outlet nearby a Christmas tree that had not been properly watered…
Mountain Home, Arkansas, Baxter Bulletin, December 15, 2020: Tips for planting trees and shrubs
Spring isn’t the only time of the year gardeners can plant trees and shrubs and expect good results. Deciduous trees and shrubs, which are those that lose their foliage in the fall, do well planted in the winter. Cooler temperatures also make winter a great time for planting. Before you purchase plants or move them, consider the planting site. Think about issues such as sun exposure, soil pH and soil drainage. Test the soil before planting. The pH will be the most critical information the soil test report contains for planting trees/shrubs. Soil tests are free and can be brought to the Extension Office. Before digging, make sure you know the location of buried and above-ground utilities. Never place any tree growing taller than 15 feet beneath power lines. Vegetation and old mulch should be cleared from the site at least 6 inches beyond the planting hole or bed. The hole for an individual plant should be at least 2-3 times the width of the root ball and only as deep as the root ball or container measured from the root crown to the bottom roots. The union where the trunk meets the roots, sometimes called the trunk flare, should not be buried…
Forecasts predicting where plants and animals will inhabit over time rely primarily on information about their current climate associations, but that only plays a partial role. Under climate change, there’s a growing interest in assessing whether trees and other species can keep pace with changing temperatures and rainfall, shifting where they are found, also known as their ranges, to track their suitable climates. To test this, a University of Maine-led research team studied the current ranges of hundreds of North American trees and shrubs, assessing the degree to which species are growing in all of the places that are climatically suitable. Researchers found evidence of widespread “underfilling” of these potential climatic habitats—only 50% on average—which could mean that trees already have disadvantage as the world continues to warm. Benjamin Seliger, a then UMaine Ph.D. student with the Climate Change Institute, spearheaded the study with his doctoral adviser, Jacquelyn Gill, a UMaine associate professor of paleoecology and plant ecology. Brain McGill, a UMaine professor of biological sciences, and Jens-Christian Svenning, a macroecologist and biogeographer from Aarhus University in Denmark also contributed…
Allowing trees and woodland to regenerate through the natural dispersal of seeds should become the default way to restore Britain’s forest cover, according to a new report. Natural regeneration brings the most benefits for biodiversity, is cost-effective and may sequester more carbon than previously thought, argues Rewilding Britain. “Given sufficient seed sources and suitable site conditions, trees will plant themselves in their millions for free over as large an area of land as we are willing to spare,” said the charity in a new report seeking to galvanise support for natural solutions to help meet the government’s ambitious target to increase Britain’s forest cover by 30,000 hectares annually by 2025. Only 13,460 hectares of woodland were planted in Britain in the year to March 2020, mostly in Scotland, but the government’s targets should see forest cover rise by at least 2% from its current 13%. The European Union average is 40%. Rewilding Britain, alongside other charities including Friends of the Earth, are campaigning to double Britain’s forest cover to 26%…
For procrastinators, there’s one more way that 2020 could make your holiday season less full of cheer: Christmas trees are in high demand and, in some cases, scarce supply this year. Joanne Bond of Bond Mountain Acres in West Newfield, close to the New Hampshire border, is the executive secretary and treasurer of the Maine Christmas Tree Association. Her choose and cut farm, and a lot of the other tree farms in the association, are in the same predicament — they’ve sold out of Christmas trees but shoppers still keep coming. Southern Maine is especially hard hit. Farms in central and northern parts of the state are more likely to still have trees, she said. Christmas tree customers might want to call a farm or check its social media pages before heading out, just to make sure trees are still available. “We’re closed,” Bond said Saturday to a would-be Christmas tree customer who came to her farm. “I had to close last Sunday. Go try to find a precut somewhere, if you can. But they’re going fast, too…”
One of the topics that I’ve often commented on over the years has been how the varieties of trees and plants that we have in our yards change over the years. For instance, 20 years ago I dealt with a lot of mulberry trees, and Chinese photinia plants. These days, there are a lot fewer mulberries in yards, and now when I see a Chinese photinia, it catches my attention because I don’t see many. By the way, both of those plants — and some others that we don’t use anymore — can be very useful, when placed correctly. This week, I would like to get a little in depth on a change that’s taking place in area landscaping that not very many people are noticing. While I suspect that this is pretty much nationwide, in our area at least, we plant a lot of ornamental pear trees. These trees are normally referred to as “non-bearing pears,” “ornamental pears” or Bradford pears. Essentially, they are grafted trees which only produce marble sized, fairly inconsequential, fruit, but are very dependable for shape and color. These trees are mostly planted for color, not shade. They are very useful for blocking the rising or setting sun from portions of a house, but are not generally utilized for that…
Eurekalert, December 14, 2020: Critical temperature for tropical tree lifespan revealed
For the first time scientists have provided clear evidence that tropical tree lifespan decreases above a critical temperature threshold. Findings, published today (14 December) in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) show that across the tropics, tree lifespans decrease for temperatures above 25 C. As temperatures are rising rapidly across large parts of the tropics, tree mortality is likely to accelerate in substantial parts of the tropics, including the Amazon, Pantanal and Atlantic forests with implications for animal habitats, air quality and carbon stocks. Although tropical rainforests account for only 7% of all land, they are home to about 50% of all animal and plant species, and approximately 50 % of forest carbon stocks on earth. Thus small changes in the functioning of tropical forests can significantly change the atmospheric levels of CO2 – the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas…
Question: Can the city of Winston-Salem try to put an end to this excessive tree butchering done by Duke Energy and Asplundh? I know lines must be cleared, but this is excessive wipe-out. As I rode down Polo Road recently, I saw what might resemble a “war zone.” Trees were either cut down or cut in half. The canopy has been massacred. It’s unsightly, unnecessary and basically an act of vandalism. I’ve not seen any North Carolina cities that allow this “excessive trimming” to be done; at least not to the extent I saw on Polo Road. Home owners must be livid. Can’t Duke show a little respect to our residents?
Answer: Keith Finch, the director of vegetation management for the City of Winston-Salem, and Jimmy Flythe, the director, west region, Government and Community Relations for Duke Energy Carolinas, responded: Keith Finch: “As requested, I looked at this area and saw that Asplundh is performing line clearance work for Duke Energy. From the city’s perspective, we are allowed to enforce a lot of control over contractor pruning inside the city limits when the contractor/s is pruning ‘city’ trees – trees within the city’s right of way. However, when the trees are outside of the city’s right of way, we have very little influence or control. In the case on Polo Road, those trees appear to be outside of the city’s right of way. “We work closely with Asplundh when they work on ‘city’ trees and monitor their work to ensure they are making proper pruning cuts and only removing what is necessary to accomplish their goals. For circumstances that require excessive removal of vegetation, we ask them to remove the tree entirely to eliminate future problems and the unsightly and unhealthy part that is often left behind…
This year, people are going all out for Christmas. There’s just one problem: finding a Christmas tree. On the streets of Hong Kong, 8-foot Noble Firs are selling for as much as $2,167 apiece, while in California and New York shoppers are paying more for what they say are inferior trees. And in the U.K. retailers are scrambling for more trees. The pandemic means millions are unable to travel over the holiday season, and are celebrating at home instead. That’s produced a spike in demand for trees—and a run on decorations. Carla St. Germain, a 55-year-old business owner in Fargo, N.D., doesn’t normally buy her tree until mid-December each year, but this year unseasonably warm weather made her go a week earlier than normal. It was a good thing she did. “When I pulled in on the side street on the side where I normally get my tree it was completely empty,” she said. There were still some 8-foot and taller trees left and “some super tiny short ones that you’d put in the corner of the apartment.” Mrs. St. Germain said she ended up persuading the seller to cut down a larger tree for her. (An 8-foot tree would have been too tall for her house)…
The Colorado Springs tree canopy could be thinned significantly in coming years when an invasive green beetle arrives. The emerald ash borer kills all species of ash trees unless the trees are treated with pesticides. It has spread through the Denver metro area rapidly in recent years, moving into Broomfield and Westminster last year, and Arvada and Louisville this year, according to a Colorado State Forest Service map. The expected loss of the ash trees will reduce shade over hot urban areas and many of the other environmental benefits trees provide in Front Range cities. For example, the Colorado Springs tree canopy covers 17% of the community and provides the city with an estimated $100 million in air filtration, $900 million in stormwater retention benefits and $2 million in carbon sequestration, according to the city’s new Urban Forest Management Plan. However about 15% of the trees in Colorado cities are ash, making the beetle a formidable menace for parks departments and residents, who have to choose which trees to save. Trees need insecticide injections for the rest of their lives to live through a beetle infestation, said Vince Urbina, Colorado State Forest Service urban and community forest manager. If communities don’t treat for emerald ash borer once it starts to attack trees, the trees eventually have to be removed, which carries its own costs. “I would say communities that have opted to treat trees are being very selective in the number of trees,” Urbina said…
Why would someone take out an entire row of walnut trees without the owners’ knowledge? “It’s a big mystery,” said Modesto’s Bill Mussman. He can’t ask the orange-vested, professional-looking crew in large trucks who destroyed Mussman’s 10 best trees Tuesday morning, because they were gone before he arrived and he doesn’t know who they work for. Perplexed — and more than a little put out, because the trees were loaded with walnuts ready to harvest — his sister, Ann Mussman, called Stanislaus County. Perhaps it had something to do with roadwork farther up McHenry Avenue near the bridge over the Stanislaus River. But the county didn’t know anything about removing part of the family orchard northeast of McHenry’s intersection with Claribel Road, Ann said. A utility line runs overhead; maybe the Modesto Irrigation District did it? But that makes little sense, because the power line is twice the height of the tree tops, demanding no pruning. Besides, you don’t remove entire trees if they did need a trim…
A cold drizzle fell on Boyd’s Christmas Trees, but the holiday spirit hummed along apace at the Swannanoa River Road tree lot, where Rhonda Heath said she’s had the best season in more than a decade.“With COVID being on this year, I’ve had customers tell me they wanted something happy in the house,” she said. “They want something pretty to look at, and some that usually do artificial, this year they wanted a live tree.” Not only that, but they wanted to go big. But undersupply, a lingering effect of the recession, has bumped up against that demand, driving customers to travel long distances to snag a tree where they could, including from the tiny lot across from the Asheville Municipal Golf Course, industry experts say. Customers who drove from Tennessee told Heath everything closer to home was too scraggly, expensive or both — if they could find anything at all. She sees cars with tags from all over the Southeast pull into her lot, loaded with customers who snap up multiple trees. “It’s just been unreal, how everybody’s so excited to get a tree,” she said. Some Christmas consumers this year are finding tree lots and farms sold out of the biggest trees early, with some closing early due to lack of inventory…
For more than 70 years, families have flocked to the Crest Ranch Christmas Tree Farm, high atop 2,600-foot Ben Lomond mountain, hunting for the perfect holiday tree and lasting memories. All that changed this year, when a raging wildfire swept down the mountains near Santa Cruz, narrowly missing the 46-acre farm at first, before turning and consuming about 40,000 of the Christmas trees growing there. For Ed and Louise Moran, the fire may have taken part of their family legacy, but it did not destroy it. The couple remain determined to replant and keep one of the nation’s oldest Christmas tree farms going. The Crest Ranch Christmas Tree Farm opened in 1948 when Howard A. Nielsen planted what he called a “tree plantation.” In the early 1970s, ownership passed to Fred Jensen, who had been out for a Sunday drive when he found himself at the tree farm — and unexpectedly in conversations with Nielsen to buy the property. Jensen sold the tree farm to his daughter and son-in-law in 2015. “We hadn’t been thinking about taking it over,” Ed Moran says, “but it was important to everyone to keep it in the family…”
Death or injury could be lurking overhead in the otherwise serene snow-covered woodland landscape of winter, according to Allyson Muth, interim director of the Center for Private Forests at Penn State. While you’re out and about, enjoying that winter wonderland, remember to look up frequently, she recommended in a recent newsletter for forest landowners. “With extreme weather like straight line winds and tornadoes occurring throughout the year, trees can sustain damage such as broken limbs or tops. Add in the weight of ice and snow and caution must be taken when enjoying a peaceful ramble,” she wrote. “Look up often to ensure you’re not walking or stopping under dangling limbs that could give way in the wind or to gravity. They’re called widow-makers for a reason. If they’re in areas where others might encounter them, flag the area to remind yourself to use caution or avoid the area until they fall…”
They are what scientists call charismatic megaflora, and there are few trees anywhere more charismatic than the three most famous species in California. People travel from around the world simply to walk among them in wonderment. The giant sequoia. The Joshua tree. The coast redwood. They are the three plant species in California with national parks set aside in their name, for their honor and protection. Scientists already feared for their future. Then came 2020. The wildfires that burned more than 4 million acres in California this year were both historic and prophetic, foreshadowing a future of more heat, more fires and more destruction. Among the victims, this year and in the years to come, are many of California’s oldest and most majestic trees, already in limited supply. In vastly different parts of the state, in unrelated ecosystems separated by hundreds of miles, scientists are drawing the same conclusion: If the past few years of wildfires were a statement about climate change, 2020 was the exclamation point…
In the dozen years since it was founded, Airbnb Inc. has moved into hundreds of U.S. cities,transforming many of them into vacation-rental meccas. In response, residents across the country have ratcheted up grass-roots efforts aimed at keeping authority over short-term rentals in the hands of towns and cities. Airbnb stock began trading Thursday at $146 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, more than double its initial-public-offering price of $68 a share, and closed at $144.71. The company has warned prospective investors that managing its success in the face of angry neighbors and unfavorable local laws is among its biggest challenges in the U.S. and around the world. Many Silicon Valley tech giants have battled regulators in Washington, D.C., and state capitals. Airbnb’s fights are breaking out city by city. For the company, the opposition could yield slower-than-expected growth and higher costs if local authorities impose restrictions on short-term rentals. The Covid-19 pandemic, which looked disastrous for the company in the spring, has instead fueled an explosion in rental demand among people flocking to popular destinations within driving distance. In August, half of Airbnb’s global bookings were for stays within 300 miles of the guest’s location, the company said. The popularity of short-term vacation rentals has generated local campaigns and generated publicity about the downside of living next door to a shifting cast of visitors. Denver, Boston and Santa Monica, Calif., are among the U.S. cities that have tightened rules on the operation of short-term rentals…
Bipartisan senators on Wednesday introduced a bill that seeks to use trees to mitigate climate change, similar to a Republican-backed bill that was introduced in the House earlier this year. The new legislation, introduced by Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Wednesday, looks to forests, wetlands and other ecosystems to absorb carbon dioxide that’s emitted into the atmosphere. It authorizes $10 million for a program to shore up the country’s supply of seeds and saplings and also aims to facilitate the sale of credits that can be earned by landowners for sequestering carbon dioxide. Though it has bipartisan support in the Senate, the bill could face an uphill battle in Congress’s lower chamber. During a February hearing, House Democrats criticized the GOP leadership-backed bill by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) that sought to plant more trees, saying that it didn’t go far enough to prevent climate change. “We should plant trees, we should perfect cross-laminated timber … but we should not call these ‘climate solutions’ if we are using these strategies to continue deforestation and continue developing and burning fossil fuel at a completely unacceptable and unsustainable pace,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said at the time. And House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said that bill wouldn’t be marked up “in the foreseeable future” following the hearing…
So you’re playing host to a live Christmas tree this year.Join the club; it’s been an increasingly popular decision, area tree farm owners report. But just like your houseplants, live trees need some care to stay healthy through the holiday season. Jan Donelson, owner of Jan’s Christmas Trees in Clear Lake, has some tips for how to properly care for your real Christmas tree as well as how to keep that festive pine vibe going. A lot of tree defoliation problems can be traced back to a thirsty tree, Donelson said. When you bring your tree home from the tree farm, make a fresh cut at the bottom of the trunk before putting it in water. “A [cut] tree will sap over, just like our blood clots,” Donelson said. That sap cap keeps the tree from drawing up water, where a fresh cut means the tree can keep drinking. That’s also why it’s important to keep the water level above the base of the trunk. If the cut isn’t in water, the trunk will sap over. If you want your tree to be “full” before putting it in the stand, put it in a larger container of water overnight and move it to the stand the next day…
New York City, The New York Times Magazine, December 2, 2020: The Social Life of Forests
As a child, Suzanne Simard often roamed Canada’s old-growth forests with her siblings, building forts from fallen branches, foraging mushrooms and huckleberries and occasionally eating handfuls of dirt (she liked the taste). Her grandfather and uncles, meanwhile, worked nearby as horse loggers, using low-impact methods to selectively harvest cedar, Douglas fir and white pine. They took so few trees that Simard never noticed much of a difference. The forest seemed ageless and infinite, pillared with conifers, jeweled with raindrops and brimming with ferns and fairy bells. She experienced it as “nature in the raw” — a mythic realm, perfect as it was. When she began attending the University of British Columbia, she was elated to discover forestry: an entire field of science devoted to her beloved domain. It seemed like the natural choice. By the time she was in grad school at Oregon State University, however, Simard understood that commercial clearcutting had largely superseded the sustainable logging practices of the past. Loggers were replacing diverse forests with homogeneous plantations, evenly spaced in upturned soil stripped of most underbrush. Without any competitors, the thinking went, the newly planted trees would thrive. Instead, they were frequently more vulnerable to disease and climatic stress than trees in old-growth forests. In particular, Simard noticed that up to 10 percent of newly planted Douglas fir were likely to get sick and die whenever nearby aspen, paper birch and cottonwood were saplings had plenty of space, and they received more light and water than trees in old, dense forests. So why were they so frail?
West Annapolis residents and an alderman are trying to save two 80-year-old trees in danger of being cut down to make way for a new commercial and residential space in the neighborhood. The two large mature trees, one a chestnut oak and the other a pin oak, are located at 101-103 Annapolis Street, a planned mixed-use development project currently before the Annapolis Planning Commission. The property owners, MRE Properties, want to build a two-story residential and commercial building at the corner of Annapolis Street and Giddings Avenue. But to do so, they say they need to remove the trees. “We’re not just taking down trees to take down trees; we’re reinvesting and redeveloping this project and property that will be anchored by a restaurant hopefully,” said EJ Rumpke, who co-owns the property with David Williams, chairman and founder of the marketing firm Merkle, Inc. But those who oppose the trees’ removal say cutting them down would hurt the community’s character, goes against the city’s tree canopy goal and could set a precedent to allow future developers to remove additional mature trees along the street. The trees also represent an environmental benefit to the city, like providing carbon sequestration and a natural stormwater management system, said Bevin Buchheister, chair of the Annapolis Environmental Commission, who testified on the project at a recent Planning Commission meeting. The commission left public comment open on the project following its Dec. 3 meeting and is expected to make final deliberations Dec. 17…
More than a month after the devastating coffee leaf rust fungus was detected in Hawaii, farmers are still looking for a viable solution in their fight against the potentially devastating plant disease. So far, coffee leaf rust has been found on Maui and Hawaii island and the state has since put a ban on transport of plants from those areas. The exact scope of the problem is not yet known, but the head of the Hawaii Coffee Growers Association has witnessed how damaging it can be. “I’ve seen it in real life,” said HCGA president Kimo Falconer. “I know what it can do. It’s not like an insect pest where insects would just take care of your yield, but this thing will actually kill the trees if it’s not taken care of or if it’s not treated properly.” For the last several weeks, Falconer has been in constant communication with his fellow farmers and government agencies to find a solution. He says there are sprays to repel the rust, but nothing currently available in Hawaii to completely eliminate it, which allows more time for it to spread…
The ginkgo trees in North Texas put on a good show this fall, and that has led to many questions about this prehistoric tree. I have arguably the fastest-growing ginkgo — but there is a larger one in Texas. The state champion ginkgo lives in the East Texas town of New Boston under the care of owner Mary Miller and her daughter Donna Worrell. Their tree has been a special part of the family’s life for decades, and for good reason. This beautiful and special tree is estimated to be about 250 years old, but it may be older than that. Back to my tree for a bit, because it has a lot to teach if you have a new ginkgo or are planning to plant one or more. Mine was planted in 1985, and early on this tree was different — growing noticeably faster than other ginkgoes. The growth rate increased after I dramatically exposed the root flare. I recommend planting this fascinating tree, but there are some things you need to understand. First, ginkgo is in that unfortunate category of usually being too deep in the container when purchased. In other words, the flares of most ginkgoes are buried and need to be exposed at planting. Other trees in this “chronically deep” category are lacebark elm and Chinese pistache…
Christmas is fast approaching, and with it comes the annual debate: Which is better – a real or a fake Christmas tree? A fake tree is certainly easier to maintain, but is it better for the environment than a real Christmas tree? About 80% of American households will display a Christmas tree this year, and of those, about 80% are fake, according to the American Christmas Tree Association. That’s understandable as there’s no cleanup and you avoid the hassle of buying and disposing of a tree every winter. Plus, it saves you money. The average natural Christmas tree costs about $80. Fake ones are about $100, so by your second year using it, you’re saving cash. But there’s a big myth about the impact on the environment. Dr. Sally Brown, a nationally-renowned soil specialist at the University of Washington, told KING 5, “People think, ‘Christmas trees – they’re destroying the woods, destroying the forests.'” But Brown confirmed that’s not true because almost all Christmas trees are grown on farms that wouldn’t exist without the holiday. “It’s actually a really nice, sustainable type of agriculture,” explained Brown. “You’re getting good land use and benefits to the soil from growing these trees, and it’s a big source of income. So, the environmental impact of having acreage devoted to Christmas tree farms is pretty minimal.” Christmas trees are also a tiny piece of the environmental pie. One major study by PE International found that real or fake, Christmas trees account for less than 0.1% of the average person’s annual carbon footprint. A much bigger factor is driving to and from the tree farms…
Country Loving Christmas Tree Farm in Leesburg, Virginia usually begins selling trees on Black Friday, but this year it opened early by popular demand. “People just started calling and calling and calling, ‘Please can I come get a tree now?'” says owner Ricky Hoybach. The weather was nice, and Hoybach began welcoming customers the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Hoybach says the farm, where customers can cut their own trees (and pick from a small selection of pre-cut trees), sells about 500 trees in an average season that ends on Christmas Eve. This year, he’d sold that many by Sunday evening. “We might have to close early this year,” he says. “We might just be sold out.” Hoybach is among a number of Christmas tree purveyors in the D.C. area who have seen increased demand this year. He attributes the surge to customers being “in a rush to get 2020 over with.” “They need Christmas now more than ever,” he says. “They’re just fed up and worn out after the election, and just exhausted from lockdowns and the constant news cycles and they’re ready for a break.” He also says he’s also seen more first-time buyers than usual. How does he know they’re fir newbies? The skyrocketing demand for tree stands. “Usually you buy a stand the first time, and then you use it for years and years,” he says. “So, we sold more stands than we’ve ever done before.” Hoybach also says better weather means better sales, and a recent run of nice days played a role. Hugh Rodell, owner of North Star Christmas Trees, says his four regional locations have seen at least a 30% increase in sales as compared with the same time in past years…
The Hustle, December 5, 2020: The economics of Christmas trees
On a frosty day in November, Beth Ann Bossio walks through the brilliant green rows of Douglas firs at Quarter Pine Farm in Smithfield, Pennsylvania, and marks hundreds of trees with price tags. As the family farm’s head of sales, Bossio has followed the journey of these trees for nearly a decade, from seedlings to 7-foot-tall evergreens. Now, at long last, they’re ready to be sold as Christmas trees. Quarter Pine is one of thousands of Christmas tree farms in America. Collectively, these farms sell 25m-30m real Christmas trees to independent lots, big-box retailers, and garden centers every year. At an average retail price of $75 a pop, these trees make up a $2B+-per-year business. But what are the economics behind that price tag? Who gets the lion’s share of the profit? And how have Christmas tree producers fared with the growing popularity of artificial trees? To find out, The Hustle spoke with Christmas tree farm owners, ecologists, and representatives from both the real and artificial tree markets…
Valletta, Malta, Times of Malta, December 7, 2020: Insect invaders threaten Rome’s iconic pine trees
Rome’s majestic umbrella pines are as much part of the landscape as the ruins and cobbled streets but they are under threat from a tiny insect invader – the pine tortoise scale. “If we do nothing, the pines of Rome will be destroyed by the thousands,” agronomist Franco Milito warned, estimating there are about 60,000 such trees in the city’s public areas and another 30,000 on private land. “And they are really the trees of Rome, which shape the views. We must look after them.” The insects, originally from North America, can kill trees already weakened by the urban environment within just two or three years, experts told AFP. “It’s very serious,” Patrizio Zucca, head of the association of agronomists in Rome, said. “Urgent action is needed.” Toumeyella parvicornis, to give it its Latin name, is about three millimetres long and its reddish-brown oval shell resembles a tortoise. It was unknown in Italy until five years ago but after ravaging the stone pines of Naples in the south, it has moved up the coast. The insect operates like a little vampire, sucking with its syringe-like mouth the sap from both the tree’s needles and its bark…
The rowan, dubbed ‘the Survivor’, once perched virtually alone in a valley at Carrifran, near Moffat. Now, after dedicated conservation efforts by a community group over the past 20 years, it is surrounded by new young native trees. In September it was named Scotland’s Tree of the Year in a contest run by the Woodland Trust conservation charity. Members of the public chose the Survivor because it stands as a symbol of hope for woodland restoration. It has now beaten off competition from the Chapter House Tree, at Port Talbot in Wales, and England’s Happy Man Tree, in London’s Hackney, to be named Great British Tree of the Year 2020. As such, it will go forward to the European Tree of the Year competition, organized by the Environmental Partnership Association. Voting will take place online in February…
Two more downtown trees deemed to be safety hazards are scheduled to be removed Monday and Tuesday, the City of Martinez’s Public Works Department said. On Monday, a large tree will be removed from in front of 736 Main St; the 700 block of Main Street is set to be closed from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to accommodate that work. Then on Tuesday, another tree will be removed from the 500 block of Ferry Street, between Estudillo and Marina Vista. Partial street closures are expected to be in effect from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. Six other trees considered to be public hazards were recently removed from the 800 block of Main Street, the city said…
Eos, American Geophysical Union, December 3, 2020: How Some Trees Survive the Summer Dry Season
An important component of Earth’s hydrologic cycle is transpiration—the movement of water through plants. Because transpiration affects near-surface temperatures, streamflows, and the productivity of ecosystems, understanding potential sources of subsurface moisture and how plants use them is crucial for developing accurate dynamic vegetation and land surface models. Our knowledge of these processes, however, is far from complete, in part because they are hidden below the ground. To better understand where trees get their water from, Hahm et al. studied Oregon white oaks (Quercus garryana), deciduous hardwoods that thrive in Pacific Northwest locales with thin soils underlain by highly weathered bedrock. Because these gnarled oaks have deep taproots, scientists have long assumed they draw upon groundwater to survive the long dry seasons typical of the Mediterranean climate in their range. To test this hypothesis, the researchers used a combination of isotopic analyses and hydrologic measurements to characterize the sources of water used by the oaks at a study site in Northern California’s Eel River Critical Zone Observatory. The data showed that despite the presence of groundwater just a few meters below the surface, these trees during summer depend primarily upon water drawn from the soil and the deep unsaturated zone, the region of weathered bedrock from which groundwater recedes at the beginning of the dry season. These results indicate that the trees’ use of rock moisture may be due to the groundwater’s low oxygen content and location within bedrock of low permeability….
Accelerating tree growth in recent years has been accompanied by a reduction in tree lifespan, which could eventually neutralize part of the increase in net uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2). This trade-off between tree growth and life expectancy applies to forests worldwide, including in the Amazon and other tropical regions, as well as temperate regions and the Arctic. Models and projections of future forest carbon uptake based on the existing system may therefore overestimate the capacity of forests to absorb greenhouse gases over time. In other words, while tree planting is important to help reduce levels of these gases in the atmosphere, it is not sufficient. Efforts to reduce carbon emissions remain essential. These are the key points discussed in an article published in Nature Communications. It reports the findings of a study conducted by a cross-border group of researchers, including Gregório Ceccantini and Giuliano Locosselli, researchers at the University of Paulo’s Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) in Brazil. Both are supported by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation)…
New York City, The Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2020: Some Acts of God Are Better Than Others
An enormous oak fell onto one of the apartment buildings I own. There was no water damage or burst pipes at the building. That was the beautiful part. Also, nobody was hurt. Eighteen windows were knocked out, plus there was extensive roof and gutter damage. The building is a 1920s brick cube, most likely constructed by immigrant Italian masons. The building took the tree hit like Marciano. My commercial property insurance has a $5,000 deductible. That’s unfortunately high. “Unfortunately” as in “Unfortunately, this was an act of God.” That’s what the insurance adjustor told me. She also said the cleanup and repair were all on me, even though the tree had fallen from my neighbor’s property—a former funeral-home mansion turned office building. The owner of that building followed up: “Because of the gale force winds, this is labeled an Act of God. In Ohio that means the property the tree lands on is the property responsible for damages and cleaning it up.” I thought to myself, “God has an Ohio policy?” I was screwed. The building needs brickwork along the roof parapet wall, gutter work, the 18 new windows, tree removal and emergency board-up…
Plenty of rainfall during the past three years has led to a robust crop of Christmas trees from growers scattered throughout Wisconsin. The favorable weather conditions couldn’t have come at a better time. Demand for live Christmas trees is surging on wholesale farms, tree lots and cut-your-own operations from Bayfield to Kenosha, Beloit to Hayward. And COVID-19 is playing a part, only this time with a positive result. Taking a cue from nursery sales this year where lawn and garden seed, perennials and annuals flew out of greenhouses as hunkered-down homeowners had more time on their hands, the state’s Christmas tree industry is seeing a similar trend. Only the increase is coming from those looking for a nostalgic return to normalcy and opting to keep their artificial trees boxed up in attics, basements and crawl spaces…
Phys.org, December 2, 2020: Researchers ask public for help finding lingering ash trees
The search is on for lingering ash, those rare trees that have managed to survive the deadly onslaught of the emerald ash borer. Finding them in the forest is like looking for a needle in the haystack, but the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources is partnering with the Kentucky Division of Forestry to find as many as possible in an effort to save the species. “The idea is those trees that have some natural genetic resistance to the emerald ash borer are going to be the future of ash,” said Ellen Crocker, UK assistant professor of forest health extension in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. “We’ve been trying to find some of these trees for several years now, and when we do, we get their seeds, so the Kentucky Division of Forestry can propagate them at their nursery and hopefully, get them back into the natural landscape.” Because lingering ash are so rare—in other states where ash trees have been decimated by the invasive pest, researchers have only found a handful—Crocker and UK forest health technician Megan Buland are reaching out to the public to help with the search and report any surviving trees in the woods through the TreeSnap app. Researchers are looking for large, mature trees left among those that were killed by the invasive insect. Seedlings that are springing up in the gaps left by dead ash are not eligible for the study, because once large enough, they too will most likely be susceptible to the borer…
A Dania Beach neighborhood is divided because of a fight over some very old oak trees. Some are saying that the trees should stay while others believe they need to be cut back. It’s reached the point where the Mayor of Dania Beach has gotten involved. On Wednesday, homeowners along Southwest 36th Terrace stood and watched as decades-old oak trees were chopped to pieces. For years, the street has been adorned and shaded by oak tree hammocks. Now, those trees are in danger. Local 10 captured on tree being cut down in a private lot. Neighbors said they don’t know the owner, but whoever the person is, he or she is within their right thanks to a controversial Florida law passed last year. The law allows property owners to remove virtually any tree, even an old oak, if they get an arborist to certify the tree poses a danger. The law cuts local government’s authority to prevent any trees from being taken down. For neighbors along that Dania Beach street, it’s a tree killing loophole and a tragedy to their way of life…
The recent ice storm spurred me to do some soul searching. The abundance of downed tree limbs was the result — obviously — of gravity’s pull on ice-laden tree boughs. But, then again, of what role did I play in this catastrophic calamity? I was left to ponder: Who is to blame for the multitude of shade trees in my home’s front yard, side yard and back yard? My wife and I have been living at this residence for a good quarter century. Thinking back, I can distinctly remember when many of these large, majestic trees were but mere saplings when I dug a hole and gave their roots a new home. It has been said, hindsight is 20/20. Nowadays, I kind of wish I had exhibited a little more foresight before I planted those young trees so near the power lines. The price that I paid was a nine-day span of no electricity. It was a penalty for my poor judgment…
Trees dominate the landscape in the northeast region. The New England and New York region is the most heavily forested (by percentage of area) area in the country. Maine is first and New Hampshire is second. So, what do all those trees do in the winter? They freeze for one thing – or, partially at least. Trees are about half water. Some species like ash less so and others like white pine more so. Regardless, the water in live trees freeze during the winter. Don’t worry, they are constructed to withstand freezing. But they largely go dormant when the freeze happens. The underground parts of the tree may not completely freeze, but not a lot goes on during the winter there either. To survive winter cold, trees begin preparations in late summer as day length shortens. Cold acclimation occurs gradually and includes a number of physiological changes in leaves, stems, and roots. And while fall color seems to get all the attention, it’s what trees do later in autumn that is the most stunning, and harder to see. Broadleaf, deciduous trees, of course, lose their leaves in the winter to reduce water loss. Most needle-leaved trees like white pine or hemlock, known as conifers, retain needles year-round – with exceptions such as larch and bald cypress trees – only losing older, damaged needles. Needles are better at retaining water than broadleaves thanks to their small surface area and waxy outer coating that limits water loss to transpiration, the evaporation of water from leaves…
Christmas tree grower Milt Agate has worked in the Christmas tree business since 1990, but said this year will be his last. His 34-acre farm in Ilderton, about 30 minutes northwest of London, Ont., has been a staple for Christmas tree shoppers. For decades, families have been visiting to pick out their tree and enjoy a warm cup of hot cider and cookies. For the past several years, he has seen a decline in sales. To his surprise, demand was high this year — which caused the sales to skyrocket. “It’s been such a weird year, people are just itching to decorate,” Agate said. “Families want to get together and this is what is bringing them together.” Now, people are also expecting a lot more from “just a traditional Christmas tree farm”, he said. “They want the wagon rides, they want the petting zoo, the Christmas knickknacks.” Agate said he simply cannot afford that, considering the amount of land, manpower and money he would need to operate. It’s pushing him to leave the market. “When you start adding the experience part of it, you’ve got to start looking at manpower,” he said. “Which I don’t have…”
Bloomberg Businessweek, December 1, 2020: Majestic Trees Are Being Clear-Cut in American Suburbs
Mature trees in residential areas are beautiful, good for the environment—and in grave danger of being cut down. In places without protective ordinances, homebuilders routinely remove every tree or nearly every tree on a property when they build on it for the first time or replace a torn-down house with a new one. Even trees that are on the edge of a property, far from the footprint of the new house, are at risk of removal. Even if you aren’t a tree-hugger, it’s hard not to feel your stomach churn when big, healthy trees are reduced to stumps. It also seems financially nonsensical. Handsome trees can raise the sales price of a house; the Council of Tree & Landscape Appraisers even has a formula for how much trees are worth. Most species of oaks, maples, beeches, dogwoods, spruces, and firs earn top scores, while many pines, ashes, willows, poplars, mulberries, and locusts are deemed of relatively little value. Trees provide shade that reduces air-conditioning bills. They also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, slowing climate change. They can prevent erosion and provide a habitat for birds and other creatures. So why the clear-cutting? Money, of course. For homebuilders, trees are a nuisance. To keep a tree alive while building on a lot, they have to keep heavy equipment far away so they don’t compact the soil above its roots. They also can’t push soil up around the trunk. Preserving trees means keeping the topography of the lot unchanged, which often doesn’t fit their plans…
Climate change, voracious beetles and disease are imperiling the long-term survival of a high-elevation pine tree that’s a key source of food for some grizzly bears and found across the West, U.S. officials said Tuesday. A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal scheduled to be published Wednesday would protect the whitebark pine tree as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, according to documents posted by the Office of the Federal Register. The move marks a belated acknowledgement of the tree’s severe declines in recent decades and sets the stage for restoration work. But government officials said they do not plan to designate which forest habitats are critical to the tree’s survival, stopping short of what some environmentalists argue is needed. Whitebark pines can live up to 1,000 years and are found at elevations up to 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) — conditions too harsh for most tress to survive. Environmentalists had petitioned the government in 1991 and again in 2008 to protect the trees, which occur across 126,000 square miles (326,164 square kilometers) of land in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and western Canada…
Phys.org, December 1, 2020: Cost of planting, protecting trees to fight climate change could jump
Planting trees and preventing deforestation are considered key climate change mitigation strategies, but a new analysis finds the cost of preserving and planting trees to hit certain global emissions reductions targets could accelerate quickly. In the analysis, researchers from RTI International (RTI), North Carolina State University and Ohio State University report costs will rise steeply under more ambitious emissions reductions plans. By 2055, they project it would cost as much as $393 billion per year to pay landowners to plant and protect enough trees to achieve more than 10 percent of total emissions reductions that international policy experts say are needed to restrict climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The findings were published today in the journal Nature Communications. “The global forestry sector can provide a really substantial chunk of the mitigation needed to hit global climate targets,” said Justin Baker, co-author of the study and associate professor of forest resource economics at NC State. “The physical potential is there, but when we look at the economic costs, they are nonlinear. That means that the more we reduce emissions—the more carbon we’re sequestering—we’re paying higher and higher costs for it…”
Ani Sirois, a respiratory nurse, has spent months caring for coronavirus patients at a Portland, Oregon, hospital, and she’s only getting busier as infections – and hospitalizations – surge before the holidays. But on a recent sunny day, COVID-19 seemed far away as she, her husband and their 2-year-old daughter roamed a Christmas tree farm in search of the perfect evergreen for a holiday season unlike any other. The family was tree-shopping nearly a week before Thanksgiving and, for the first time, they were picking their own tree instead of buying a pre-cut one. “It’s nice to have home be a separate safe space away from the hospital, and whether we can have a gathering with family or not, I know we’ll have our own little tree with the purple lights, and that’ll be something small to look forward to,” she said. The real Christmas tree industry, which has been battling increased interest in artificial trees, is glad to see that more Americans appear to be flocking to fresh-cut evergreens this season, seeking a bright spot amid the virus’s worsening toll. It’s early in the season, but both wholesale tree farmers and small cut-your-own lots are reporting strong demand, with many opening well before Thanksgiving. Businesses say they are seeing more people and earlier than ever. At some pick-your-own-tree farms, for example, customers sneaked in well before Thanksgiving to tag the perfect tree to cut down once the business opened. As demand surges, big box stores are seeking fresh trees up to a week earlier than last year, and Walmart is offering free home delivery for the first time…
Associated Press, November 30, 2020: Maine tree warden to measure effect of parasitoid flies
Cape Elizabeth’s tree warden has announced that the town will not band trees against the invasive winter moth this winter, in order to measure the progress of the release of parasitoid flies by the Maine Forest Service. In recent years, Cape Elizabeth’s trees have been among the hardest hit by the moth, losing 300 acres of oak trees to winter moth caterpillars that destroy tree foliage, the Portland Press Herald reported. To prevent defoliation, public and private property owners have banded or wrapped tree trunks with barriers designed to prevent female moths from climbing the tree and laying eggs on branches. Since 2013, the Maine Forest Service has introduced thousands of parasitoid flies to combat winter moth populations in Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Portland, Peaks Island, Harpswell, Kittery, Vinalhaven and Boothbay. A parasitoid is a species of insect larvae that kill their host. “I think the parasitic releases are having an effect,” Todd Robbins, Cape Elizabeth’s tree warden, said…
The US Forest Service hopes families will want to end 2020 with a live tree, preferably one cut from a national forest. Cutting down a Christmas tree is a tradition for many, and a healthy tradition for the forests as smaller trees get thinned out. “By cutting your own tree, you take an active part in managing your national forests,” according to the US Forest Service webpage. Tree hunters should look for an area of tightly-knit, dense trees and pick one from there. This will in turn give the surrounding trees more space to grow, Hillary Santanez, recreation event coordinator with the White River National Forest, explained to KMGH. Thinning the forests in this fashion reduces competition for resources and nutrients so the other trees can grow stronger and healthier, Santanez said. It also helps the trees handle stressful environmental situations, such as drought. In addition, thinning dense forests can help with wildfire mitigation. Families who have a fourth or fifth grader can get a free permit from the Every Kid Outdoors initiative through the US Forest Service. Otherwise, permits to cut down a tree in a national forest run $5 to $20 depending on the park. Permits are required. All permit sales are online for 2020, along with maps, how to select a tree, guidance for cutting it down and safety reminders. Like, dressing for the cold, possibly dark and snowy forest conditions…
We’ve covered trees quite a bit in this column lately — and there’s a reason. There’s no other landscape element that can significantly increase property value like trees. Shrubs can’t do that, and neither can flowers, ground covers or turf. The big trees are important, obviously, but the smaller, more ornamental trees can also be powerful and enjoyable. One of the small trees, an Asian import, is a great choice because it behaves and performs like a native. It’s the Japanese maple. The largest-growing and the ones that can take the most sun and abuse are the plants that many of the hybrids have been bred from. They are called simply green Japanese maples (Acer palmatum). They are fast-ish growing, typically have green bark, suffer few if any pest problems and have dramatic red fall color. The cultivar I have had the longest is Acer palmatum var. dissectum, a.k.a. ‘Crimson Queen’. It is rounded and slow-growing to maybe 10 feet tall with a larger spread. It has small reddish flowers followed by colorful samaras that ripen from late summer to early fall. Dissected-leaf plants are called laceleaf, cutleaf or threadleaf Japanese maples. The ‘Mikawa Yatsubusa’ variety is a true dwarf and is slow-growing to 5 feet tall. The foliage is layered close together on curving branches. Fall color is scarlet, orange and yellow. The samaras are red and decorative. It will tolerate some sun, but it’s best to have some afternoon shade. It was the Maple Society’s Maple of the Year in 2015. Acer palmatum, a.k.a. ‘Baby Ghost’, is unique, with deep-amber to red spring foliage with green veins. It’s the shortest of the Ghost series of Japanese maples. Fall colors are bright orange to red. It is one of the hardest in the Ghost series to find, but is worth the effort…
The fir is flying in federal court! Evergreen East, a Wisconsin-based Christmas tree cooperative that bills itself as “New York’s finest Christmas tree sellers,” alleges Home Depot, Whole Foods and their supplier conspired last year to scam Big Apple tree buyers by labeling cheaper Canadian Balsam firs as pricey Fraser firs — the Cadillac of conifers, according to court papers. Frasers are famous for the two-tone color of their needles, dark green on top with a silver underside. The Manhattan federal court complaint alleges that during the 2019 Christmas season, the retailers “sold potentially hundreds of thousands of Balsam Fir trees which they intentionally mislabeled and falsely advertised as Fraser Fir trees.” The Frasers are sold on Manhattan sidewalks by Evergreen’s mom-and-pop shop clients for upwards of $179 for a 6-footer and $699 for a 12-footer. The fugazi firs being sold by the big retailers — which came from North Carolina-based supplier Bottomley Evergreen — start at just $80 for a 6-footer, said Evergreen East president Kevin Hammer, 64. He said the fictitious firs crippled the competition — and cheated unsuspecting tree shoppers. “I’ve been doing this for 47 years. We are not a pimple on Bottomley’s ass,” the Bensonhurst-bred Hammer raged to The Post. “We are a cooperative that has been selling trees retail exclusively in New York City since 1974…”
Pamela Patton Jolly is the 2020 Outstanding Tree Farmer of Arkansas.
Jolly was recognized by the Arkansas Tree Farm Program, which is administered by the Arkansas Forestry Association, at the AFA annual meeting held virtually on Oct. 1. “The Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year award was created to recognize private landowners who have done an exceptional job of forest management and actively promoting sustainable forestry,” said Jennifer Johnson, Arkansas Tree Farm Program administrator. “As the Arkansas program administrator, I not only get to work with such remarkable landowners but also get to know them and call them friends,” Johnson said. “Pam is an exemplary steward of her land. She is also a caring individual who helps others learn the benefits of sustainable forestry — she talks the talk and walks the walk when it comes to tree farms. “Pam is not the first woman to win this award, although it is rare,” Johnson added. Jolly’s 223-acre farm — the Patton Tree Farm — is 8 miles west of Danville in Yell County. Jolly said the acreage, which is described by the AFA as a forest, includes 139 acres of hardwoods, “mostly oak and hickory, and 40 acres of loblolly pine.” “I named the farm after my parents, the late James and Helen Patton of Wooster,” Jolly said. “My dad operated a 460-acre farm on Cadron Creek, and I always enjoyed going to the farm with him as I was growing up…”
Biotonomy, November 27, 2020: When Trees and Buildings Become Functionally Indistinguishable
The idea of having waste is just not natural. There is nothing one can point out in nature and say that is of no purpose. The concept of throwing something away, only exist in our minds. In reality – everything transforms, but nothing goes away. In the natural world, there is no waste, everything is a nutrient that is recycled and reused infinitely. Every tree on this planet is designed to reuse its leaves over and over again. When leaves fall on the ground, a community of organisms helps transform them into energy so that trees can absorb it back through their roots. This process also helps develop healthy soil that is conducive to other life. Nature does not rely on centralized waste management. Every ecosystem is designed to process their own “waste” locally. In the forest, the leaves are spread out equally on the ground by the wind and not piled up around one big tree. Waste becomes a big problem when it is piled up. It is time we fundamentally change our perspective regarding waste management. With decentralized & nature-based sewage solutions we can transform waste into energy for both our ecosystems and ourselves…
Bloomberg, November 24, 2020: Bill Gross’s Neighbor Says Pleas for Peace Fell on Deaf Ears
Billionaire Bill Gross gave his California oceanfront neighbor a choice: Drop the complaints about the glass sculpture in the “Bond King’s” yard or face the music. Tech entrepreneur Mark Towfiq told a judge in Santa Ana Monday that the threat filled him with dread, but he refused to cave in to what he called Gross’s extortion attempt. Gross, co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co., and Towfiq began feuding after the billionaire installed a large net over the 22-foot-long piece of art by Dale Chihuly, which had been damaged. Towfiq filed a complaint with the City of Laguna Beach, and Gross responded by blasting music at all hours of the day. The two sued each other for harassment. In a case about lifestyles of the rich and famous in Orange County, Towfiq says the million-dollar piece of art might have been broken by a falling palm frond when Gross hosted a private Kenny Loggins concert in his cliffside backyard. Gross says the sculpture may have been damaged by a rock and the net was put up to protect it from the elements and vandals. Days after he filed the formal complaint, Towfiq testified he and his wife returned home about 11:30 p.m. on July 31 to rap music blaring from Gross’s home, followed by the theme songs from “Gilligan’s Island,” “Green Acres,” and “MASH.” Towfiq said he texted Gross’s girlfriend, asking for the music to be turned down, and got a response, apparently from Gross — “peace on all fronts or well just have nightly concerts big boy…”
Black Friday is typically the famous grand-opening day for Christmas tree farms, but this year, in anticipation of families that are both eager for an outdoor outing and are hoping to avoid crowds, some opened early. The ones that didn’t, wish they had. “We’ve never seen this much interest this early,” said Garth Ellms, owner of Ellms Family Farm in Ballston Spa, about opening a week before Thanksgiving. “We probably could have sold a hundred-plus Christmas trees if we were open.” Don’t count on shopping at the gift shop, eating sweets, and sipping hot drinks when out getting a Christmas tree this year. Many farms, though not all, are closing indoor areas and selling less food in efforts to follow state COVID-19 safety guidelines. State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball encouraged New Yorkers to buy from one of the 750 local tree farms in upstate New York. The state ranks sixth in the U.S. for the number of acres dedicated to growing Christmas trees, according to the department. “It is more important this year than ever that New Yorkers support local farmers and businesses when doing their holiday shopping, whether they’re looking for a Christmas tree or a delicious addition to their holiday meal,” Ball said at an event at Goderie’s Tree Farm in Johnstown on Monday…
For decades, scientists have expected that the shedding of leaves from temperate trees will get later and later under ongoing climate change. And early observations supported that idea, as warming caused leaves to stay on the trees later over recent decades, driving increased growing season length that could help to slow the rate of climate change. However, a large-scale study of European trees now suggests that this trend is beginning to change, and in fact, tree leaves may start to fall earlier as the productivity of those trees increases. The results build on growing evidence that plant growth is limited by the ability of tree tissues to use and store carbon. While changes in the growing-season lengths of temperate trees greatly affect global carbon balance, future growing-season trajectories remain highly uncertain because the environmental drivers of autumn leaf senescence are poorly understood. Autumn leaf-shedding at the end of the growing season in temperate regions is an adaptation to stressors, such as freezing temperatures. A common related assumption is that alleviating some of these stressors – as a warmer climate could – would allow leaves to persist longer to fix more atmospheric carbon by photosynthesis. However, the role of photosynthesis in governing the timing of leaf senescence has not been widely tested in trees. To do this, Deborah Zani and colleagues used long-term observations from dominant Central European tree species from 1948 to 2015, and experiments designed to modify carbon uptake by trees, to evaluate related impacts on senescence. Collectively, their data show that increased growing-season productivity in spring and summer due to elevated carbon dioxide, temperature, or light levels can lead to earlier – not later – leaf senescence. This is likely because roots and wood cease to use or store leaf-captured carbon at a point, making leaves costly to keep…
Christmas came to Strange’s around the same time it normally does, but customers were eager to see the holidays sooner. “We were getting phone calls in July, beginning of July, ‘When are you gonna have your trees up?'” said Heidi Oistad, the sales floor manager for Strange’s Florists, Greenhouse and Garden Centers in Short Pump. “The artificial ones. It was like, it’s July. It’s only July.” Ahead of Thanksgiving, the store was a holiday explosion with displays of artificial trees and a sea of pink, red and cream poinsettias that sprawl out as far as the eye can see in the greenhouse. Outside, Christmas trees in uniform rows reach toward string lights. The season’s all about a search for normalcy in a year that’s been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone’s happy to see decorations out, Oistad said. Assistant operations manager Jeremy Cochran called them a “happy distraction” for customers, with the holidays giving them something to plan for. Sneed’s Nursery in South Richmond started getting calls about Christmas offerings in November, which operations manager Jenny Rash said was early for them too. Everyone’s ready to start decorating a bit earlier, she said. “Just as a garden center, our sales are up so significantly over last year, because everyone’s stuck at home and wants to enjoy their space and I think that decorating for Christmas is just another way to bring joy into your life,” Rash said…
The first wildlife bridge in Utah is working as intended. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has proof. A video shared by the department on Nov. 19 shows various animals — including deer, bears and bobcats — using the Parleys Canyon Wildlife Overpass, which spans Interstate 80 southeast of Salt Lake City. “It’s working!” the department captioned the video. The $5 million project “has been successful at helping wildlife safely migrate over busy Interstate 80 and helping motorists be much safer as well,” the DWR wrote. The nearly 350-foot-long bridge, which opened in December 2018, is the first of its kind in the state, according to the Utah Department of Transportation. The bridge’s construction came after 46 deer, 14 moose, and four elk were killed on that stretch of highway in 2016 and 2017 alone. UDOT spokesman John Gleason told the Salt Lake Tribune in 2019 that although the organization prefers to analyze data over 3-5 years, early results of the wildlife crossing were “encouraging…”
New York City, The Wall Street Journal, November 24, 2020: Orchard of the Dammed
November is a peaceful time in the apple orchard. This year’s crop has been harvested and sold; amber-colored leaves float earthbound in the breeze. A flick of the finger nudges still-clinging leaves to the orchard floor—a simple pleasure. So, we were more than surprised, as we opened the gate to gather the last of the season’s drops, to find a furry ball under an Idared tree, unhurriedly munching on an apple sandwiched between its paws. We chased him away with a clanking garbage can lid and the next day with a tractor. But he kept coming back. I got on the horn to Rog, who lives a mile south: “Can I put you on beaver alert?” “My .22 will be ready,” said Rog, a long-retired postmaster with time on his hands. For years Rog, a backwoodsman by instinct, has been our go-to man for beavers—and for woodchucks and chipmunks, until I completed my apprenticeship. Beavers being a board-certified specialty, a decade or more ago I had called Rog just after Thanksgiving, when beavers, using front paws and snout, had dammed up the stream that feeds into our quarter-acre pond. They had downed a 16-inch-thick weeping willow and a 75-foot-high white birch, whose branches and twigs they packed with mud and grass to secure the dam. It ran 20 feet across and 4 feet high. It took Rog a month of early-morning visits, slogging around in hip boots, to trap the responsible party, which sat in his wife’s freezer until pelt prices rose…
An Oregon Christmas tree farm is getting some unexpected attention after a mistake in a press release from first lady Melania Trump’s office cast a spotlight on their business. According to CNN, the first lady’s office incorrectly said the 2020 White House Christmas tree was coming from a farm in Lebanon, Oregon. A White House communications official corrected the farm and the state Friday, saying the 18.5-foot Fraser Fir is in fact coming from Dan and Bryan’s Tree Farm in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. However, confusion arose again Sunday when Melania Trump tweeted saying the tree was coming from “Oregon’s West Tree Farm.” This tweet was later deleted and replaced with a tweet that again clarified the tree was coming from West Virginia. While there is not a “West Tree Farm” in Oregon, there is West’s Tree Farm, located in Lebanon. Tree farm owner Jon West said the whole situation has given his family something to laugh about. “We are not, not, not, not, not furnishing a Christmas tree for the White House,” West said. “Somebody somewhere made a mistake and instead of the tree coming from West Virginia, it got sent out that the tree was coming from West Tree Farm – little bit of difference.” West said word spread rapidly on social media after the initial release Friday. He said Gov. Kate Brown had even tweeted congratulating his farm. Her office later left West a message apologizing for the mistake…
Earlier this week, days after the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was propped up in its open-air grave in Midtown, word came out that a secret passenger had been discovered within its lifeless branches: a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl. Later nicknamed “Rockefeller,” the owl was transported to the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties, where it was fed mice and brought back to full strength after days of being trapped in the tree without food or water. Rockefeller is set to be released back into the wild at dusk on Saturday. This was not the first time that wildlife local to the tree’s roots had been transported to Manhattan on a flat bed truck, wrapped up in the tree’s branches. Angela Higgins McNeil told Gothamist that in 2018, her father, Don Higgins, was a part of the tree crew at Rockefeller Center, and found an owl in the branches. “[He was] part of the electrician crew, so as soon as the tree is up they start putting up the scaffolding and wiring extra branches in, the owl was chilling in there while the scaffolding was up,” she told us. “I believe they caught him and brought him to an animal rescue…”
Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and international collaborators demonstrated a new method for mapping the location and size of trees growing outside of forests, discovering billions of trees in arid and semi-arid regions and laying the groundwork for more accurate global measurement of carbon storage on land. Using powerful supercomputers and machine learning algorithms, the team mapped the crown diameter – the width of a tree when viewed from above – of more than 1.8 billion trees across an area of more than 500,000 square miles, or 1,300,000 square kilometers. The team mapped how tree crown diameter, coverage, and density varied depending on rainfall and land use. Mapping non-forest trees at this level of detail would take months or years with traditional analysis methods, the team said, compared to a few weeks for this study. The use of very high-resolution imagery and powerful artificial intelligence represents a technology breakthrough for mapping and measuring these trees. This study is intended to be the first in a series of papers whose goal is not only to map non-forest trees across a wide area, but also to calculate how much carbon they store – vital information for understanding the Earth’s carbon cycle and how it is changing over time…
It was a flickering neon light that may have attracted it. It’s likely the red and grey distinctive spotted fly hopped from a nearby rail car, which routinely runs about 50 feet away from the shop’s window. Jason Kopras, an auto glass shop owner, found the spotted lanternfly on the windowsill of his business JK Auto Glass, in Mingo Junction. It marks the first documented case of the spotted lanternfly in Ohio. If, and when, the invasive species becomes entrenched in Ohio, experts say it will have a devastating ripple effect on state growers. “I said, ‘Man it’s the weirdest looking moth I’ve ever seen. When I looked at it, it was dead. I picked it up, brought it inside and set it on my file cabinet for about a week,” Kopras said. He tied it to a fishing lure as a joke. “I kept showing people that came in because the design on this thing was amazing. I didn’t know it was a nuisance,” he said. The spotted lanternfly, which is native to Asia, decimates almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, peaches, grapes and hops, as well as hardwoods such as oak, walnut and poplar, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture. The insect is likely to find Ohio’s weather ideal. About a week after Kopras found the fly, Ben Long, 43, a mechanic who follows Ohio State University’s extension Facebook group, immediately recognized the fly from posts online…
A federal bankruptcy court judge on Friday issued a preliminary injunction order stopping, at least temporarily, preventing PG&E from cutting down 17 trees along the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail — trees that have been at the heart of a running dispute between the city and the utility. Judge Dennis Montali of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California issued the ruling. That comes three days after Montali granted a temporary restraining order stopping PG&E from cutting down the trees adjacent to the trail, which is owned by the East Bay Regional Park District but within the city limits of Lafayette. The city of Lafayette sued PG&E on Nov. 13; the trees’ removal was set to begin as soon as Nov. 16 as part of a PG&E effort to improve access to underground natural gas pipelines. The city contends the trees’ removal would violate a 2017 agreement stipulates that the utility cannot remove trees within Lafayette city limits until all obligations in the agreement have been met. According to the city, “PG&E has not met its obligations under the (2017) agreement to provide all information required by the city’s Tree Protection regulations.” Friday’s preliminary injunction order will remain in effect pending further order of the court…
Mic, November 23, 2020: How counting city trees can aid the fight for racial equality
Everybody loves trees. They’re good for all sorts of things. According to a 2019 study published in the journal Plants People Planet, trees can get rid of air pollution, reduce stress, and promote a feeling of community. They can also reduce rising urban temperatures, provide shelter for local animals, and manage stormwater in the area. It’s no wonder that reforestation has become a go-to choice for corporations making pledges to become carbon neutral by mid-century. The overwhelming evidence from the scientific literature suggests that investing in trees is […] ultimately an investment for a better world,” wrote the study’s authors. However, although nature is open to all, it’s not necessarily accessible to all. A non-profit conservation group called American Forests is looking to fix this problem by creating a “Tree Equity Score” for cities. The score is obtained through calculations based on satellite imagery of tree canopy cover, estimates of the population, and census data on income levels. Then a priority is assigned based on the demographics of the location’s residents, including race, income, age, and urban heat island severity. The resulting score will show which areas should be prioritized for tree planting. “A map of tree cover in virtually any city in America is also effectively a map of income and race,” Jad Daley, CEO and president of the organization, told Grist. Lower income neighborhoods have less trees compared to higher income areas. This means that vulnerable communities, groups that suffer more from the effects of climate change and air pollution, are being neglected when they’re the demographic that could benefit the most from trees…
Following a cool October with a surprising snowfall, an unseasonably warm November has confused some trees and shrubs around Wichita. Thinking it’s spring already, they’ve begun breaking out with buds. While experts say that trees beginning to bud too early in the early spring or late winter isn’t a rare sight, it is less common that they start to bud in fall. Tree growth patterns depend heavily on the weather to tell them what to do, and weather fluctuations in recent months are likely the cause for trees beginning to bud. This November’s average monthly temperature is nearly six degrees hotter than it usually is, while October was 3.5 degrees cooler than average, according to Vanessa Pearce, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wichita. Overall, 2020 has been warmer than usual. “We’re not talking crazy (increases). You’re talking a couple of degrees,” Pearce said. “This month so far is the most extreme and has the highest difference between what normal is and what the average is so far.” When late summers and early falls have hot, dry spells, some plants and trees will shed some leaves and go into a summer dormancy to survive…
When Mark Harnett stepped out the door of his timber frame house and looked over his Christmas tree farm Sunday morning, he saw an endless line of cars. It was the first day Mistletoe Christmas Tree Farm in Stow was open this year, and it has never been so bustling. “This was our busiest day in 12 years of farming,” Harnett said late Sunday afternoon. With the COVID-19 pandemic shaking up norms — the busiest time for sales is usually the weekend after Thanksgiving — and customers fearing another lockdown, he said, the farm was swamped by thousands people looking for an early start to their holiday decorating. “Hundreds and hundreds and hundred of trees — and these were not small trees,” said Harnett. The farm specializes in trees of 10 to 15 feet, some that have been growing there as long as Harnett has owned the farm where he lives with his family. The farm, which decks out its own holiday decorations and blasts Christmas music, sold out almost all of its cut-your-own trees for the season, although they also have pre-cut trees grown elsewhere for sale into December. Ornaments, wreaths, and other decorations also sold tremendously, he said. “There was a run on everything.” The crowds at the tree farm were one of many indications that the pandemic is encouraging many families to begin decorating early…
First of all, I would like to wish everybody a good Thanksgiving. And for that matter, the entire holiday season moving forward. By the way, I just want to point out that a lot of things that grace holiday tables, especially pecan pies, come from trees. Just as trees present an opportunity for us to harvest food, so it goes for other entities that don’t operate, or feed, quite as we do. When you are looking at a tree growing somewhere, you’re seeing a lot of things that aren’t immediately apparent, unless you give it a lot of thought. It’s easy enough to see a bunch of pears hanging on a pear tree, and realize that those things are edible and represent food. It’s not quite as easy to look at a tree trunk on a big shade tree, and think about all the things that would like to feed directly on that tree trunk, and digest if for their own uses. Of course, I do think of that kind of thing, because I run into the organisms that specialize in that kind of feeding all the time. I also try to interrupt that feeding cycle, in an effort to keep the tree healthy, and retain it. Sadly, things that eat the wood in trees, do it as if their life depends on it (it does), and they can be hard to deal with. Another thing that a successful tree represents, especially the larger ones, is lost opportunities. The green world is definitely a dog-eat-dog place, with a continual fight for resources among plants…
NPR, November 22, 2020: Climate Change Closes In On Lebanon’s Iconic Cedar Trees
Khaled Taleb steps out of his vehicle high on a mountainside in northern Lebanon, and surveys the charred remains of the cedar forest he fought to save. A black carpet of the trees’ burned needles crunches underfoot. Armed with only gardening tools and cloth masks, Taleb and four friends spent the night of Aug. 23 on this mountainside battling a wildfire that swept up from the valley and engulfed this high-altitude woodland of cedars and juniper trees. “The fear we felt for ourselves was nothing compared to the fear we had for the trees,” recalls Taleb, who played under these boughs as a child, and who has worked for their protection since he was 16. Now 29, he runs an ecotourism and conservation group he founded called Akkar Trail. The cedar tree is a source of national pride in Lebanon. Its distinctive silhouette of splayed branches graces the national flag. The forests here have furthered empires, providing Phoenicians with timber for their merchant ships, and early Egyptians with wood for elaborately carved sarcophagi. But now the very survival of these ancient giants is in question. Scientists say rising temperatures and worsening drought conditions brought about by climate change are driving wildfires in this Middle Eastern country to ever higher altitudes, encroaching upon the mountains where the cedars grow…
Q: Last fall we took down two red maples that were rotting internally. The stumps have now produced a lot of shoots 3-4 feet tall. Should I thin these shoots out now. If so, which shoots should I leave and how many. I know there was a Tree School webinar that included this but I can’t remember which one. – Yamhill County
A: Even if a tree produces copious numbers of sprouts, it’s no guarantee that they’ll all live. Some trees apparently “self-thin” their sprout production. And in many cases sprouts die because they are infected by rot from the stump itself. Leave two or at most three sprouts to a clump, as widely spaced as possible, to assure good growth and form. Generally, you should thin them early and preferably when stems are 3 inches or less. Many gardeners limit pruning to fall and winter, when the tree is dormant and no longer creating new growth. Pruning does not have to be limited to dormant phases of the tree’s life, however. Maple trees contain sap, which will “bleed” if the tree is pruned in early spring or late winter. To avoid this phenomenon, pruning may be put off until summer. The only time that’s off-limits is early summer, when pruning may damage tender new bud growth. Maple trees may be pruned for shaping purposes; this is the practice of thinning and trimming trees to make them look more attractive. For some trees, the practice of thinning branches is a necessity because canopy growth becomes too dense for tree health. When pruning branches in order to maintain a specific tree shape or thin out the canopy, cuts may be made any time but early spring…
The forestry sector – landowners, logging companies and sawmills – have lost an estimated US$1.1 billion in 2020. Devastating wildfires and Hurricane Laura have played a part, but the COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to significant losses. If workers are required to stay home, then no trees will be felled or logs sawed into lumber. These losses have been exacerbated and amplified because of a longstanding trade war that has severely curbed the sale of U.S. forestry products to foreign markets, particularly China. I am a professor of economics with a specialty in international agricultural trade, trade policy and global food demand. My work at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is informed by my nearly 10 years as a senior economist with USDA researching international trade issues affecting agriculture and forestry. Forest product exports in the U.S., including logs and lumber, were valued at $9.6 billion in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest products are the third leading U.S. agricultural export sector after soybeans and corn. In 2018, China accounted for nearly $3 billion of U.S. forest product exports. The forest products relationship between China and the U.S. is complex. The U.S. sells logs and lumber to China; China uses the logs and lumber to produce finished wood products, such as furniture and hardwood flooring; and China exports these finished wood products to the world. Interestingly, the U.S. market is the leading destination for these exports. In 2018, U.S. imports of wooden furniture and other wood products from China exceeded $9 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau…
A judge has granted a temporary restraining order stopping PG&E from cutting down 17 trees. The trees are on the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail and in an open space located north of downtown, within the city limits but on East Bay Regional Parks District property. The limited temporary restraining order requested by the city of Lafayette was granted Tuesday by Judge Dennis Montali of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. The city sued the utility last week, and alleges that PG&E failed to comply with a 2017 Tree Removal Agreement when it sought to cut down the trees, and didn’t give the city enough notice of the removal. “The city of Lafayette takes extremely seriously the agreements that we signed, and we expect that a major utility would do likewise, and would follow the provisions laid out in the agreement it has signed,” Lafayette spokesman Jeff Heyman told this newspaper last week…
When people think about the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), there are many innovative solutions that come to mind — from blast-proof wallpaper used to protect employees at the Pentagon to the rover wheels created for landing on the moon. However, two other innovative solutions deserve to be noticed: land cover mapping and statistical modeling, which both support our nation’s Warfighters. Forest cover maps derived from satellite and aerial imagery directly support military operations, but distinguishing tree cover from other vegetative land covers is an analytical challenge. Tree cover impacts military operations by hindering vehicle and troop movement, preventing helicopter access and providing concealment to the enemy, and it’s upon these challenges that ERDC’s Geospatial Research Laboratory’s (GRL) Physical Scientist Dr. Sarah J. Becker and her team recently focused their efforts. Exploring nature is a passion for Becker, a Corte Madera, California, native, and working at GRL allows her to marry her passion and job. “I love exploring local parks and hiking trails, like Great Falls Park and the Washington & Old Dominion Trail in Virginia,” she said… “While the commonly used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index can identify vegetative cover, it does not distinguish between tree and low-stature vegetation consistently,” Becker said. “We developed the Forest Cover Index (FCI) algorithm take the multiplicative product of the red and near infrared bands to separate tree cover from other land covers in multispectral imagery…”
There are many fabulous trees in the world, and some of the most interesting ones are in Texas. Learning about their unbelievable potential may help you get excited about planting new trees of your own. Rather than dropping everything to travel the world to see all the fabulous trees I know about, you can experience them without leaving your house. The Dirt Doctor organization has created two ways to experience these trees. First, we have website library entries, which are the best places to find the most details. But there is an easier way to see the basic facts and the most photographs of these great trees. It’s the Fabulous Trees Slideshow. View it free at the top right corner of dirtdoctor.com. I hope you enjoy it — I still do every time I see it. In the slideshow, you will see the national champion pecan, the state champion ginkgo, the largest kapok in Costa Rica, the largest Montezuma cypress in the world, the oldest trees in the world and much more. Not only can you see the greatest trees in the world — many that you can grow here in North Texas — but the slideshow also shows the planting and management details that I have discovered to be the most successful and cost-effective…
Kristen Shive glanced around the blackened forest and started counting. She stopped at 13 — the number of giant sequoias she spotted with charred trunks, scorched crowns and broken limbs. The towering trees had grown on this Sierra Nevada ridge top for well over 500 years. They had lived through many wildfires and droughts. But they could not survive the Castle fire, which swept into the Alder Creek Grove in the early hours of Sept. 13. The Castle fire was different from previous wildfires as all-consuming flames turned the giant trees into sequoia skeletons. One of the monster wildfires birthed by California’s August lightning blitz, the Castle fire burned through portions of roughly 20 giant sequoia groves on the western slopes of the Sierra, the only place on the planet they naturally grow. Sequoia experts may never know how many of the world’s most massive trees died in the Castle fire, but judging by what they have seen so far, they say the number is certainly in the hundreds — and could easily top 1,000. “This fire could have put a noticeable dent in the world’s supply of big sequoias,” said Nate Stephenson, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. The Castle fire is just the latest in a string of wildfires since 2015 that have fried monarch sequoias — trees that nature designed to not only withstand fire but thrive with it. They are armored with thick bark. Their high branches are out of reach of most flames. Their cones — no larger than a chicken egg — release seeds when exposed to a burst of heat. The problem is that the wildfires chewing through sequoia groves these days are not the kind that the long-lived giants evolved with. A century of fire suppression, the 2012-16 drought and rising temperatures have combined to produce more intense fires that are taking an alarming toll on the copper-hued behemoths…
The sight of a car headed down the road and weighted down by a tree on its roof is a fairly common one at this time of year in Colorado’s high country. But those families looking to cut down their own Christmas trees in the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests will have to wait a bit longer because those areas were affected by three large wildfires. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service said crews are still evaluating cutting locations in the aftermath of the Williams Fork Fire, East Troublesome Fire and Cameron Peak Fire, which burned more than 650 square miles. Christmas tree cutting permits are on sale at a number of other national forests in the state…
There’s new color in the East Bay Hills but they are not Fall colors. The changing leaves are the result of a mysterious and deadly tree fungus attacking Acacia trees all across the Bay Area.Tens of thousands of Acacia trees are dead and dying across this ridge above Oakland. Scientists are collecting samples of wood to study in labs, trying to determine what exactly is killing the trees. They may have a clue. Natalie Vandoorn is an Urban Ecologist Researcher for the U.S. Forest Service. “It’s a fairly new fungal pathogen called the Pistachio Canker, originated in Italy,” said Vandoorn. Scientists caution they’ve also identified several other fungi, so the preliminary data is just that, preliminary. People in the neighborhood started noticing it last summer. Marilyn Rhodes is 93. She has lived here a long time and has specific concerns. “I noticed because I am very fire conscious because these hills burned just a year after I moved here in 1960 The whole hill burned and fortunately not one of our houses burned but it very freighting to think it could happen again,’ said Rhodes. Cutting down and chipping the trees could spread the fungus spores and make matters worse. There’s no easy or cheap solution says Mark Rauzon. “We’re at just the tip of the iceberg on this problem, this ecological problem and it’s much bigger than Oakland,” said Rauzon…
American Forests today unveiled its Tree Equity Score, which will help cities in the United States address a problem that exacerbates social inequities and climate change impacts nationwide—often far fewer trees in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Tree Equity Score provides an indicator of whether a neighborhood has Tree Equity, defined as the right number of trees so all people experience the health, economic and other benefits that trees provide. Calculated neighborhood scores are based on such factors as existing tree cover, population density, income, employment, race, ethnicity, age and urban heat island effect (as measured by surface temperatures). City government employees, community activists, urban foresters and others will be encouraged to use the scores to make the case for planting, protecting and maintaining trees in the neighborhoods that need them the most, as well as securing the funding needed to do so. “Trees are more than just scenery for our cities,” said American Forests President and CEO Jad Daley. “They are critical infrastructure to protect people in our rapidly warming climate and are as essential for public safety as are streetlights…” Tree Equity Score will eventually cover 486 U.S. Census-defined urbanized areas in the country, home to 70% of the U.S. population. This includes cities and towns that have at least 50,000 people. The initial Tree Equity Scores released today cover multiple cities and towns in Maricopa County, AZ (home to Phoenix), the San Francisco Bay area of California and Rhode Island. These initial scores, found at www.TreeEquityScore.org, consistently show a need to plant, protect and take care of more trees in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods…
The city is filing a lawsuit to temporarily halt Pacific Gas and Electric from cutting down trees on a regional trail inside Lafayette, alleging the utility did not give the city enough notice or follow agreed-upon regulations. Beginning next Monday, PG&E plans to cut down 17 trees on the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail and in an open space north of downtown. The plan is part of a larger initiative by the utility to remove trees so that its maintenance workers can easily access gas transmission pipelines in an emergency. The city signed off on PG&E’s tree-removal efforts in a 2017 agreement that outlines several obligations the utility must fulfill. With this latest project, however, officials say PG&E has not fulfilled any of them. Specifically, the city claims it wasn’t alerted to the plan until Tuesday, and that PG&E has not gone through a local regulatory process. And while Lafayette can’t stop the utility from ultimately cutting down the trees, since they are on park district land, it wants to at least delay the procedure. “The city of Lafayette takes extremely seriously the agreements that we signed, and we expect that a major utility would do likewise, and would follow the provisions laid out in the agreement it has signed,” said Lafayette spokesman Jeff Heyman. PG&E officials would not comment directly on the city’s allegations since the utility has not yet received the lawsuit. But a spokesman said that project officials did comply with the agreement, including by paying mitigation costs for the 17 trees in question back in April…
Eversource is piloting a tree-trimming program that uses helicopters to access areas challenging to reach with vehicles and other equipment. The energy company contracted with Rotor Blade to conduct overhead trimming along a remote power line corridor in Antrim last week. “The tree trimming that we completed in Antrim will help to ensure reliable power for nearly 1,000 of our customers in the region, addressing a circuit that has been prone to tree-related outages in recent storms,” Eversource Manager of Vegetation Management Bob Allen said in a news release. “The work we completed in one day using a helicopter would have taken four climbing crews several weeks working by foot. Enhancing the efficiency of our tree trimming in remote areas enables our team to cover more ground as we continue addressing the large number of dead, hazardous trees across the state that threaten overhead electric lines.” According to the news release, Eversource plans to explore expanding its use of helicopters for trimming along circuits in areas of the state with similarly rocky terrain. Using helicopters for the work reduces the risk of injury to tree crews and is also more time- and cost-effective than ground-to-sky trimming…
The magnolia trees behind the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in the Museum District have been providing shade and sanctuary for more than a century. Richmonders have played there, proposed there and picnicked under their glossy leaves, according to social media posts. That’s why some neighbors expressed shock and concern last week when nearly 40 of the 100-year-old magnolia trees were cut down. “I heard the buzzing of the chainsaws, and I went over there to check it out. They were falling like matchsticks. They were just coming down: boom, boom, boom,” said Jane Hamilton, a neighbor on nearby Kensington Avenue. “I was shocked and saddened. I didn’t know what was going on.” The tree removal is part of the museum’s $30 million expansion and renovation project that started in October. The museum is changing the layout of the complex, expanding the parking lot and moving its green space from the center of the parking lot to be adjacent to the museum, where officials hope it will get more active use. The new green space will have seating, lighting and landscaping and will feature a grand staircase leading up to the museum’s new second-story terrace. The plan posed a problem with the magnolia trees, complicated by their old age…
About 7,000 vehicles a day pass the billboard on New Brunswick Route 1 at Sussex. ‘We’re buying wood!’, it announces, with a link to the J.D. Irving Ltd. website and a phone number: 855-WOODLOT. In the background stands the JDI sawmill, with long rows of stacked logs. Dialling that number is one of a handful of ways woodlot owners can get their timber to the province’s biggest buyer. If you sign a contract with the company, you can collect $64.25 a metric tonne for spruce studwood logs used to make two-by-fours. It’s a rate that is maddeningly low for those woodlot owners who are selling logs. And it hasn’t budged despite booming lumber sales in North America this year. These private wood sellers see the price as a symptom of a broken system, where some are quietly paid more for their logs, and an abundance of trees available to mills from Crown land prevents the majority from cashing in when times are good. About 40 minutes to the west of Sussex, at his family farm in Shannon, one of those private growers, Bruce Colpitts, recalls some wisdom shared 20 years ago by his wife’s grandfather, Lawrence McCrea. “He said, ‘Look after the land and the land will look after you,'” said Colpitts. “Well, 20 years ago the price of studwood was about $80 a tonne. Today that exact same product purchased here is $65 a tonne…
A 45-foot white spruce from Nova Scotia was selected for the province’s annual gift to the city of Boston. The tree is an annual gift to show appreciation for Boston’s help after the Halifax Explosion in 1917. Additionally, Nova Scotia officials said this year’s tree was dedicated to health care workers who are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also because of the pandemic, Nova Scotia officials said there will be no public events for the tree, which is typically honored in a series of parades before setting out for the journey to Boston Common. This year’s tree was donated by Heather and Tony Sampson from Dundee, a community in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. “My stepfather’s mother was adopted from Boston when she was two,” Tony Sampson said. “The tree comes from our property, which was passed down through the family. We’ve watched it grow for many years. It has quite a bit of meaning to me and my family to send Nova Scotia’s gift to the people of Boston.” This will be the 49th year that Nova Scotia has shown its thanks to the city of Boston by gifting a Christmas tree…
Science, November 12, 2020: Can an ambitious breeding effort save North America’s ash trees?
On a weekday morning in August, just one pickup truck sat in the sprawling visitors’ parking lot at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Delaware, Ohio. A decades-long decline in research funding had been slowly quieting the place—and then came the pandemic. But in a narrow strip of grass behind a homely, 1960s-era building, forest geneticist Jennifer Koch was overseeing a hive of activity. A team of seven technicians, researchers, and students—each masked and under their own blue pop-up tent—were systematically dissecting 3-meter-tall ash trees in a strange sort of arboreal disassembly line. Over 5 weeks, the researchers would take apart some 400 saplings, peeling wood back layer by layer in search of the maggotlike larvae of the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), the most devastating insect ever to strike a North American tree. Since the Asian beetle was first discovered in Michigan in 2002, it has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees across half the continent and caused tens of billions of dollars of damage. “We have contests for who can successfully pull out the smallest larvae and the biggest larvae,” Koch says. “People get pretty excited and competitive about it. You have to do something, because it is very tedious—and [the larvae] are really gross.” The larvae kill ash trees by burrowing into them to feed on bark and, fatally, the thin, pipelike tissues that transport water and nutrients. They then transform into iridescent green beetles about the size of a grain of rice that fly off to attack other trees. Dead larvae excite Koch and her team the most. Those finds signal trees that, through genetic luck, can kill emerald ash borers, rather than the other way around. Such rare resistant trees could ultimately help Koch achieve her ambitious goal: using time-tested plant-breeding techniques to create ash varieties that can fend off the borer and reclaim their historic place in North American forests…
New York City, Post, November 12, 2020: Police stumped by theft of rare tree in Wisconsin capital
Police are stumped by the theft of a rare pine tree from the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. The 25-foot Algonquin Pillar Swiss Mountain pine was sawed down sometime between Nov. 5 and Nov. 9, University of Wisconsin-Madison police said Thursday. The stolen tree was about 30 yards from a street that runs through the arboretum, which is a popular spot for walkers, joggers, bicyclists and nature lovers. The tree was planted in 1988, and a twin tree next to it was left unharmed. However, a company white fir located nearby that was planted in 1981 had a 12-foot section cut from its top, police said. That was left behind. Arboretum staff estimated the cost of the stolen and damaged trees to be at least $13,000, police said…
The city issued a stop work order this week after a developer removed a handful of trees without a permit. Residents contacted the city’s Planning and Zoning Department on Tuesday after noticing trees being cut down near Holy Cow Burgers and Brew on McCarthy Street, city spokesman Ryan Johnson said. Six elm trees were taken away as part of plans to add new parking spaces at the restaurant, which is located near the Link Mixson Apartments, just outside the Park Circle community. That neighborhood contains a mix of apartments, houses, restaurants and recreational parks. The trees removed were 5 inches in diameter, which falls within the city’s guidelines for allowable tree removal, Johnson said. But the developer, Stanley Martin Homes, didn’t apply for the permit needed prior to taking down trees. “They kind of jumped the gun,” Johnson said…
It’s showtime for a small town tree soon to make its home at Rockefeller Center for the 2020 holiday season. This year’s tree, a 75-foot-tall, 11-ton Norway Spruce will be cut down Thursday from a residence in the town of Oneonta and carted to New York City for what is sure to be an unusual winter. Donated by Daddy Al’s General Store, it will arrive in Manhattan by flatbed Saturday to be prepped for its illuminating global debut. There will be no public access to the tree arrival at Rock Center this year amid the pandemic, but details about how to visit it will be announced in the coming days. It’s estimated that more than 125 million people visit Rockefeller Center during the holiday season. But with tourism stalled amid the coronavirus pandemic, it’s unlikely the usual holiday frenzy will appear this year. Typical holiday staples, like Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, featuring the high-kicking Rockettes, have been canceled while Bryant Park’s Winter Village implemented new safety protocols to open last month. It’s estimated that more than 125 million people visit Rockefeller Center during the holiday season. But with tourism stalled amid the coronavirus pandemic, it’s unlikely the usual holiday frenzy will appear this year. Typical holiday staples, like Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, featuring the high-kicking Rockettes, have been canceled while Bryant Park’s Winter Village implemented new safety protocols to open last month…
Days after a contentious presidential election, a Northern California man filed for restraining orders against neighbors whom he alleges stole a Trump sign from his front lawn, chanted outside his house, wrote chalk messages intended to mock him and otherwise harassed him and his family in a politically charged quarrel. In civil petitions filed to the Placer Superior Court on Monday, Rocklin resident Michael Mason accused neighbors living on or near his street of various behavior he says constitutes harassment, with alleged exchanges spanning the past few months and intensifying during election week. The court denied granting the temporary restraining order, pending a hearing that has been scheduled for late November. Mason wrote in court documents that two neighbors in particular, named as the primary respondents in the filings, either harassed or “sent their children” to his house to harass him, his wife and their two children, ages 13 and 9…
I hear this complaint or issue more frequently, “what can I do about the neighbor’s tree?” or “my neighbor just butchered my tree!”. Often, we see issues with a neighboring tree that may threaten safety or appears to be an elevated risk. For example, from the view of your window, you see your neighbor’s tree dropping dead branches all over your driveway. Or, you can’t see a favorable view at all because of that tree or unruly hedge. Or you are certain that the neighbor’s tree will eventually fall onto your garage. Before you take any action, establish ownership of the tree, and find out if you have rights to work on the offending vegetation. Otherwise, it can land you into a contentious legal situation. Some questions to consider include: When tree limbs or even the trunk of the tree crosses property line, are you within your rights to prune or remove it? Boundary laws vary with every state. Often the boundary lines are uncertain or assumed based on local information. However, in contentious situations that may result in major modifications to a tree, it is advised to get a survey to establish exactly who owns the tree. Rights are determined by who owns the tree. Check with your town, city, county and state municipalities for regulations about trees and property lines. The rights and responsibility for care and maintenance of trees are assigned to its owner, and ownership is determined by the location of the tree’s trunk. If the trunk is located entirely on the neighbor’s land even if its limbs or branches overhang onto your land, the neighbor is the tree’s owner. The neighbor has the sole right to preserve the tree or cut it down. This is true regardless of the neighbor’s motivation or the impact the tree removal would have on your land…
Naturally occurring compounds in ash leaves could be linked to susceptibility of individual trees to the fungal disease ash dieback (ADB). But selecting trees with lower levels of these compounds and breeding for resistance could leave the UK ash tree population open to attack from invading insect pests in the future, according to scientists at the University of Warwick. Secoiridoid glycosides are naturally occurring compounds found in plant leaves. Researchers from Warwick’s School of Life Sciences and Department of Chemistry and the School of Biosciences at the University of Exeter looked at the abundance and diversity of secoiridoid glycosides in the leaves of a panel of ash trees known to be resistant and samples from trees known to be susceptible to ADB from both Denmark and the UK. Previous research had identified five compounds in the secoiridoid glycoside family that were enriched in susceptible Danish trees, but results published today in Nature Scientific Reports,show UK ash tree leaves produced 27 different individually identifiable chemicals in the group. In the paper entitled Diversity of secoiridoid glycosides in leaves of UK and Danish ash provide new insight for ash dieback management, researchers have identified particular secoiridoid glycoside compounds that could potentially be used as biomarkers for tolerance or susceptibly to ADB…
Scientists from the Harvard Forest and the Wuhan Botanical Garden have identified several species of maple trees as potential foundation species in Chinese and North American forests, according to a study published in the journal Ecology in late October. Foundation species play a disproportionately large role in shaping and maintaining their ecosystems, as well as in increasing local species diversity. These include ecosystems like coral reefs, oyster beds, and redwood forests. The study used data from 12 large forest plots in China spanning 26 degrees of latitude and ranging from cold temperate to subtropical and tropical climates. “That’s the only place in the world where you have that kind of gradient,” said Aaron M. Ellison, deputy director of the Harvard Forest and co-author of the study. Using that data, the group successfully confirmed their hypothesis that foundation tree species are more common in mid-latitude temperate forests like those of North America than in more extreme tropical climates…
A “high-risk rescue” that took about an hour freed a tree worker whose leg was pinned by a fallen limb Saturday afternoon, the fire department said. The tree company was working on Beacon View Drive around 2 p.m. Saturday when a branch suddenly dropped as one of the workers was removing a large limb from an adjacent tree, the fire department said. The worker’s leg was pinned between the fallen limb and the tree, the fire department said. A second worker climbed the tree to help his co-worker, but was unable to reach the injured man. Fairfield firefighters said the worker was trapped in a high, difficult-to-reach location complicated by branches other debris blocking access for rescuers. The worker who attempted to rescue the man was plucked from the tree by Fairfield firefighters, who called the Bridgeport Fire Department to assist, due to the height of the tree and difficulty reaching the injured man. Fairfield firefighters used chainsaws to clear branches and access the tree, according to Assistant Fire Chief George Gomola. Once the base of the tree was cleared, they used portable ground ladders to gain access to the victim. Fairfield firefighters Frank Zwierlein and Rich Bassett, who had recently attended a tree rescue class, constructed a special haul system they used to lift the heavy branch that trapped the man’s leg, secured a rescue harness to the man and belayed him to the ground…
The fig tree, four stories high and almost a century old, its arched branches forming a giant canopy, has served as a landmark for generations of Kenyans in the bustling commercial neighborhood of Westlands in the capital, Nairobi. “Not all trees have the same status,” said Peter Kiarie Njoroge, an elder in the Kikuyu tribe, which regards fig trees as the “house of God,” and the abode of their ancestors. This one, he said, craning his neck to peer up at the giant leaves, is “like a guard post.” But the famed tree’s days are numbered. It is standing in the path of a four-lane, 17-mile highway now being built through the city of Nairobi. Government authorities say they will take it down — and though they have promised to relocate and transplant it, experts say that may be impossible for such a hulking specimen. Construction vehicles were already stationed nearby on a recent afternoon, and workers said they were preparing to get started any day. This tree has now become the most visible symbol of growing public opposition to the massive new highway — the Nairobi Expressway — for reasons ranging from environmental to economic to aesthetic. Some Kenyans have been outraged that the highway builders have already mowed down dozens of trees along the route, and might cut through Uhuru Park — an iconic downtown swath of green. Others oppose the project because they say it will put Kenya into even deeper debt to China, which is building the project at a cost of about $550 million, which taxpayers will be responsible for paying back, one way or another…
Only 50% of the Earth’s total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and deforestation accumulate in our atmosphere; of the other half, 20% is absorbed into the oceans, and 30% goes somewhere on land. We haven’t a clue where on land this CO2 from the atmosphere is extracted by vegetation via photosynthesis and stored in plant tissue as carbon compounds or as soil carbon. Understanding carbon storage on land is critical for fully understanding the impacts of CO2 on global warming; we need to ascertain where this carbon is stored and what are the mechanisms that control this biotic carbon storage. Our current understanding of the land carbon sink—where carbon is stored—is based on numerical simulation models that run at grid cells sizes of 50 x 50 kilometers (km) or larger. These simulations indicate that a large proportion of the land carbon sink occurs in Earth’s semi-arid regions. Our team has undertaken research to quantitatively determine the carbon sequestered in trees within a large semi-arid area stretching from the Sahara Desert southward to the humid sub-tropics in West Africa. The first step is to map individual trees, which are important because of carbon residence time in wood. To date, no one has successfully mapped individual trees with satellite data in semi-arid areas…
Disputes in affluent neighborhoods over ocean views, noise and aesthetics are about as old as the sea—or at least a 1960s TV sitcom about castaways on an uncharted desert isle. This one stars a billionaire, his partner, too, a high-tech guy and his wife. In late July, the co-founder of bond giant Pacific Investment Management Co., Bill Gross, and his partner Amy Schwartz began repeatedly playing the theme song to “Gilligan’s Island” loud enough to annoy their neighbor, tech entrepreneur Mark Towfiq and his wife, according to a lawsuit Mr. Towfiq filed. Mr. Towfiq said relations with his neighbors hit the rocks after he filed a complaint with the city over an illuminated 22-foot-long art installation in Mr. Gross’s yard. It was erected without a permit, Mr. Towfiq said, and partially blocked Mr. Towfiq’s ocean view. Mr. Towfiq and his wife, Carol Nakahara, accused Mr. Gross in their suit of “harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress” for the sitcom serenade and other episodes of alleged retaliation. As the TV theme song played, “Gross and Schwartz began dancing on their balcony facing our property and made gestures apparently to taunt us,” said Mr. Towfiq in his application for a temporary restraining order…
Phys.org, November 9, 2020: Scientists unravel how and why Amazon trees die
The capacity of the Amazon forest to store carbon in a changing climate will ultimately be determined by how fast trees die—and what kills them. Now, a huge new study has unraveled what factors control tree mortality rates in Amazon forests and helps to explain why tree mortality is increasing across the Amazon basin. This large analysis found that the mean growth rate of the tree species is the main risk factor behind Amazon tree death, with faster-growing trees dying off at a younger age. These findings have important consequences for our understanding of the future of these forests. Climate change tends to select fast-growing species. If the forests selected by climate change are more likely die younger, they will also store less carbon. The study, co-led by the Universities of Birmingham and Leeds in collaboration with more than 100 scientists, is the first large scale analysis of the causes of tree death in the Amazon and uses long-term records gathered by the international RAINFOR network. The results published in Nature Communications, show that species-level growth rates are a key risk factor for tree mortality…
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Crimson, November 7, 2020: A Class Called “Tree”
Professor William N. Friedman wants to help students establish a relationship with “the other.” He defines “the other” as “the biological world that’s not human” — beings that, although alive, might not reciprocate actions or emotions. Friedman helps students interact with “the other” in his freshman seminar, “Tree.” In the seminar, each student is assigned a tree in the Cambridge area; students visit their trees once a week. How did an arboreal course come to be? After eight years of teaching a seminar on Charles Darwin, Friedman wanted to do something different. His new seminar is unusual among Harvard’s entire catalogue. For Friedman, developing “Tree” was natural as, well, trees. He directs the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard’s museum of trees. Arnold Arboretum is a 281 acre plot that contains trees from all over the world — over 15,000 plant species in all. Friedman described the arbor as “the best campus at Harvard.” His class arose from a desire to show more students the Arnold Arboretum, and to demonstrate that trees are a plentiful resource at Harvard. “So, to your question ‘Why ‘Tree’?’ Trees are what I have,” Friedman says…
The early ice storm was particularly damaging since many of the deciduous trees still had leaves on them, causing more weight and, therefore, more damage. We live in an ice damage zone, and in Oklahoma, ice storms occur almost annually. While all trees can suffer damage, elms, poplars, maples, birches, willows and Bradford pears are easily damaged by ice and windstorms. In addition, older trees may suffer from internal rot that is not evident from the exterior until ice brings them down. This is common on our older native oaks. Be careful working near or under any damaged tree, and approach and inspect damaged trees only if it is safe to do so. Safety should be your priority. Notice branches that may fall without warning since they can result in serious injury. Do not go near any tree close to power lines. Many damaged trees can be saved with appropriate treatment. If damaged trees do not present a threat to people or property, you could wait until the growing season before deciding if you should take them out…
This year’s fall foliage looks a bit different from that of past years. Among the golden, warm-toned hues sprucing up the St. Louis region is a noticeable number of green leaves. That’s because this fall season has been “kind of wonky,” Daria McKelvey said on Monday’s St. Louis on the Air. She’s a supervisor at the Kemper Center for Home Gardening at the Missouri Botanical Garden. “We didn’t have much rain (in October) and a lot of trees, unfortunately, by the time that they got around to that fall color time, they started dropping their leaves quite a bit,” she explained. “[They] just didn’t have enough moisture to pull them through. And so we didn’t get to see as much of that fall color that we kind of expect, normally.” McKelvey added that recent warm weather hasn’t provided the right conditions for leaves to transition colors properly. Trees in the area already hit their most vibrant peak, but some are still holding out, such as the ginkgo trees. Commonly called maidenhair trees, they would have usually turned a uniform golden yellow by mid-October. “They haven’t changed yet. They’re starting to show some yellow color, but I’m not sure if they’re going to actually drop their leaves all of a sudden, or even have the opportunity to golden up,” McKelvey said. “So I’m still waiting on that. We’ll just have to see how the temperatures play out…”
Oklahoma City Parks Director Doug Kupper says recovering from last week’s ice storm will be a “monumental” task taking months to complete. An estimated 90% of the tree canopy in Oklahoma City’s 175 parks is damaged, with perhaps thousands of trees beyond saving. Words like “decimated” were common to describe the damage as ice coated trees still heavy with summer leaves. Maureen Heffernan, executive director of the Myriad Botanical Gardens and Scissortail Park foundations, said Myriad Gardens’ trees were heavily damaged by the ice. Much younger trees in the upper section of Scissortail Park, planted barely a year ago, fared much better, she said, as did the park’s Survivor Tree clone. A tree inventory completed four years ago could help parks recover. The project produced data on 19,632 trees in 134 city parks. Arborists documented 185 species, finding most trees to be in good or fair condition. Data includes location of each tree, size, species, estimated age, canopy and trunk health, and reports of disease or past damage from ice storms and tornadoes…
Three people were arrested Friday after refusing to move away from trees that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has marked for removal, police said. The utility said it needs to remove the trees as a safety measure to prevent fires. Police and PG&E showed up around 4 a.m. to where people have been sitting in the trees. When officers arrived, they found people sleeping in that area in protest of the planned tree removal. When a PG&E-contracted company and police said they were going to start securing the land to put up fencing, those people started leaving. As this was happening, however, more people opposing the tree-cutting showed up and refused to leave the land. Three people were arrested on misdemeanor trespassing charges and released, according to police. As of mid-morning Friday, there was still one person in one of the trees. Police said they have been talking to him for hours but don’t know how long it will take to get him to come down…
Monticello, Illinois, Journal-Republican, October 31, 2020: Trees can boost property curb appeal
New homeowners often wonder about the value of planting shade trees when they first move in when there are so many more areas to focus on with a new home. “Planting shade trees is an investment for the future just like other home upgrades,” says Richard Hentschel, University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator. “A smaller, young tree will be cost effective and will increase in value along with your home as well as providing indirect benefits.” Trees can be planted throughout the year, depending on how they were grown. Fall and spring are prime times homeowners can consider a planting project to provide the extra care and time needed during transplant recovery. Environmentally, there are several positives that come from having shade trees in the home landscape. The recent devastation caused by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer has taught developers the need for shade tree diversity. A single tree species and its cultivars should make up no more than 20% of the urban forest in order to survive stressful environmental conditions such as repeated droughts and severe winter conditions. “Younger trees tolerate these conditions better than older trees, so new trees need to be continually planted,” Hentschel says…
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, KDKA-TV, October 31, 2020: More Acorns Falling From Trees This Year
This fall, you may have noticed that acorns have been falling by the bucket load. Some people look to what nature is doing now, to try to figure out what the weather will be in the future, so are these abundant acorns acting like crystal balls to look into the upcoming winter? The answer is “no”. What you’re seeing with trees now is more of an indication of what happened to the tree in the past. The PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says red oak acorns take 2 years to develop, so this year’s abundant acorn drop has more to do with optimal conditions last year, which was a good pollination year with no late freeze. My wife’s cousin, David Nilsen, is an arborist. He tells me trees can communicate with each other, too. Not like texting or chatting online, though. They communicate through chemistry. These chemicals are released in the air and in their root systems, and the trees can tell the other trees to produce a big acorn crop. David says it is their way of making sure the ecosystem is healthy. This is important for several types of animals — and larva. As gross sounding as larva is, the different types of larva that eat acorns are a major component of the diet of baby birds in the Spring…
Wired.com, October 31, 2020: Is It Better to Plant Trees or Let Forests Regrow Naturally?
When Susan Cook-Patton was doing a postdoc in forest restoration at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland seven years ago, she says, she helped plant 20,000 trees along Chesapeake Bay. It was a salutary lesson. “The ones that grew best were mostly ones we didn’t plant,” she remembers. “They just grew naturally on the ground we had set aside for planting. Lots popped up all around. It was a good reminder that nature knows what it is doing.” What is true for Chesapeake Bay is probably true in many other places, says Cook-Patton, now at the Nature Conservancy. Sometimes, we just need to give nature room to grow back naturally. Her conclusion follows a new global study that finds the potential for natural forest regrowth to absorb atmospheric carbon and fight climate change has been seriously underestimated. Tree planting is all the rage right now. This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, called for the world to plant a trillion trees. In one of its few actions to address climate concerns, the US administration—with support from businesses and nonprofits such as American Forests—last month promised to contribute close to a billion of them—855 million, to be precise—across an estimated 2.8 million acres…
President Trump will open up more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and other forms of development, according to a notice posted Wednesday, stripping protections that had safeguarded one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests for nearly two decades. As of Thursday, it will be legal for logging companies to build roads and cut and remove timber throughout more than 9.3 million acres of forest — featuring old-growth stands of red and yellow cedar, Sitka spruce and Western hemlock. The relatively pristine expanse is also home to plentiful salmon runs and imposing fjords. The decision, which will be published in the Federal Register, reverses protections President Bill Clinton put in place in 2001 and is one of the most sweeping public lands rollbacks Trump has enacted. The new rule states that it will make “an additional 188,000 forested acres available for timber harvest,” mainly “old growth timber.” For years, federal and academic scientists have identified Tongass as an ecological oasis that serves as a massive carbon sink while providing key habitat for wild Pacific salmon and trout, Sitka black-tailed deer and myriad other species. It boasts the highest density of brown bears in North America, and its trees — some of which are between 300 and 1,000 years old — absorb at least 8 percent of all the carbon stored in the entire Lower 48′s forests combined…
You may remember sadly in Hurricane Laura in Southwest Louisiana there were people, even a teen girl, who lost their lives because of fallen trees. And around the New Orleans metro area today, the number one cause of damage in the aftermath of Zeta was fallen trees, then roof damage. It was 8 o’clock Wednesday night. Three roommates in Old Metairie were riding out Hurricane Zeta. Then something happened. “I was just watching movies right in my room and it was big ole crash and I knew instantaneously,” Joel Allen said. Part of a water oak crushed the house. With rain pouring in, they moved the furniture and did something risky, put a tarp on the roof. “I could feel the roof move under my feet, so I just had to be really careful and it was really windy and raining of course, but yeah it was scary,” said Bryce Ballina, one of Allen’s roommates. Louisiana Tree Company said the phone started ringing at 1 a.m. and has not stopped. “We’re slammed right now,” said Rob Meyer, an arborist with Louisiana Tree Company. “It’s worth the wait. Just wait. Don’t do it yourself because you know that’s the highest fatality around. A lot of homeowners want to get on a ladder and do it themselves. That’s when insurance policies kick in for the wife That’s why they have certain things called widow makers in trees…”
The Amata SA logging company was supposed to represent an answer to the thorny problem of how countries like Brazil can take advantage of the Amazon rainforest without widespread deforestation. But after spending tens of millions of dollars since 2010 to run a 178-square-mile concession in the rainforest to produce timber sustainably, Amata pulled out in April. The reason: uncontrolled wildcat loggers who invaded Amata’s land, illegally toppling and stealing trees. The Brazilian government of President Jair Bolsonaro had championed such concessions and plans to expand them, arguing that legal logging discourages destructive illegal logging and provides jobs for some of the millions of poor residents of towns on the jungle’s edge. Instead of clear-cutting areas, Amata felled an average of only one tree per acre so the forest could regrow. Illegal logging, instead, opens the path for permanent deforestation, a major risk for global climate. The vast rainforest’s trees soak up and store much of the carbon emissions released around the globe, making it a critical natural brake on climate change, scientists say. But the company’s executives in São Paulo said that instead of promoting and protecting legal businesses, Mr. Bolsonaro’s administration did next to nothing to control the illegal loggers who invaded the concession in the western state of Rondônia…
Agrilife Today, October 29, 2020: How to plant shade trees in Texas
In Texas, late-fall and early winter is the perfect time to plant shade trees. Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offer some expert advice to help you get your sapling out of the container, into the ground and off to a good start. Eric Taylor, Ph.D., a Texas A&M Forest Service silviculturist and AgriLife Extension forestry specialist, Overton, said these recommendations will go a long way to improve transplant survivability and performance. “Planting shade trees is pretty simple,” Taylor said. “But there are certainly science-based tips that can get them off to a good start and improve the overall development of your transplanted tree.” Taylor said trees in containers or burlap bags can be planted at any time throughout the year if they are properly cared for. But the best time to plant deciduous trees is when they are dormant – late-fall to early spring. He prefers planting in the fall as soon as there is sufficient soil moisture. “I say early fall because roots are often actively growing during the winter months and that will help the tree get acclimated to the location,” he said. “That potential for a few more months of root growth can help. The larger the root system, the better off that tree will be in the summer…”
They stand among us — trees that look alive but are actually undead. “Zombie trees” is the name given to trees that appear healthy, and may even have flowers and green canopies, but are actually weakened and dying. “They are trees that are dead and do not know it yet,” said arborist Matt Petty from Davey Tree. “They are in decline and have crippling health or safety issues. An arborist would be able to do a detailed evaluation and notice areas of concern.” Rendered hollow by internal decay, these trees may come crashing down at any moment. They pose an especially great danger during hurricane season. “An arborist would be able to determine if a tree can be preserved and strengthened or needed to be removed,” Petty said. Trees that are “in decline” may or may not be saved. “Zombie trees” are the ones that are beyond recovery. Petty attributed the expression to the popularity of zombie movies and shows. “From a distance you see a zombie and you think it’s a person,” he said. “But as you get closer, you realize it’s something very dangerous…”
Tulsa, Oklahoma, World, October 28, 2020: What you can do about your damaged trees
Trees throughout the metro area look like they were hit by a tornado, but residents are being urged to be patient and not assume all is lost. Mark Bays, Urban and Community Forestry coordinator with Oklahoma Forestry Services, was part of a small crew propping up branches and clearing ice off of the iconic Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Tuesday. The tree will be fine, he said, and so will many trees throughout the metro area if residents are careful in who they hire to address damage caused by ice. “We will have tree care companies flooding into neighborhoods and offering special deals, and people can be talked into doing too much that is not necessary,” he said. “Or the work that is done can cause future problems that can multiply in time…”
Mongabay, October 28, 2020: American Forests CEO Jad Daley: ‘We are one nation under trees’
In the decade following the end of the U.S. Civil War, a group of people led by physician and horticulturist John Aston Warder established the American Forestry Association to create a constituency for protecting the country’s fast-disappearing forests. The group advocated for better stewardship of forests, including the creation of forest reserves to maintain timber stocks, wildlife habitat, watersheds, and recreational areas. In the near century-and-a-half since its founding, American Forests, as the institution is now known, has at times had to navigate periods of tumult. Rampant destruction of forests led it to organize the first American Forest Congress and the first annual National Arbor Day to build support for the concept of forest conservation. The economic hardship wrought by the Great Depression prompted it to push for the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Timber stock depletion due to the Second World War moved American Forests to call for a national forest management strategy. Increased incidence and severity of forest fires this decade spurred the group to build a coalition to secure resources for preventing wildfires. Today Americans face a deluge of challenges, from political polarization to protests over social injustice to the economic pain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the growing impact of unchecked climate change. It seems like a particularly bleak moment for the country, but American Forests president and CEO Jad Daley says he believes that forests can again be part of the solutions to some of our biggest problems…
An organization focused on air quality issues in north St. Louis County was named Wednesday as a recipient of $120,000 in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. Beyond Housing Inc. will receive the money over two years from the EPA’s Environmental Justice Office to help educate local leaders and community members about ties between air quality, the urban tree canopy and asthma, according to the agency. Beyond Housing’s 24:1 Clear the Air project will conduct an assessment in north St. Louis County’s low-income, minority communities to identify “opportunities for tree canopy improvements,” Wednesday’s announcement said. Among the listed goals of the project are to boost urban canopy coverage, change policies to improve canopy maintenance and reduce hospital visits related to asthma…
A month after the California Fish and Game Commission voted to make western Joshua trees a candidate for listing as a threatened species, several trade groups and a high desert town are suing to block the protections granted to the Mojave Desert’s iconic plant. In September, the commission acted on the recommendation of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, giving the species — one of two Joshua tree varieties — legal protection for the next year while the state studies its viability. On Oct. 21, the California Construction and Industrial Materials Association, known as CalCIMA, and others brought the lawsuit in a state court in Fresno County, the trade group announced Monday. The commission’s September decision was a major win for conservationists, as it marked the first time the California Endangered Species Act was used to shield a species threatened mainly by climate change. The last five years have been the five hottest in recorded human history, according to government scientists, and local researchers predict that rising temperatures could wipe out Joshua trees from wide swathes of Southern California by the end of the century…
A “worst nightmare” of an autumn ice storm wrecking trees and power lines across the metro left more than 200,000 without power Tuesday.
Tree branches littered streets while others were uprooted altogether. The iconic Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial was among those damaged but is expected to survive. “We lost a pretty good branch,” memorial director Kari Watkins said. “But the tree is still pretty good. We’ve been beating it all morning.The branch that fell we knew was damaged. And it’s so full of leaves that with the ice it becomes too heavy.” Crews spent the morning propping up branches and shaking off ice from the Survivor Tree, which along with the Gates of Time is among the most photographed images from Oklahoma City. The tree, an American Elm, was across from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and yet withstood the bomb blast that destroyed the building and resulted in the deaths of 168 people…
In 1995, the severe drought that devastated Spain left some farms using irrigation agriculture without water supplies. Though it has not happened again since, climate change increases the chance of this threat. For farmers growing annual crops, an occurrence such as this one would mean losing a year’s work but those who have groves of trees risk losing not only their year’s production, but their long-term investment as well. A research team from the University of Cordoba and the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the Spanish National Research Council in Cordoba has been working for years on several projects to improve water management and maximize the productivity of tree crops such as olives, almonds and citrus fruits. One of their lines of research is based on the fact that when there is a water shortage, trees transpire less, get warmer, and end up producing less. In their latest research project, they studied how an indicator called Crop Water Stress Index (abbreviated to CWSI), based on detecting temperature increase in trees with water stress, is related to relative water consumption in an almond grove. Tree water consumption or transpiration is very difficult to measure whereas a tree’s temperature is easily taken using remote sensors, similar to those used on a daily basis during the pandemic to detect people with fevers. In their latest work, this group experimentally demonstrated for the first time that there is a relationship between relative transpiration and the CWSI in almond trees. So, farmers can find out at any moment if the trees are consuming water at 80-90% of their capacity, meaning within optimal levels, or if they have high levels of stress and urgently need to be supplied with more water…
Washington, D.C., Times, October 27, 2020: Drought may slow growth for red oak, white pine trees
Growth for trees such as red oak and white pine trees is likely to lag next year because of the severe drought, a University of New Hampshire researcher said. Heidi Asbjornsen with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station said both trees have very different ecological “strategies” for managing moisture stress that happens during a drought. She said white pines shut down water uptake and photosynthesis as moisture becomes more limiting. Red oak has deep roots and is a more tolerant species, but reduced growth could make the tree more susceptible to pathogens and disease, she said. UNH says this year’s drought is similar to the one the state experienced in 2016, occurring later in the season and affecting the southeast portion of the state to the greatest extent…
State officials are trying to locate trees sold at Lowe’s stores this spring and summer that may contain emerald ash borers, an invasive insect that kills ash trees. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry said the ash trees were sold at Lowe’s stores in Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Brewer, Brunswick, Portland, Sanford, Scarborough, Thomaston and Windham. If a purchaser of a tree has not already been contacted by Lowe’s, the department said they should contact the state’s horticulture program at bugwatch@maine.gov or 207-287-7545, The trees came from an area that was infested with borers, state officials said. According to state officials, 36 of the trees, labeled as ash green, fraxinus pennsylvanica, were sold at Lowe’s stores for $29.98 each. State officials are encouraging residents to refrain from planting any ash or white fringe trees because of the emerald ash borer. The bug has become established in Maine and there are also infestations in Vermont, New Hampshire, New Brunswick and Quebec. Ornamental ash trees in areas with infestations require regular applications of insecticides to survive, DACF officials said. The emerald ash borer was first detected in Michigan in 2002 and has spread across 35 states through wood products, including firewood and trees sold for planting. Current emerald ash borer quarantine areas in Maine include all of York and Cumberland counties, parts of Oxford County, and the northeastern corner of Aroostook County…
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, KFOR-TV, October 26, 2020: Early-season ice storm especially tough on trees
Trees in Oklahoma still have their leaves- in a lot of cases they are still green- making a big problem for the trees, but also for your power. “Lots and lots of extra weight which is going to make the trees more susceptible to breakage,” said Josh Campbell, Agriculture Educator at OSU Extension OKC. Thanks to the storm, ice coating every surface of trees with the leaves still on them makes damage a strong possibility. “You’ve got green leaves still on this tree and so much surface area that wouldn’t normally be there if this tree had lost all its leaves. So much surface area for ice to cling to and cause that extra weight and stress on this tree,” said Campbell. Trees like Bradford Pears that are the usual candidates for breakage will likely be hit hard but Campbell says other species like elms will likely see damage when they normally wouldn’t in typical storms. “That’s going to be disastrous,” said Monty Marcum. The owner of Marcum’s Nursery says going out and shaking or beating on a small tree with a broom could help, but as for bigger trees… “Wish there was some way to avoid it, short of going out there and building the Astrodome over your yard. I don’t think you are going to get that done,” said Marcum…
The rattlesnakes were the tip-off. Just as the redevelopment of a prime tract on S West Shore Boulevard finally got underway this fall, the clearing of trees and dense overgrowth sent snakes slithering across the busy street and into nearby yards. City inspectors sent out to investigate quickly issued a “stop work” order and now the Isles at Old Tampa Bay is on hold. “We have city approved plans for our scope of work, but inadvertently did not secure the required permits to implement the approved plans,” said a statement from the developers, Tampa-based DeBartolo Development and Avanti Properties Group of Winter Park. “We are currently working with the city to acquire permits needed to continue work on the property.” But the unpermitted work has left a desolate landscape where irreplaceable grand oaks stood until a few weeks ago. “It’s really just a tragedy and it’s going to affect the entire region,” said Chelsea Johnson of the Tampa advocacy group Tree Something Say Something. “The way it was just clear cut was so irresponsible to neighbors and the city, there are coyotes and rattlesnakes running through South Tampa and people’s homes.” The 162-acre site, Johnson added, now looks like a field where “they are going to grow tobacco or corn … You and I won’t ever see those trees replenished, they were absolutely priceless…’
The house sits on a quiet street in a nice neighborhood in Greensboro. The two-story home has plenty of room for Vonnika Echols and her four kids. “Everything was good, we didn’t have any problems, it was great,” Echols said. The family has been renting the home for more than three years and recently renewed the lease to stay another year. On a recent morning, Echols was getting ready for work when someone knocked on the door. The man told Echols he was there to cut a tree down in the backyard. “I was like what, no one told me about this,” Echols said. The landlord had apparently decided to remove a giant tree in the yard that was next to the home. Echols and the kids left and went over to her mom’s house while the tree was being cut down. About an hour after they left one of the neighbors called. “He’s like, a tree fell on your house, I’m like what and then he shows me facetime video of it (the tree) on my house,” Echols said. The massive tree, that was probably at least 40 feet tall, crashed down on the roof of Echols home. The tree knocked holes in the rood, shattered windows, and left a massive mess inside. “My initial thoughts were, ‘Oh, my gosh we’re going to be homeless,’” Echols said…
We are seeing a glimpse of the damage in Rocky Mountain National Park after the fire moved into the west side of the park. The entire park is closed. “On the west side of the park, resources were focused on continual life and safety priorities,” officials stated. “Numerous trees were down on the west side of Trail Ridge Road, north of the Green Mountain Trailhead, blocking that area as a means to evacuate on Wednesday night.” “As of [Thursday] night, the East Troublesome Fire had moved north of the Coyote Valley Trailhead,” officials said. The park says that some structures were damaged but they can’t get in to fully survey the damage yet. Earlier this week, the East Troublesome Fire crossed the continental divide. It’s now burning along the east and west sides of the park. “The weather has been very different on the west side of the park and the east side of the park,” said Rocky Mountain National Park Public Affairs Officer, Kyle Patterson. “We know that there’s going to be high winds forecast tonight and tomorrow. We know that right now the fuels are rather moist but they might dry up quickly…”
Tree debris in Linn County is being repurposed in a joint effort between the sustainability program and the conservation department. The county is repurposing tree debris in three ways; mulching it, allowing woodworkers to salvage pieces and selling valuable pieces. Debris is being collected at the Linn County’s chipping site in Cedar Rapids at Mount Vernon Road SE between Squaw Creek Road and Dows Road SE. “We’re really trying to be innovative and not just throw this material out but find alternative uses for it,” said Daniel Gibbins, Linn County Conservation deputy director. “It really varies for every tree…and the highest bidder wins that. We need to get our forestry activities and the logging complete in the next year. The wood won’t sit there and be merchantable for long. After that, it’ll probably just turn into firewood.” The money will be used for the county’s conservation efforts…
A historic burr oak tree in central Missouri was struck by lightning, prompting an emergency response early Friday morning. Boone County Fire District got the call around 9:30 a.m. when people nearby heard the crack and saw smoke coming from the national landmark. Video shows black scarring on the massive tree trunk, which has a circumference of nearly 24-feet. White foam covered the base. Crews sprayed the tree when they arrived and found fire coming from within the trunk. The tree, known by many as simply, “Big Tree,” is the oldest burr oak tree in the state of Missouri. It’s also tied with another in Kentucky for the largest of its kind in the country, according to the National Park Service. The battalion chief said crews will monitor the tree for now. The tree did not lose any large limbs. “For nearly 400 years it has stood strong, withstanding storms, droughts, floods, vandalism and the progress of humankind. It’s the McBaine Burr Oak tree,” the NPS states…
Yahoo News, October 24, 2020: ‘Murder hornet’ nest vacuumed out of tree in Washington
A team of entomologists in full-body protective gear vacuumed Asian giant hornets out of a tree in Washington state on Saturday, eradicating the first nest of the so-called murder hornets found in the United States. The state’s agricultural department said it had spent weeks searching for and trapping the hornets, which attack honeybee hives and could pose a threat to humans, because they can sting repeatedly with venom that is stronger than a honeybee’s. The state’s entomologists succeeded by attaching radio trackers to three hornets they had trapped earlier in the week, one of which they followed to the nest, located in a tree near Blaine, Washington, on Thursday. They returned on Saturday to make the extraction. “Got ’em. Vacuumed out several #AsianGiantHornets from a tree cavity near Blaine this morning,” the agriculture department said on Twitter, adding that more details would be provided at a news conference on Monday. The stinging hornet, the world’s largest, can grow as large as 2-1/2 inches (6.4 cm) in length and is native to Southeast Asia, China and Taiwan. It was first discovered in the United States in December by a homeowner in Blaine…
The family of a San Pedro woman who was killed by a falling tree at her daughter’s wedding nearly four years ago has reached a tentative $28-million settlement with the city of Whittier, according to court documents filed by the plaintiffs’ attorney. Margarita Mojarro, 61, was at Whittier’s Penn Park in December 2016 when a 70-foot blue gum eucalyptus fell onto the wedding party as they posed for pictures. Mojarro was killed, and several others were injured, including a 3-year-old girl who suffered irreparable brain damage. “There is no amount of money that can bring back family members or heal the damage that was done,” said Brian Leinbach, the plaintiffs’ attorney, “but they are pleased to put this tragic event behind them, and they feel good about that.” The lawsuit, filed in 2017, alleged that the city should have known about the danger of the tree, which the suit said was “negligently, carelessly, and recklessly maintained in dangerous character and condition attributable to advanced rot and decay.” The tree was over-watered and situated at a dangerous 20% grade, according to the suit, and the city both failed to remediate the threat or warn parkgoers of any danger. The case has been fiercely litigated for more than three years. The city initially maintained no fault in the accident, which it called “an unforeseeable Act of God,” and said that park managers had inspected the tree “three or four times” in the two years prior and found no cause for concern. The “failing” of the tree, which weighed several thousand pounds, followed several days of heavy rains that could have loosened the soil and unearthed its roots, arborists said at the time…
In an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and increase Baltimore County’s tree canopy, county executive Johnny Olszewski is calling on property owners to plant more trees. He says residents can request trees to be planted on their property for free, or they can do it themselves. Olszewski is also asking everyone to track the trees they plant [Video]…
We’ve all admired the elegance of Japan’s traditional styles of architecture. Their development required the kind of dedicated craftsmanship that takes generations to cultivate — but also, more practically speaking, no small amount of wood. By the 15th century, Japan already faced a shortage of seedlings, as well as land on which to properly cultivate the trees in the first place. Necessity being the mother of invention, this led to the creation of an ingenious solution: daisugi, the growing of additional trees, in effect, out of existing trees — creating, in other words, a kind of giant bonsai. “Written as 台杉 and literally meaning platform cedar, the technique resulted in a tree that resembled an open palm with multiple trees growing out if it, perfectly vertical,” writes Spoon and Tamago’s Johnny Waldman. “Done right, the technique can prevent deforestation and result in perfectly round and straight timber known as taruki, which are used in the roofs of Japanese teahouses.” These teahouses are still prominent in Kyoto, a city still known for its traditional cultural heritage, and not coincidentally where daisugi first developed. “It’s said that it was Kyoto’s preeminent tea master, Sen-no-rikyu, who demanded perfection in the Kitayama cedar during the 16th century,” writes My Modern Met’s Jessica Stewart…
Phys.org, October 22, 2020: Soil fungi act like a support network for trees, study shows
Being highly connected to a strong social network has its benefits. Now a new University of Alberta study is showing the same goes for trees, thanks to their underground neighbors. The study, published in the Journal of Ecology, is the first to show that the growth of adult trees is linked to their participation in fungal networks living in the forest soil. Though past research has focused on seedlings, these findings give new insight into the value of fungal networks to older trees—which are more environmentally beneficial for functions like capturing carbon and stabilizing soil erosion. “Large trees make up the bulk of the forest, so they drive what the forest is doing,” said researcher Joseph Birch, who led the study for his Ph.D. thesis in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. When they colonize the roots of a tree, fungal networks act as a sort of highway, allowing water, nutrients and even the compounds that send defense signals against insect attacks to flow back and forth among the trees…
A lawsuit over Ann Arbor’s water and sewer rates and how the city is spending money from ratepayers has sparked debate among City Council members. The lawsuit, which claims the city owes utility customers tens of millions of dollars in refunds, in part calls into question the city’s use of stormwater funds for trees. Up for council approval Monday night, Oct. 19, was a $674,020 contract with the Davey Tree Expert Co. for routine pruning of trees along city streets, funded by stormwater fees. The city has for several years funded trees and their maintenance using stormwater fees paid by utility customers. The city maintains trees provide important stormwater management benefits, intercepting an estimated 65 million gallons of stormwater each year. Last month, council approved using $160,775 from stormwater fees to plant 500 trees…
The removal last Thursday (Oct. 15) of a half-dozen sunburst locust trees from the south side of Detroit Avenue, between Lakeland and Westwood avenues, caused quite the social media outcry in Lakewood. “This is part of regular maintenance of our tree canopy,” Mayor Meghan George said. “Apparently, the prior administration had some sort of verbal agreement with LakewoodAlive that any removal of trees in a business district would be verbally communicated with them in advance.” The mayor said she and her administration were never notified about such a handshake agreement. She noted that the trees in question were safety hazards that required removal prior to a full sidewalk replacement project starting this fall. “Even with the prior agreement, at the end of the day, this is a safety issue,” George said. “The brick surrounding the trees were inches apart.” City Arborist and Tree Forestry Manager Dan Sullivan said the trees, which despite being trimmed by utility companies were in the overhead wires, had been a source of complaints to the building department by second-floor apartment tenants. Even if the sidewalk wasn’t being replaced, it was Sullivan’s recommendation that the trees be removed…
A tall tree with a champion’s title stands on the western bank of the Dismal Swamp Canal. Way up high in the tree’s top, orange-colored persimmons grow. “They’re a little hard to see because it’s so tall,” said Katie Sandford, a ranger at the Dismal Swamp State Park in Camden County. The persimmon tree stands 98 feet tall, about 50 feet more than the typical height for the species. Its trunk measures 96 inches in circumference and the spread of its canopy is 52 feet. Those three measurements are the factors that led to the tree being labeled the champion persimmon tree in North Carolina. The tree is the center of attention this time of year for the park wildlife when persimmons ripen and become really sweet, earning the nickname of sugar plum. Its genus name of diospyros means fruit of the Gods. When the fruit falls to the ground, it’s like a banquet for opossums, raccoons, bears and birds. Sandford believed a raccoon must have feasted recently based on droppings found at the base of the tree Tuesday…
A tree-pruning company has been fined after it cut branches off a tree at a Kerrisdale apartment building in the spring, disrupting a nest of red-breasted nuthatches and killing at least three chicks. Environment Canada announced the fine this week after months of investigation into the violation that was reported by a 12-year-old bird-lover who had been visiting the birds every day. Clay Zhou-Radies was shocked when on one of his visits in May he found the nest and the nuthatches and a couple of northern flickers gone. He reported the incident to Environment Canada, and officers investigated under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. “During the course of this inspection, carcasses of migratory bird chicks (nuthatches) were collected by officers,” said spokeswoman Veronica Petro in an email. She said Environment Canada doesn’t reveal the identity of those issued violation notices or the amount of the fine…
PG&E Corp. is still missing dangerous trees in its quest to keep limbs from crashing into power lines and igniting major wildfires, a court-appointed investigator has found. Mark Filip, a Chicago lawyer who is the court-appointed monitor in the utility’s criminal probation, reported this week that the utility’s “enhanced vegetation management” program appeared to backslide this year after making strides in late 2019. “Although there were meaningful improvements within 2019, that improvement appears to have, at best, plateaued, and perhaps actual regression has occurred,” Filip wrote in a report to U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco. The monitor, a partner in the Kirkland & Ellis law firm in Chicago, said the number of “missed hazard trees,” after declining late last year after a critical report, has risen again. In one case, Filip said his team spotted just three weeks ago a tree that was supposed to have been pulled down in mid-August. The leaves on the tree actually made contact with utility equipment and the leaves were singed. The tree has since been removed…
A man who faced jail time for cutting down protected trees is being sued by the city, which says he still needs to pay the value of the growth he destroyed. In a lawsuit filed last week, Isle of Palm leaders say Jonathan James Gandolfo completed his sentence for the infraction but has failed to either donate replacement trees or pay the cost of replacing them, a part of the city’s tree ordinance. The complaint estimates the cost at around $57,000. IOP is asking both for the tree replacement cost and additional punitive damages of an unspecified amount. An attorney for the town declined to comment beyond the specifics in the complaint. Alice Paylor, an attorney for Gandolfo, said Tuesday she is in the process of filing a motion to dismiss the suit. She said the statute of limitations has run out on the ordinance, and that Gandolfo can’t be forced to pay the fees because he did not own the land where the trees were cut. Gandolfo was convicted in a 2018 jury trial of improperly cutting down two trees, one significant and one historic, on an Isle of Palms property. He attempted to buy the property the trees were on but ultimately the sale did not close…
In yet another example of 2020’s endless supply of bad omens, hairy looking red pods are now growing from trees in a volcanic park on the Island of Hawaii. A photo showing two of the growths dangling from Ohia tree limbs was posted Oct. 10 on Facebook by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a turbulent area that “includes two of the world’s most active volcanoes.” Classic science fiction warns such pods are foreboding evidence of an alien invasion, like the pods that assume the shape of people in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” A US Geological Survey drone captured lava erupting at the fissure 8 cinder cone near Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano on July 14. According to the USGS, the lava emerging from the cone was traveling at a speed of 13 to 16 miles per hour. But the National Park Service says the “red nests” are indicative of a different kind of trouble — one that has nature acting in reverse. The Ohia trees are so stressed, officials said, roots are popping out above ground on their limbs. “Stress may come from the cracking of the tree’s bark (either from natural growth or injury), fire heat or smoke, insects, or disease,” the post said. “In the park, the phenomenon has been especially documented in trees that were defoliated during the eruptions of Kīlauea Iki in 1959 and Mauna Ulu in the early 1970s…
Tucson, Arizona, Arizona Daily Star, October 20, 2020: The best way to plant a tree in Tucson
How do you plant a tree? As the old joke goes, green end up. In Tucson, it’s a bit more complicated, and one big reason for that is caliche. Caliche is a hardened soil layer common to desert soils. It is made up of calcium salts and minerals (mostly calcium carbonate) which are naturally present in the soil. In rainier places, minerals and salts in the soil are flushed through by rainfall. In drier climates like ours, over time these salts and minerals build up and form a hard layer (also called hardpan) anywhere from several inches to several feet thick. Anyone who’s tried to dig a hole by hand in Tucson knows what it’s like to try to dig through caliche — a pick or a caliche bar will be your best friend. For larger jobs, you may need to rent a jackhammer, or even a backhoe. This hard layer makes it tough on new plants — particularly trees — because their roots won’t get the drainage or the room they need if you leave the caliche in place. In addition, if a tree’s roots end up growing shallow due to the caliche layer, the tree will be in danger of toppling once it gets taller. This would not only kill the tree, but potentially be a hazard to property and people. The University of Arizona Extension Office has a helpful handout on managing caliche…
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Advocate, October 19, 2020: How to deal with damaged trees after a storm
Trees are very important features of our landscapes, providing shade in summer, allowing heat to radiate into the house in winter, adding aesthetic beauty and actually improving the value of our homes. For those of us who really love trees, they are priceless. However, when a storm blows through, the damage they leave behind can be devastating to homeowners and commercial industries. Hurricane Laura took out 757,538 acres of timber, according to LSU AgCenter specialists. In Louisiana, forestry and timber rank No. 1 in the top 10 agricultural commodities at $3.49 billion, so that kind of loss is enormous. For homeowners, once a storm has passed, you need to figure out what type of damage your tree has incurred. If major limbs or the tree’s central main branch is damaged or down, you’ve likely lost your tree. Such extensive damage makes it very difficult for the tree to recover. Large wounds will take a long time to heal. In some cases, it is possible the tree will survive, but it will be definitely be stunted in addition to being a big target for pests and disease…
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Paul Bunyan’s Farm and Nursery as they prepare their Christmas trees for the holiday season. Susan Lopes, business owner and Christmas tree farmer at Paul Bunyan’s Farm & Nursery, said she looks forward to this time of year because she loves seeing the joy the trees bring families. “I think I have the best job in the whole world. I love, love growing Christmas trees,” said Lopes. She spends her days out in the field making sure every tree is perfect. “I live Christmas year round. When you grow Christmas trees, it’s Christmas every day around here, at least for me,” said Lopes. Even though the pandemic canceled a lot of activities and events, it didn’t cancel Christmas and the beginning of the farm’s annual tree tagging in September. “It was a really special time for them,” said Lopes. “And for me, knowing all my hard work in the summer months paid off.” In a way, the farm provides a sense of normalcy for some in a time far from normal…
Seattle, Washington, Times, October 19, 2020: Prune trees for great looks — and safety
Whether your home is surrounded with mature trees and shrubs or you have new landscaping, you’ll want to make the most of your greenery. Properly pruned trees are graceful and elegant, shading your home in summer and creating much-needed privacy on smaller city lots. By contrast, an out-of-control tree is not only an eyesore, its branches can post a hazard to your gutters and roof — or to your neighbors’ property. “The key to living with trees is regular maintenance,” says Jeff Warrick, an arborist with Eastside Tree Works. “You are doing yourself and the tree a huge favor. Routine pruning costs much less than dealing with a tree in an emergency.” Warrick helps people assess the health of their trees and shrubs and create a plan for maintaining them. It’s especially important, he says, when you have Douglas firs, big-leaf maples, or Western hemlocks on your property…
Phys.org, October 19, 2020: Trees bring benefits to society, regardless of their origin
Trees planted in urban spaces provide a multitude of ecosystem services: they reduce air pollution and noise, provide habitat and shelter for other species, and reduce erosion during heavy rains. They also offer opportunities for relaxation, attenuate urban heat islands and contribute both to landscapes and a sense of place. At the same time, trees can be a source of allergens, generate maintenance costs and cause accidents or threats to native biodiversity if introduced from elsewhere. This last point is the subject of an ongoing debate: do introduced species contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services? Environmental scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) – working in collaboration with the Botanical Gardens and Conservatory of the City of Geneva—have analyzed a large data-base of trees found in the Geneva region, and systematically assessed the services and inconveniences they generate. The results of the study, to be published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, show that most tree species in Geneva are non-native, and that trees provide roughly the same ecosystem services to Geneva’s urban spaces regardless of their origin…
In the 19th century, eastern forests looked very different. Huge American chestnut trees, their trunks up to 10 feet in diameter, dominated forests from Maine to Mississippi. Their bright yellow foliage gilded Appalachia every autumn. Then, a shipment of imported trees arrived in New York in 1876 carrying a stowaway: Cryphonectria parasitica, a fungus native to Asia. Within a few decades, the fungal blight wiped out hundreds of millions of chestnuts. Oaks, hickories and red maples took over, turning yellow autumn forests more scarlet and bronze. The pattern continues as human activities transform not just the health and composition of forests, but their colors, too. Introduced pests, pathogens and invasive species are causing immediate changes to the fall color palette. And scientists are beginning to see a framework for how climate change may shape the forest colors of the future. “These species have been adapting for millions of years, and we’re putting them through a stress test in a very short period of time. It’s shocking their system,” said Tanisha M. Williams, the Burpee postdoctoral fellow in botany at Bucknell University. “But they are adapting.” Autumn’s longer nights and cooler days kick-start the seasonal color change, known as leaf senescence. Trees respond to the difference in temperature, precipitation and light by slowing photosynthesis. As the chlorophyll — the energy-producing compound that makes leaves green — breaks down, new chemical compounds emerge. Carotenoids, the same pigments in carrots and buttercups, make leaves appear orange, yellow and amber…
An invasive insect that has devastated vineyards, beer hop fields, orchards and other crops in several mid-Atlantic states, may be finding a home in Connecticut. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven announced this week that adult spotted lanternflies were detected in New Canaan. A single example of the insect was seen in Stamford. Last month spotted lanternflies were also found in Greenwich and West Haven. State and federal plant inspectors are conducting surveys to determine the extent of the infestation. The spotted lanternfly, native to China, India and Vietnam, first appeared in the U.S. in 2014. There were sightings in Farmington in 2018 and Southbury in 2019.“This insect has the potential to cause a great deal of damage, says Deputy State Etymologist Victoria Smith. The lanternfly has affected crops in several states, particularly in Pennsylvania. It has also been found in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. There’s another danger, associated with how the insect sucks and digests sap from fruit. Smith says there have been incidents where people broke arms or legs slipping on accumulated lanternfly excrement…
After an autumn rain, they suddenly appear: mushrooms. They pop up in the lawn, in the mulch around the base of trees, and among the perennials. Some homeowners are alarmed by them, but mushrooms should be a welcome sight. They’re delivering good news about the health of your soil. “Mushrooms mean fungi,” said Meghan Midgley, a soil ecologist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. And fungi are one of the major ingredients of healthy soil that is good for your plants. “Fungi are natural composters,” she said. They do most of the work of breaking down each year’s batch of fallen leaves. “If you see mushrooms, it’s a sign that your soil has a healthy soil food web,” Midgley said. Along with other microorganisms, fungi consume all kinds of organic matter — the remains of dead plants, animals and other living things — and release useful nutrients into the soil to be absorbed by plant roots. Gardeners might wonder why they would want a fungus in their yards, when fungi are the source of plant diseases such as powdery mildew and cedar-apple rust. But though some kinds do cause disease, far more fungi are beneficial. They are essential to good soil, thriving plants and healthy ecosystems all over the world…
Winter is nearly here, which means many homeowners should think about clearing away dead trees on their property. “It is very important to cut down dead trees,” said Cameron Kenny of Edmunds Trucking Excavation and Logging, a fully insured, family-run operation in Ossipee for the past five years. “You should never have them around your house because they could fall on and damage it,” he added. “Dead trees can also fall and hit a healthy tree. One good gust of wind could be all it takes.” In addition to removing dead trees, Kenny said they do everything from hauling wood and general tree service to firewood and excavation. The length of time for a particular kind of job varies, it depends on the nature of the work. For a small house lot with little trees and brush, he said they can usually clear 1-acre on a daily basis. For logging, he said they can clear 2-acres daily. “It all depends on what is on the acreage and land,” said Kenny, who noted they practice conventional logging with a chainsaw and skidder versus mechanized logging and “millions of dollars in equipment.” For pricing, he cited two different models. They buy the wood if there are 4 to 5 acres of good, healthy and mature trees, the latter characteristic defined differently depending on the tree…
UPI, October 15, 2020: Laser technology used to measure biomass of giant Californian redwood trees
For the first time, researchers have executed a three-dimensional survey of the world’s biggest trees, using laser technology to precisely measure the volume and biomass of Northern Californian redwoods. Researchers detailed the feat in a new paper published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. California’s giant redwood trees play an outsized role in above ground carbon sequestration, and have a larger impact on their ecosystems than their more diminutive neighbors. “They are also very hard to measure and so tend to be underrepresented in measurements and models of above ground biomass,” Mat Disney, professor of geography at University College London, said in a news release. Researchers used ground-based lasers to measure the biomass of large coastal redwood trees, Sequoia sempervirens, at three forest sites in Northern California. Scientists hope the data will help them more precisely monitor the impacts of climate change on redwood forests. “Big questions within climate science in response to rising CO2 levels are whether and where more trees should be planted and how best to conserve existing forests,” said Disney, lead author of the new study. “In order to answer these questions, scientists first need to understand how much carbon is stored in different tree species…”
Phys.org, October 15, 2020: Thinning and prescribed fire treatments reduce tree mortality
To date in 2020, 1,217 wildfires have burned 1,473,522 million acres of National Forest System lands in California; 8,486 wildfires have burned over 4 million acres across all jurisdictions in California. This current fire activity comes after forests in the region experienced an extreme drought accompanied by warmer than normal temperatures from 2012 to 2015, resulting in the deaths of over 147 million trees, mostly from bark beetles. These dead trees are now adding more fuel to this summer’s wildfires, especially in the southern and central Sierra Nevada, where tree mortality was the heaviest. Frequent fire once kept forests throughout the western US relatively open and prevented excess litter and downed wood from accumulating on the forest floor. After more than a century of fire suppression, many forests became far denser than they once were and more prone to disturbances such as uncharacteristically severe wildfire and drought. A recently released study by USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station research ecologists Eric Knapp and Malcolm North, research entomologist Chris Fettig, along with co-authors Alexis Bernal and Dr. Jeffrey Kane (Humboldt State University) suggests that if forests had been closer to their historic densities, tree mortality would likely not have been as severe. Published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, the study found that between 2014 and 2018, 34% of trees in unthinned areas died compared with only 11% of trees in thinned areas…
The city is turning to Winnipeggers for help completing an urban forest strategy, a 20-year plan covering invasive forest pest management, tree maintenance and pruning, tree planting, as well as tree protection and preservation. Once it’s completed, Winnipeg’s city forester Martha Barwinsky says it will be the first time in more than a century of tree planting the city will have such a blueprint. And there are more than a few challenges facing Winnipeg’s estimated 3.1 million trees. “We’ve got the invasive pests, but also we’ve got development happening in the city … we need a plan,” said Barwinsky. “It’s to provide a framework and direction … on what’s important and what we need to prioritize in our urban forest management and, really, how we’re going to manage it … considering all of the challenges…”
Detroit, Michigan, News, October 15, 2020: Dying tips on pine trees
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to look at a pine tree that was declining in health over the past few years. I looked over the tree and surveyed the site it was growing on. It was situated between two tall houses. There wasn’t much space between the two buildings and the tree had just about outgrown its spot. The tips of the branches were almost touching one of the houses. Because of where it was planted, not much sunshine was reaching the tree. It was shaded morning and evening and the rest of the day it received dappled shade from some nearby tall maple trees. The soil, basically fill-dirt from the original excavation with a thin layer of topsoil, was obviously dry. Whatever grass that was there was thin and spotty. The pine tree itself had many dead and dying branches. Those symptoms along with its growing site told me it was a classic case of Diplodia tip blight. Trees growing on poor sites are most apt to be infected…
EarthDefine, a provider of high-resolution spatial data products, has released the first version of its US Tree Map product – accurately mapping over 550-million acres of tree cover across the conterminous United States. This data provides the most detailed mapping of the nation’s tree cover by mapping trees at 900 times the resolution of currently available national datasets. The US Tree Map seamlessly maps tree cover with an overall accuracy exceeding 96%. The data will be a continually updated to maintain a ‘live’ snapshot of the nation’s trees. EarthDefine will acquire and process new aerial imagery every year, to keep track of the ever-changing tree cover in the U.S. at an unprecedented scale and precision. EarthDefine used AI to process over 120 terabytes of 0.6-meter resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial imagery to create the US Tree Map. The advantages of using such state-of-the-art AI is clear where trees need to be consistently classified across the vast and diverse geography of the continental US. “We are seeing a lot of attention being paid to our Nation’s trees and forests,” said EarthDefine CEO, Vikalpa Jetly. “From rapidly changing forest cover due to the effects of wildfire, to the increased awareness of how trees benefit urban communities – people are interested in understanding and taking inventory of trees across the country.” EarthDefine’s US Tree Map can help planners assess urban tree canopy for any city in the contiguous U.S. and also support other applications like biomass estimation, wildfire risk monitoring, or quantifying ecosystem services…
The relationship between the whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), an iconic tree of western mountaintops, and the Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), a brash bird in the crow family, is often used as an example of the biological concept of mutualism: a relationship between species where both benefit. The pine provides large, nutritious seeds to the nutcracker. The nutcracker buries these seeds for later use in scattered hiding spots, inevitably failing to retrieve some and effectively planting the next generation of whitebark pine. But the mutualism between the pine and the nutcracker is not equal. While the pine depends heavily on nutcrackers for seed dispersal and germination, the nutcracker merely prefers the whitebark pine’s seeds. If whitebark pine seeds aren’t available or abundant, the highly mobile nutcracker will fly off and find another food source. A study published today in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that the inequality in the pine-nutcracker mutualism may make this partnership vulnerable when the populations of one of the partners declines. Scientists from The Institute for Bird Populations, the National Park Service, and the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative found that the mutualistic relationship between whitebark pine and Clark’s Nutcrackers may be threatened by local declines in the tree’s population…
Reason, October 13, 2020: The USDA Should Let People Plant Blight-Resistant American Chestnut Trees
The American chestnut was once the dominant hardwood species in Appalachian mountain forests, comprising as much as 40 percent of the overstory trees in the climax forests of the Eastern United States. Foresters used to quip that an enterprising squirrel could travel from Maine to Georgia on the interlocking branches of chestnut trees. The fast-growing American chestnuts often reached five feet in diameter and 60–100 feet in height. Then came the Asian chestnut blight in the early 20th century that killed over 3 billion American chestnuts basically causing the tree to become functionally extinct throughout its natural range. The blight fungus was probably brought to America on imported nursery stock of Chinese chestnuts. American trees had simply never evolved resistance to this parasite. The American chestnut is now almost entirely gone from the landscape except for a few stumps in the woods that still produce shoots that the blight kills before they reach 15 feet in height. For more than 30 years, the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF) has been engaged in a privately financed program in which its geneticists have been crossbreeding American chestnuts with blight-resistant Chinese chestnuts. The goal is to produce an American chestnut tree that retains essentially only the blight resistance genes from the Chinese chestnut tree…
Preservationists in Nevada City thought they’d won a landmark victory last month against PG&E Corp., securing a court ruling preventing California’s largest utility from chopping down hundreds of trees in their community to reduce wildfire risks. Now PG&E has won a green light to resume cutting. A Nevada County Superior Court judge reversed himself Friday, saying he didn’t have the authority to regulate Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s tree-removal program in the Sierra foothills community. That “exclusive jurisdiction” belongs to the Public Utilities Commission, Judge Thomas Anderson wrote. PG&E said Wednesday the ruling gives it the freedom to resume its tree-cutting program in Nevada City, part of a ramped-up effort by the company to reduce vegetation throughout its service territory that could lead to wildfires. With the court’s new ruling, “PG&E’s tree crews will continue moving forward with the tree removals,” the company said…
Tree branches may have come in contact with Southern California Edison equipment and sparked the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest, according to a letter the utility sent to regulators on Monday. As part of the U.S. Forest Service’s probe into the fire, investigators took a 23-foot-long line of conductor belonging to the utility, an “H-Frame structure” with two power poles and three tree branches, Edison wrote in its letter to the Public Utilities Commission. Monday’s letter was a supplement to the utility’s Sept. 15 filing with the CPUC, where the company notified regulators that there was an “incident” on their grid in the same general area and around the same time as the beginning of the Bobcat fire. The fire has scorched more than 115,000 acres between the San Gabriel and Antelope valleys and destroyed more than 80 homes since it began Sept. 6 near Cogswell Dam in the Angeles National Forest…
Dallas, Texas, Morning News, October 12, 2020: Placement is key when planting trees
This is the first column in a series to explain my updated tree-planting recommendations. These are not just ideas or techniques learned from books or other people in the business, but procedures and techniques learned from personal experience in the landscape design, installation and maintenance businesses during the past 50 years. I currently don’t do the work, except on my own properties, but I am spending more time than ever researching and reviewing work done through the years by me and many others in the business to see what worked the best and what didn’t work so well. The first step is the proper selection of trees. Concentrating on the North Texas area, it’s important to point out that certain trees have been quite severely overused. Not that you should totally avoid these trees, but realize that live oaks, red oaks, cedar elms and crape myrtles (all quality trees) have been overplanted. Just make them a little smaller percentage of what you choose to plant…
Trees marked for removal in Nevada City by PG&E are being guarded by protesters who plan to stay up in the trees overnight. They sat on branches throughout the day Monday so the utility couldn’t cut the trees down. Demonstrators, who are part of a large group of Nevada City residents against the tree removals, are committed to guarding the trees. However, the utility said the trees need to come down for safety reasons. “It’s something that I can take a stand for,” said Joy Knight as he sat high above the ground in the branch of a Ponderosa tree that’s marked for removal. “I’ll stay up here as long as I need to. I stopped eating and drinking so I don’t have to use the restroom.” Knight and a handful of other demonstrators are taking turns going up in the trees and standing in the shade of them to protest PG&E’s planned removal. They said they’ve tried other means to negotiate with the utility, but this is their last resort. “PG&E has a lot of money and we don’t,” Knight said. “So, I’m up in a tree…”
Q: A few wks ago a huge tree fell in the middle of the night from my neighbors yard totaling mine and another neighbors vehicles. There wasnt any inclement weather and the tree limbs had been falling in the months prior causing power outages etc. The homeowner reached out to me in July advising she was having the limbs cut so it doesnt damage our vehicles but the entire tree fell since then. I now have to replace a car, pay rental car fees etc due to no fault of my own. How can we be paid back for the expenses we are incurring?
A: If the tree was dead, and was a known hazard, the homeowner has liability for failure to exercise due care to remove the tree. If the tree was green, the homeowner would have an Act of God defense. If you have comprehensive and collision insurance coverage, you should turn this claim over to your insurance company…
Yahoo.com, October 8, 2020: ‘Highly invasive’ tree putting our iconic sugar maple at risk
Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year. It’s when nature paints landscapes with beautiful colours of oranges, yellows and reds and perhaps the star of the show is the iconic sugar maple. “The sugar maple is regarded, actually by many people around the world, to be the most beautiful tree in the world for its colours,” said Eric Davies, with the faculty of forestry at the University of Toronto. Davies says the sugar maple is ecologically dominant in eastern North America and plays a huge role in providing a habitat for biodiversity of all types. “Maple syrup — this is something Indigenous people taught European settlers, and has become a huge important part of life and also the wood is very revered,” Davies explains. “You can make cutting boards because there’s no toxins in it, you can build beautiful furniture, [and] it’s [also] really good for burning in your fireplace. It’s good for just about everything that you would want a wood to be good for.” But this native tree is among the many threatened by invasive species, like the European Norway maple. They may look similar when it comes to their foliage, but one is detrimental to the ecosystems it invades. Davies says when you think of ecosystems, think in terms of a trophic food web: a pyramid…
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Roanoke, Virginia, WDBJ-TV, October 8, 2020: Roanoke’s tree stewards looking for more volunteers
Life lessons come from many unexpected places. But they’re all around us, kind of like how trees just sort of hug the greenway. Harry Van Guilder spends a lot of time with trees. As one of Roanoke’s tree stewards, it’s part of his job description, even though he’s not compensated other than in gratitude. The group got its start in 2009 after the recession. The city’s urban forester lost half his budget and half his staff, and needed help. Across the state there are ten of these groups, but Roanoke’s is hoping to get a few more hands. “We concentrate on the smaller trees, and the things we can do from the ground with no power tools, just hand tools,” said Van Guilder. With the pandemic, there haven’t been many work days; they just resumed in July. That means the work that gets done is needed that much more. “And not even having a budget to buy trees to plant, and the city loses approximately 250 trees per year, due to storm damage, disease, age and accidents,” said Van Guilder. Van Guilder hopes to plant 100 new trees between now and next spring. The money for the trees will come from the stewards’ non-profit. And whether he’s pruning or planting, he knows the service is making a difference…
Boston, Massachusetts, Globe, October 8, 2020: Why are so many trees falling during storms?
After downed trees from Wednesday’s storm led to widespread power outages across the state, arborists said Thursday that trees can be under stress for a number of reasons, making them more vulnerable to such wind events. Climate change, droughts, storms, invasive species, and disease are just some of the factors that threaten the health of trees. Drought has had a negative impact on trees across Massachusetts, according to Russell Holman, an arborist from Arborway Tree Care of Hyde Park who serves on the board of the Massachusetts Arborists Association. “It’s not just a one-year drought,” said Holman. “They’re losing roots.” Most of Massachusetts is currently under severe or extreme drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor. The monitor has reported that since 2000, the longest duration of drought in Massachusetts lasted 48 weeks, from June 2016 to May 2017. Holman said dry seasons from previous years have weakened the roots of many trees, leaving them more vulnerable to high winds. Higher temperatures are also causing certain trees to move further north…
Bear and Melissa LeVangie spent much of their childhood aloft, in a then-forested area of Massachusetts. “Our mother would say, I don’t want to see you until it is dark,” said Bear LeVangie. “We would climb an 80-foot — it seemed like a 100-foot then — white pine and hang out and not think twice about it.” The twins still spend much of their time in and around trees: Both are arborists, which is akin to being tree doctors. Both are seeing a surge in demand for arborists because the region’s trees are faring so poorly. “I would never have anticipated how fast things are declining,” said Melissa LeVangie, who works for Shelter Tree, a tree care supply company, and is tree warden, or caretaker, for the town of Petersham in central Massachusetts. As climate change accelerates, the trees in the Eastern forests of the United States are increasingly vulnerable. For many arborists, the challenges facing trees are reshaping and expanding the nature of their work. Many said they are spending more time on tree removal than ever before — taking down dead or unhealthy trees, or trees damaged or felled by storms. “We are a heavily treed state,” said Kristina Bezanson, an arborist and a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “We are having more tree problems that require lots of arborists, and there is a shortage of arborists…”
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Kansas City, Missouri, Star, October 7, 2020: Tree burns from the inside out in Sierra Nevada wildfire, video shows
Flames leaped through a crack in a Sierra Nevada tree trunk and engulfed the inside, video shows. Video from Daniel R. Patterson captured the freaky fire traveling through the center of the trunk on Tuesday. The short video shows the flames mysteriously burning through a crack in the trunk and flaring through the hole. In July, a similar scene happened in Maine when fire burst from the inside of a tree during a storm, McClatchy News reported. The fire department thought it had been hit by a bolt of lightning, which caused the tree to burn from the inside out. “This is the craziest thing,” wrote Christian radio station WHCF in Bangor. “They say it got hit by lightning and set the inside of this tree on fire. You gotta admit 2020 does not disappoint in the ‘Never-saw-that one coming’ department…”
“Mom, puh-leeze!” That’s what I heard from my kids every time I stopped to admire the beauty, graceful form and, of course, shade of a tree. I love trees. So, when the city of Palm Desert designed phase two of its San Pablo Avenue project and included the removal of longstanding tamarisk trees, I was concerned and sought more information. We are fortunate to have reliable and impressive sources of information in our desert. The resources I contacted include: Cameron Barrows, PhD., Center for Conservation Biology, UCR; Jim Cornett, Principal Biologist, JWC Ecological Consultants, author of 44 books (mostly about deserts); and Randy Chavez, Landscape Supervisor for the city of Palm Desert. I asked each of them about tamarisk trees. I felt like I had gone back to school. Here’s some of what I learned: Tamarisk trees were brought here in the early 1900s. They grow tall, dense and fast and thrive in hot, arid climates. For those reasons, they once seemed like the perfect wind break, reducing blowing sand and related issues. Tamarisks are not native to our desert, or any North American desert, and through the years we have learned of their negative impacts. Tamarisks are classified as an invasive species. They can grow from cuttings or seeds and, unfortunately, wreak havoc with the Coachella Valley’s natural spring and oasis environments outcompeting native species. They provide little, if any, food or shelter for native mammals, birds (migrating or native), reptiles and insects…
Great Falls residents are being treated to brilliant if sporadic fall colors this year after a big snowstorm last year froze green leaves in place making for a drab transition to winter.”Some trees are turning faster than others,” said Jim Brusda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls. Leaves are turning from green to golden at different rates because the city hasn’t seen consistent cold temperatures needed to turn all trees into dormancy at the same time, Brusda said. One day of freezing occurred Sept. 8, when the low was 28 degrees. The city hasn’t been below freezing since then, Brusda said. That’s resulted in intermittent colors, with some trees remaining green longer than others depending on soils and species, Brusda said…
As the second-generation owner of Mattituck-based Shamrock Tree Service and Landscaping, Jonathan Shipman has pruned, cut, and cared for thousands of trees. But there is one that is special to him. It’s a large pin oak tree, sitting majestically on a homeowner’s property on Nassau Point. Shipman first climbed the tree to prune some dead branches when he was just 16, working for the family business his father had started in 1974. A decade later, at the age of 26, Shipman ascended the trunk and branches again, doing the work to keep the tree healthy for his client. Last year, at the age of 36, Shipman connected with the tree for a third time, continuing the sort of Giving Tree-in-reverse relationship that had started so many years ago. In the aftermath of any severe storms or blustery weather, Shipman makes a habit of driving to Nassau Point to check on the tree, and he said he’s always satisfied with what he sees. “There’s no dead wood, and every cut that’s been made has healed perfectly,” he said. “It’s really cool to have climbed that tree three times. There’s not one broken branch. It survived the most recent storm without any broken limbs or failures, and that’s likely due to proper pruning and good tree health over the years.” With the blustery and stormy fall weather descending, Shipman’s story is a good reminder for area homeowners about the importance of properly caring for the trees on their property, particularly at this time of year, and it serves as an example that an investment in preventative maintenance can go a long way…
The Dispatch, October 6, 2020: Loving Our Trees to Death
The Western wildfires that dominated headlines in August and September continue to burn, and there are several months left in this year’s “fire season.” The August Fire in Northern California became the second-largest fire in the state’s history last month, and the Glass Fire is burning through large portions of Napa and Sonoma counties. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate and air quality in many parts of California remains unhealthy. The Dispatch sat down with Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, graduate of Yale Forestry School and the only registered forester in Congress, to discuss his work promoting better forest management in the federal government and the costs of allowing each year’s fire season to get worse. The latest thing I’ve got out is the Trillion Trees Act, which addresses planting trees, how to make our existing forests healthier, and how do we do sustainable buildings, which are closely tied to [the health of] our forests and the climate. How do we prevent catastrophic wildfires? How do we make our forest healthier? And how do we maximize the amount of carbon that these forests are storing? So the more trees we’ve got that are sitting out there full of carbon, the better we are at cleaning the atmosphere. When we see fires like you’re talking about out there now [in California], that is spewing carbon into the atmosphere. And it’s not only spewing carbon into the atmosphere, it killed those trees that were spewing carbon out…
Nine years after being heavily damaged during the infamous “Snowtober” blizzard, a tree on Center Road in Vernon is still causing headaches. A combination of Vernon Department of Public Works staffers and a a private arbor contractor had a busy Tuesday morning trimming the troublesome tree. The tree, thought to be in trouble after the epic storm, had actually grown enough to threaten wires and begin to hang over part of the road. The position of the work crew was eerily similar to that of 2011. The tree sits on a tricky, hilly curve on a road that drivers of large trucks are advised not to use. The powerful storm blew in on Oct. 28, 2011 and a large portion of the tree fell onto that curve. With a foot a slushy, heavy snow already on the pavement, it wreaked havoc on the heavily traveled road that connects routes 30 and 83. For about two days, emergency crews, forgetting the large limb was still strews across the road, had to make U-turns on nearby Crestridge Drive…
A professional palm tree trimmer was killed during an incident on the job Tuesday morning. Phoenix Fire Department officials were called to conduct a palm tree rescue near 20th Street and Indian School after a man became trapped under hundreds of pounds of palm fronds. The tree trimmer’s son, who works with him, called 911 for help, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Fire officials say the man is believed to have suffocated underneath the weight before they were able to reach him in the tree. He was about halfway up the tree when the incident occurred. No further information has been released. Phoenix police are investigating…
Phys.org, October 6, 2020: CRISPRing trees for a climate-friendly economy
Researchers led by Prof. Wout Boerjan (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) have discovered a way to stably finetune the amount of lignin in poplar by applying CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Lignin is one of the main structural substances in plants and it makes processing wood into, for example, paper difficult. This study is an important breakthrough in the development of wood resources for the production of paper with a lower carbon footprint, biofuels, and other bio-based materials. Their work, in collaboration with VIVES University College (Roeselare, Belgium) and University of Wisconsin (U.S.) appears in Nature Communications. Today’s fossil-based economy results in a net increase of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere and is a major cause of global climate change. To counter this, a shift toward a circular and bio-based economy is essential. Woody biomass can play a crucial role in such a bio-based economy by serving as a renewable and carbon-neutral resource for the production of many chemicals. Unfortunately, the presence of lignin hinders the processing of wood into bio-based products…
Boston, Massachusetts, WGBH Radio, October 4, 2020: Roxbury Is Fighting For Its Trees
On a recent drive to Brookline, relishing what was probably the last of the summer-like weather, I enjoyed an all too rare moment: a chance to pause and appreciate the beauty of nature. I made my way down a much-traveled thoroughfare, passing postcard-pretty, tree-lined streets. I was headed to a socially distanced patio meeting with a dear friend who happens to live in one of the suburb’s most leafy havens. I turned onto my friend’s street and slowed to admire the abundance and variety of the trees fronting each of the lovely large houses. No, green-thumb me didn’t know the names of all the species, but I later learned that the verdant beauties — some tall, some wide, and some slim — included spruce, white pine, and maple. Fun fact: the tree inventory maintained by Brookline Parks and Open Spaces documents well over 50 varieties of trees on Brookline streets. Whatever their species, most of the trees on my friend’s street were planted ages ago, their thick trunks and deep roots evidence of their long history — just like the mature oaks, maples and lindens which line Melnea Cass Boulevard, a wide thoroughfare which stretches from the Massachusetts Avenue Connector to the Ruggles MBTA station…
It might sound counterintuitive, but COVID-19 led B.C.’s tree planters to have one of their “healthiest years ever,” according to an industry representative. And despite a late start, planters are about to put the 300 millionth seedling of the season in the ground, setting a new annual record. “It’s been a good year,” said John Betts of the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association, which represents the majority of tree planting companies in the province. It’s a far cry from where the industry was in March, when, worried about the coronavirus, there was uncertainty over whether the province would even allow 5,000 workers to spread out across the province and into rural communities. But Betts said health guidelines drawn up by industry and the province allowed the work to be done without putting anyone at risk of infection…
The colors of fall are busting out on trees and shrubs across Pennsylvania as the chemistry in their leaves makes the annual autumnal shift. Spring through summer high levels of green chlorophyll have held sway in the leave. But as temperatures and daylight have grown less, production of chlorophyll has declined. That has cleared the way for other compounds, already present in leaves but overshadowed by the abundant chlorophyll, to make their presence known. Flavonoid compounds in the leaves are responsible for the yellows. Carotenoids produce the orange-reds. Anthocyanins, a type of flavonoid, gives us the deep reds, purples and magentas. Unlike the other flavonoids and the carotenoids, anthocyanins are not present in the leaves until fall. They are produced when diminishing chlorophyll clears the way for sunlight to interact with increased concentrations of sugar in the leaves…
University of Utah researchers are using evergreens on campus to measure air quality — yes fine particulate pollution on trees — in a cost-effective way to give a picture of where vehicle exhaust and other pollutants accumulate. “Wherever you have a tree you have a data point,” said Grant Rea-Downing, a doctoral student in geology and geophysics. “A tree doesn’t cost $250 to deploy. We’ll be able to map particulate matter distributions at a very high resolution for very little cost.” The findings were published in GeoHealth and represent a first-of-its-kind study. “We’re not the first to explore the magnetism of pine needles to monitor air quality,” associate professor Pete Lippert said, “but no one had tried this to study winter inversions in the basins of the American West.” Lippert and fellow graduate students Courtney Wagner and Brendon Quirk are all geoscientists in the Department of Geology and Geophysics whose regular research is on a much different scale than pine needles…
The wildfires that ravaged the West Coast in recent weeks have renewed a debate in Oregon and Northern California over protections for the northern spotted owl, which some say prevented logging that would have thinned out forests and made the blazes less destructive. The northern spotted owl was listed as a federally threatened species in 1990, which added restrictions to tree-cutting on millions of acres of the region’s national forests. Projects ranging from major logging efforts to small efforts to reduce the overgrowth of trees have been delayed or blocked by lawsuits under the federal Endangered Species Act. “We have crippled the whole process to do effective federal land management there,” said John Bailey, professor of forestry and fire management at Oregon State University. The West Coast’s latest wildfires are burning in California’s wine country. But they have been fueled by dry brush, rather than trees deep in the forest where owls live. Cutting down trees in old-growth forests can threaten local wildlife like the northern spotted owl, but such activities are also critical to reducing combustible fuel and lowering the risk of wildfires growing and spreading quickly, according to forest-management experts…
Nearly 200 miles of highways in Oregon reopened this week after being closed for nearly a month due to the historic fires that swept across large swaths of the state. As of Wednesday, 47 miles of highways remain completely closed. The largest closure is on OR-224, where the Riverside fire ravaged burned more than 138,000 acres in Clackamas County. Another 43 miles of highway across the state are now open but have pilot vehicles providing limited access. The state now estimates that at its peak, 244 miles of highways were closed to all traffic. A previous estimate put that closure at approximately 288 miles. Katherine Benenati, a state transportation spokesperson, said despite several highways reopening, much work remains, and fall and winter weather could pose significant challenges. “Even after roads are fully reopened, heavy rain will be a concern in fire-stricken areas,” she said in a statement. The state may have to stabilize hillsides or clear rockslides in coming weeks or months, and an estimated 480,500 trees may need to be removed. “Slides and debris flows are a particular concern – especially after rains – in areas where fire has stripped away vegetation, tree roots and underbrush,” she said…
Trees and woods which inspired the likes of Beatrix Potter and John Constable could be lost due to a surge in a disease affecting ash, the National Trust has warned. The conservation charity said it faces its worst year on record for felling trees due to ash dieback, in part because of one of the warmest and driest springs on record. Increased prolonged hot and dry conditions driven by climate change are putting trees under stress and making them more susceptible to disease, dramatically speeding up the impact of ash dieback, the trust said. And lockdown meant ranger teams which would ordinarily carry out felling and maintenance work to ensure tree safety could not do so – leaving them playing catch-up now and diverting resources from other conservation work. While the National Trust has been felling around 4,000-5,000 trees a year in recent years, largely as a result of ash dieback, this year it faces having to cut down around 40,000 trees, with a bill of £2 million…
Mother Earth News, October 1, 2020: Tree Care and Landscaping for a Hurricane-Tolerant Property
It’s no secret that landscaping is an important part of making a home. And nothing “stands out” as essential elements on that landscape more than the trees. Unfortunately, when strong winds arrive and heavy rain comes pouring down, the landscape you once loved may not only get torn apart. It may be a huge source of damage to your home. Fortunately, there are many time-tested landscaping strategies you can use to create a tree-rich and hurricane-tolerant landscape. These strategies will not only protect the landscape itself, but may also help you to avoid property damage when the next hurricane rolls through town. The first step to creating a hurricane-tolerant landscape is selecting the right trees and shrubs. There are a few factors to choosing the right plants for your landscape. Choosing salt-tolerant trees is essential for designing a hurricane-tolerant landscape. Most trees available in coastal areas are already salt-tolerant to some degree. But even if you don’t live right next to the ocean, hurricanes can bring ocean water as far as 30 miles inland. This could be lethally damaging to plants with low salt-tolerance. The closer you live to the ocean, or a bay, the more you should consider salt-tolerance in selecting your plants…
More than 30 species of maple trees, which are cherished for their colourful appearances and syrup production, are in decline and facing extinction in the imminent future, says a new report. Published and commissioned in September 2020 by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the revised and extended edition of the Red List of Acer offers details on the conservation status of all 158 species.The review indicates an elevated extinction threat for more than one in five species (36 total) of Acer trees, otherwise known as maple trees, in the near future, with experts urging for additional conservation measures. It also said with 75 per cent of the threatened species are geographically restricted in their native ranges. Across the globe, the report highlights that more than a third of maple species are experiencing a decline of habitat as a result of urban development and increased agriculture. Timber harvesting is also a major contributor to the loss, affecting 25 per cent of threatened maple species. In a statement, Douglas Justice, associate director at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, said he has already seen firsthand the increased cutting and “alarming loss” of maple tree habitat in southeast Asia in just a few short years. “Time is running out for the world’s biodiversity. Every recent survey of plants and animals in the wild points to this. And as robust as Acer species are, they are certainly not immune,” said Justice. “This is happening nearly everywhere that rarer maples exist. And because of climate change, the narrow habitats that support species at the margins of arid places and at the tops of mountains, are quickly disappearing…”
The pine tree at the entrance to I-395 in Montville has been a source of holiday joy over the years but now it’s at the center of a controversy in town. “I’m amazed at what’s going on,” said Jeff Roderick, of Montville. He and his daughter have been decorating the tree for more than twenty years and recently revealed they were the mystery decorators. “Presents and stuff they put under it,” said Chris Conroy, of New London. “The bulbs and lights.” In March they decided to decorate the tree as a thank you to first responders and healthcare workers. One resident, however, complained to the mayor that the handcuffs were insensitive with all the recent claims of police brutality. “I know nothing about that. I’m a cable cutter,” said Roderick. “I just now got internet because I want to see local news and now I’m seeing about the fires, I know nothing about. I’m seeing about what’s his name George Floyd?” The mayor’s office tells News 8 he got a lot of phone calls calling him a racist and out of frustration he said at a public safety meeting “maybe we should just cut it down.” That sparked a firestorm of calls for his resignation and anger toward the woman who complained about the tree…
In 2019, my research team and I found the world’s southernmost tree on an island at the edge of South America. The diminutive tree is 42 years old, stretches several meters along the ground but is only half a meter, or about a foot and a half, tall. In some other place, this tree would grow tall and upright, but here, incredible winds warp and constrain the tree both in height and in where it grows. And due to climate change, those winds are changing. Standing on the southern side of that wind-battered tree means all trees in the world are to your north, with nothing behind you but some grasses, ocean and Antarctica. Isla Hornos, also known as Cape Horn, supports a small population of Nothofagus betuloides – the Magellan’s beech or coigüe. Wind is omnipresent. Cape Horn is one of the windiest places on the planet, and during the expedition, our team faced hurricane-force winds of 75 mph for days at a time. This wind appears to be the main constraint for arboreal life on the island – trees are found only in sheltered locations behind cliffs and hills. While the area hasn’t warmed dramatically, climate change is intensifying the westerly winds that rake the region. Evidence from the nearby Falkland Islands also indicates that the wind direction is shifting too. Because of this, forests on Cape Horn that were previously growing in sheltered areas are now exposed to wind. We found long stretches of dead trees along the edges of the small forests, suggesting that shifting winds caused by climate change may be killing off trees even as new sheltered areas emerge…
Visitors buzzed about the Astoria Column on a sunny summer morning in September. With the column closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, people stood beneath it staring up, ambled about the hilltop overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River and posed for pictures before the expansive views. With so much else to see at the Astoria Column, it’s understandable that so many could overlook the other towering wonder found a short hike away. The Cathedral Tree is a massive Sitka spruce, said to be some 300 years old and quietly thriving in the urban forest above Astoria. And while the hike begins in the Astoria Column parking lot, the old tree draws far less attention than the human-created beacon just uphill. The forest around the Cathedral Tree has changed in recent years. A massive coastal gale in 2007 brought hurricane-force winds to Astoria, uprooting many trees as it tore along the coastline. The Cathedral Tree itself remained, though many of its upper branches were lost to the storm. It’s not clear exactly how tall the old tree, estimated to be roughly 200 feet tall, actually is, though it remains one of the most impressive Sitka spruce trees on the Oregon coast. Aside from its height, the tree features large natural openings near its base, where it apparently grew up around a nurse log that has since rotted away…
An Oregon man died Sunday after plunging 100 feet into the ocean during a hike at a state park on the Oregon Coast. Troopers and medics responded at 1:48 p.m. to Oswald West State Park for a report of a person who fell off a cliff, according to state police. Investigators say Steven Gastelum, 43, of Seaside and a second person walked down Devil’s Cauldron trail to take a photograph at the cliffside viewpoint. When Gastelum climbed up a tree to pose for the picture, a limb broke, and he fell 100 feet into the water below. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and rescuers from the Nehalem Bay Fire Department helped find Gastelum and brought him to shore…
Phys.org, September 29, 2020: Evolution of pine needles helps trees cope with rainfall impact
If you have ever hiked in the woods and been surrounded by the sight and smell of pine trees, you may have taken a closer look at pine needles and wondered how their shape, material properties, and surface wettability are all influenced by rainfall. In Physics of Fluids, researchers at the University of Central Florida are currently probing how well pine needles allay the impact of rain beneath the tree. Andrew K. Dickerson and Amy P. Lebanoff explored the impact of raindrops onto fixed, noncircular fibers of Pinus palustris, aka the longleaf pine, by using high-speed videography to capture the results. “Drops impacting fixed fibers are greatly deformed and split apart,” said Dickerson. “As expected, the breakup of the drop and the force felt by the fiber is dependent on drop size and speed.” Impact force and the shape of the resulting lobe of water also depending on the shape of the fiber exposed to the oncoming drop…
An unusual sight has been captivating onlookers across Vermont recently. It’s a railroad safety project, with work being conducted high above the tracks. “This is the safest way to trim trees,” pilot Alan Stack said of his helicopter, which almost looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Stack works for a South Carolina-based company called Rotor Blade. Using a helicopter carrying a dangling bar with ten spinning saws, he has been winding his way from Vermont’s southeast to northwest corners—carefully cutting back tree limbs along the rail corridor, to give a wide berth for freight or passenger trains. “There’s going to be no overhanging limbs that could fall in front of the train and cause any problems,” Stack explained. The pilot makes pass after pass, trimming trees both high and low to carve a neat hallway. Jesse Skipper’s one of the ground crew members, who helps with refueling and route-planning. “Typically, we’re looking at a third of a mile or a half-mile an hour,” Skipper estimated, describing the pace of the work. The whole job was estimated to take 90 days, the crew said. Other workers are on cleanup duty, picking up the limbs that fall. The crew’s been attracting attention just about wherever the chopper flies, simply because of how strange the sight is…
West Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University, September 29, 2020: Tree wounds and healing
Trees are incredible survivors in spite of the challenges from pests of all kinds, including us! They are vulnerable to injuries such as mechanical wounds from lawn equipment, vehicles and ice. Pruning results in an intentional wound which is of importance to consider. Tree owners and managers need to prune trees to maintain aesthetic characteristics, remove infected limbs, reduce risk, or improve structural stability. Proper pruning practice and understanding tree wounds can minimize the impact of creating wounds on trees. Wounds attract pests due to the phytochemicals dispersed from exposed tissue. When tree tissue is damaged or wounded, the newly uncovered tissue is exposed and that is when to expect an attack. Insect pests are drawn to trees in distress, feeding on the tissue and weakening the tree. Diseases affecting trees will introduce enzymes into the cells, digesting living tissue responsible for food and water translocation (phloem and xylem) or structural support resulting in unhealthy, unsightly, or unsafe trees. Trees attempt to close wounds by sealing or compartmentalizing the affected area, naturally. Wounding of trees during the growing season results in the formation of callus tissue which develops over the wound surface or parts of it. This callus tissue is an unorganized group of important parenchyma cells. As the callus develops and grows, wound wood develops which hopefully will cover the exposed tissue quickly and efficiently…
With hurricane season in full swing and the latest tropical storm moving steadily towards the coast, Sugar Land residents need to know how to protect their homes, yards and cars from destructive winds and downed trees. Forester Matt Petty from Davey Tree, who advises homeowners to get their property reviewed by an arborist, recently discussed what homeowners should know about trees on their property. “I’ve seen pretty much every major storm since 2007,” said Petty. “Hurricane Ike was the worst one I’ve seen personally, because it was rain with heavy winds pushing trees over. People should be aware of what they should do before and after a storm occurs.”An arborist is a person who has been certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. “If you have trees you’re concerned about, I would recommend homeowners hire a professional and determine how to make their property as safe as possible for any future weather event,” said Petty. Lone trees in residential areas are more susceptible to wind damage than trees that are part of a forested area. The first thing an arborist would do is decide if a tree in question is “healthy”; “in decline”; or “dead.” Dead trees should be removed at once because they are brittle and likely to fall. A tall, healthy tree with a full canopy and heavy branches might be prone to breakages. Trees weighed down by fruit or epiphytes such as ball moss or Spanish moss, like many Sugar Land trees, are also susceptible. “If you had the healthy tree cared for by a professional arborist, they could do some selective pruning or cable installation to reduce the likelihood of a storm breaking or splitting your tree,” Petty said. “After a storm, a trained eye could pick out all the safety issues — broken limbs, hanging limbs, split trunk sections, damaged or uplifted roots…”
A mansion owner has won a legal battle to keep 32ft leylandii trees outside her property after the council failed to specify which plants had to be chopped down. Alessandra Dellantonio, who owns a listed 19th century home in Inverness, became embroiled in a feud with her neighbour Janice Gordon over the greenery. Ms Gordon had claimed her home was being plunged into darkness by leylandii and spruce trees beside her property. She then went to Highland Council and successfully used high hedge legislation to have the trees lopped to just 7ft. The council said the trees were causing an ‘unacceptable reduction’ of light and should be reduced in height. However, Mrs Dellantonio appealed the ruling with the Scottish Government. She argued the trees were protected under a legal order, were regularly attended to by tree surgeons and also afforded her privacy from her neighbour. Mrs Dellantonio also said the council had not made it clear which trees were to be cut down under the terms of their high hedge notice. It was claimed that cutting down the trees would also impact local wildlife such as roe deer, pine martens, tawny owls and buzzards. The Government said the trees were causing Miss Gordon a loss of amenity but overturned the council ruling after deciding it blundered when issuing a high hedge notice and failed to identify which trees had to come down…
BBC, September 28, 2020: Maple trees offer most protection from harmful UV
A species of maple tree offers the best protection from damaging ultraviolet rays of sunlight, a study has suggested. The crimson king (Acer platanoides) variety of maple tree came out as the most protective, closely followed by species of oak and a beech. Experts say trees can provide people with important protection against the harmful effects of UV radiation. The findings appear in the Urban Forestry & Urban Greening journal. It is the first study of its kind to be carried out in the Northern Hemisphere, say scientists. However, not all species of the same group of trees offer the same protection. Although, the crimson king maple was found to offer the most protection, another maple – Acer rubrum (red maple) – provided the least among the trees sampled…
Asheville, North Carolina, Citizen-Journal, September 28, 2020: Nature Journal: Black Gum trees
Black Gum grows throughout the eastern United States and is common in dry sites here in the Blue Ridge Province (often in oak and pine forests) up to 5,000 feet or more. Black Gum can be 100 feet tall. In the fall of the year from mid-September into late October, the leaves turn a noteworthy “blood” or “lipstick” red. Black Gum wood possesses an interlocked grain; so that, much like sycamore, it just about can’t be split, not even with wedges. Accordingly, the early settlers used the wood for mauls, tool handles, skid poles, and rough floors for outbuildings. Almost every other mature Black Gum that you will encounter here in the mountains is hollow. This is because the species is highly susceptible to heart rot fungi, an infection that occurs when aerially disseminated spores from various decay fungi are deposited on or near wounds, fire scars, or dead branch stubs. After the spores germinate, the fungi’s vegetative strands (mycelium) grow slowly into the vulnerable wood tissues. The fungi species that invades Black Gum trees attack only the tree’s central column of physiologically inactive (non-living) heartwood. An infected tree retains its outer vascular tissues for support and nutrient transport, but internally it becomes hollow…
If you live in the Virginias for any length of time, you know there’s never a terrible year for fall foliage. However, some years are much better than others when it comes to vibrant colors. Fall 2019 was lackluster due to a hot summer that lingered into the fall. The 2018 fall season featured just the opposite — two tropical systems that kept us dark and rainy. This year, however, “could end up being one of the best fall seasons in years,” according to tree expert Dr. John Seiler, Professor of Tree Biology at Virginia Tech. The fact the trees change colors each autumn is a given. The big question is, just how vibrant will they be and when will the changes occur? In the fall, because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part their gorgeous colors. This keeps going until all the leaves have changed colors, or the tree drops the leaves as it goes into dormancy. There are several ingredients that go into the color transformation each autumn. Some are related to sunlight, and others the weather…
The massive branch fell in Washington Park, which is located near downtown Burlingame. Two people were hospitalized with “significant injuries,” Burlingame officials said in a Facebook post. The person who was killed was identified as a San Mateo resident. The victim’s name was not immediately released. “We express our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the person who passed away and our wishes for a speedy recovery for the two people in the hospital,” officials wrote. People were asked to avoid the area of Carolan Avenue while authorities investigated…
Farmers’ Almanac, September 26, 2020: The Legend of Johnny Appleseed
John Chapman, better known as “Johnny Appleseed,” was born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1774, and September 26th is celebrated as Johnny Appleseed Day (along with March 11th, the day of his death). His father, Nathaniel Chapman was a Minuteman who fought in the Revolutionary War and served with General George Washington. John’s mother, Elizabeth, died shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Nathaniel Chapman remarried after the war and had 10 children. John and his half brother Nathaniel, Jr. journeyed west around 1792, just about five years after the Constitution was ratified. They lived as vagabonds, living off the land and taking odd jobs. Their father and siblings joined them in Ohio in 1805 where they started a family farm. Johnny Appleseed’s legend begins when John Chapman left the family farm and signed on as an apprentice for an orchardist named Crawford. After that, fact and fiction become intertwined. There are anecdotal reports of “Johnny Appleseed” appearing here and there over the middle Atlantic states, with key sightings in Pennsylvania. It’s likely that Chapman had combined his love of itinerant travel with his skills as an apple orchardist, and roamed the young United States looking for opportunity, locating landowners interested in planting apple orchards or starting cider mills…
The Cleveland suburb of Bedford will pay $350,000 and repeal a so-called “nuisance ordinance” that a federal lawsuit said was discriminatory against renters who are women, minorities and people with disabilities. The ordinance allowed officials to designate somebody a nuisance after someone was accused of breaking the law more than twice on a property or in the city within a year. The law applied even if the tenant was not the person at fault. The city informed the property owner – not the tenant – of the designation through a warning letter, which said subsequent violations could result in criminal penalties against the owner. The problem was that the ordinance did not differentiate between an offender and complainant, meaning that a tenant could suffer penalties for calling the police even if an incident was not the tenant’s fault, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court last year by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. The suit said the ordinance violated the Fair Housing Act and was discriminatory. Following more than a year of litigation, the parties reached the settlement last week following negotiations done with a mediator. The city said it would repeal the ordinance 30 days after the settlement is final. It agreed last year not to enforce the law while the lawsuit was pending…
A man involved in a timber poaching effort in Olympic National Forest that started a big wildfire has been sentenced to more than two years in prison. Shawn Williams, 49, pleaded guilty to theft of public property and setting timber afire charges in U.S. District Court in December 2019, The Kitsap Sun reported. Williams and Justin Wilke were charged last year for their roles in an illegal logging operation in the national forest in 2018 in which they and others felled maple trees and sold the wood to lumber mills, according to court documents. The type of maple is highly prized and used to produce musical instruments, prosecutors said. Williams, who lived in the Hood Canal area, cut the felled trees into rounds or blocks and sold them to a Tumwater mill under the false pretense that the wood had been cut on private land under permit, an indictment said. The “figured wood” was cut near Lena Lake in Jefferson County and Elk Lake in Mason County and sold for about $13,400 in the months leading up to the fire, court papers said. On Aug. 3, 2018, Wilke, Williams and an unknown person listed as “Person 2” in the indictment found a figured maple near the Elk Lake lower trailhead. They determined that a bees’ nest made it “difficult or impossible” to fell the tree. “After unsuccessfully attempting to remove the bees with wasp killer, Wilke, Williams and Person 2 agreed that Wilke would kill the bees by burning the nest,” the indictment said…
When Hurricane Sally hit the Gulf Coast, trees in our area took a beating. Thousands ended up on the ground after hours of ferocious winds. For the ones that are still standing, now is the time to act to make sure they are safe. “Half the tree fell on his house and the other half fell on our house,” said Oliver Dorgan. Sally’s winds hit hard. In neighborhoods throughout Mobile and Baldwin counties trees littered the ground. “I actually stayed up all night long watching the tree because I knew something was going to happen with the amount of wind we were having,” Dorgan said. With the storm gone, Peter Toler the City of Mobile Urban Forester says now is the time to check the trees that remain. “The one that is most concerning is a leaning tree, a crack that could be a multiplicity of reasons, but if you have a learning tree that wasn’t leaning before you have an issue,” he said. The focus should be on specific trees in your yard that could cause costly damage. Toler said that will save the most money in the end. “If a tree is over a house you want to gauge the likelihood of failure, the likelihood of contacting the target and the consequences associated with it,” he said. A green tree does not indicate a healthy tree and Toler said just because there is an issue does not mean it needs to be removed. He says cracks, hangers and split trees can also be a concern. “No tree is ever completely free of risk however a certified individual can guide you to lower that risk of that tree to an acceptable level,” he said…
If you have an ash, Chinese pistache, crape myrtle, flowering pear, ginkgo, liquidambar or any other tree that is showing early fall color, pay attention. Early fall color may indicate that the tree is in trouble. Trees normally begin to show fall colors in late October, especially after a couple of cold nights. If you are seeing orange, yellow, red, burgundy, and purple leaves on deciduous trees this time of year, it’s a symptom of stress. You might not be able to do anything to correct the problem now, but much can be done to prevent a repeat next fall. First, determine the source of the stress and correct it. Look closely at the tree. Check for wounds on the trunk from mechanical injury or sunburn. If early fall color is the result of wounds, take steps to prevent further wounding. The trunks of young trees can be protected from string weeder damage with plastic sleeves. Better yet, place chip mulch on the soil around the tree to remove the temptation to mow or weed right up to the trunk. Determine if the tree is growing in a site where the roots may be restricted by pavement or buildings. Is it possible the roots were recently cut? Root disease, recent disruption to roots from construction or grade changes, surface soil compaction from vehicles or foot traffic and girdling roots can also cause trees to develop early fall color. If surface compaction is a problem, loosen the soil by cultivating to a depth of 4 to 6 inches. This should improve moisture and oxygen penetration. Follow up by watering the tree deeply…
Conversion of large swaths of land to uniform tree plantations and single-crop species may lead to unintended consequences for the water cycle, putting ecosystems at greater risk for fires, floods, droughts and even hurricanes, warns a think-tank group of almost 30 water scientists from 11 countries. Worldwide, policies are increasingly aimed at planting more trees and crops both to combat climate change and increase food and fuel production. Already about 40 per cent of the world’s ice-free land surface has been converted to forestry and agriculture–often with only a few choice tree species and crops where biodiversity once thrived. This trend is poised to continue or even accelerate. But in an article published in Nature Geoscience, the scientists argue that mixed-species diversity is crucial to the water cycle pathways that enable soil-plant-water systems to recover quickly from environmental stresses. Forestry and agricultural monocultures (growing a single species repeatedly on the same land) can constrain these pathways, adversely affecting conditions such as soil moisture and erosion, streamflow, evaporation, and groundwater quality–and ultimately reducing ecological resilience…
St. Paul’s urban forest will take a beating next year, when the city plans to chop down 3,000 ash trees without planting anything in their place. After more than a decade of scrambling to keep up with the invasive emerald ash borer, the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department is expecting to fall further behind in 2021 as it trims spending to help fill a nearly $20 million citywide budget shortfall. In a budget presentation to the City Council on Wednesday, Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hahm called the lack of resources for tree planting in 2021 “a pretty dramatic change. It is not ideal,” he said. St. Paul has removed nearly 16,000 ash trees from its right of way since emerald ash borer was discovered in 2009 — the first documented infestation in the state. Today, more than 11,000 ash trees remain; to cut them down, grind up their stumps and plant new trees would cost nearly $20 million, or about half the department’s total budget. Heading into 2021, the plan is to cut down 3,000 trees a year over three years, plus another 2,300 in 2024. Planting will begin again in 2022, with 630 trees…
Leaving cleared tropical forests to regrow naturally has the potential to absorb a quarter of global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels each year, researchers said on Wednesday. A study led by the World Resources Institute (WRI), a U.S.-based think-tank, looked at and mapped the potential carbon-storing benefits of letting cut forests recover on their own. To meet national climate pledges, many countries have launched big tree-planting programmes, signing up to high-profile schemes like the Bonn Challenge. But some deforested areas in the tropics may benefit more from allowing them to regrow naturally – which is often cheaper and more likely to benefit native wildlife, the study said. The approach could absorb 8.9 billion metric tonnes of carbon each year through to 2050 – much higher than previously thought, said WRI researchers. That is on top of the carbon sponge already provided by existing forests, which absorb about 30% of planet-heating emissions, mainly generated by burning fossil fuels, each year…
New York City, The Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2020: Stand on Precedent. That’s a Good Boy!
Among the portraits of former justices that hang in the Missouri Supreme Court building in Jefferson City stands the bust of a hound dog named Old Drum. The sculpture isn’t meant as a homage to a canine. Rather, it is a tribute to a lawyer. Old Drum was shot to death 150 years ago in Johnson County, Mo. His owner, Charles Burden, filed a lawsuit against Leonidas Hornsby, his neighbor and brother-in-law, whom he suspected of orchestrating the killing. Hornsby had lost numerous sheep to dog attacks and promised to kill the first stray that appeared on his property. George Graham Vest, a 39-year-old lawyer, represented Burden. On Sept. 23, 1870, Vest delivered one of the most enduring arguments ever performed in a courtroom. The speech is notable for what it is lacking: any mention of Old Drum or the violent act that led to his death. Instead, Vest delivered a eulogy to all dogs. He told jurors that “the one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground . . . if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer…”
In a likely precedent-setting decision, the California Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday voted 4-0 to approve the western Joshua tree for the next stage of protection under the California Endangered Species Act. This marks the first time the state law has been used to give protection to a species that is mainly threatened by climate change. The species — one of two varieties of the iconic desert megaflora — is facing habitat loss due to warming temperatures that are pushing the ecosystems where it thrives farther north and into higher elevations. Scientists predict that Joshua Tree National Park could be devoid of its namesake plant by the end of the century. The western Joshua tree now receives protection under the act for the next year as the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife studies whether the species is indeed at enough risk to need full listing as threatened. At the federal level, Joshua trees were denied protection under the Endangered Species Act, a decision that is being challenged in federal court by environmental group WildEarth Guardians…
Do It Yourself, September 22, 2020: How to grow trees from seed
Growing trees from seed can be an interesting adventure for the amateur and expert gardener, alike. It’s exciting enough to see a small seed germinate into a flower or vegetable, just imagine watching trees mature knowing that you planted and nursed them from seed! Fruit and nut trees are wonderful edible additions to your garden, whereas woody and flowering varieties can add character, and much needed shade. While there are some downfalls to the process, growing trees from seed can be an interesting, educational, and rewarding experience. Read on to find out how! Before you begin to sow any seeds, you’ll want to decide what kind of trees and how many you would like to have. Find trees that are suitable for your land. Do some research and make sure your climate, soil pH, and land restrictions are compatible with the trees you want to grow. Most citrus trees won’t flourish in cooler climates, for example, but apple and cherry trees may thrive. Try not to fight with nature, or tamper with soil too much. Grow trees that want to live where you live. That’s the best way to ensure tree longevity, and healthy produce for decades to come. The cheapest way to get seeds is to gather them yourself. Choose local varieties, since you know they already grow in your area. Make sure to sort and clean them, and store properly until needed. …
Taking better care of nature could absorb many more climate-changing emissions – but will only work if big companies simultaneously slash their own emissions and focus on boosting biodiversity, not just planting trees, scientists warned. “It’s vitally important to understand this potential can only be achieved with rapid and aggressive decarbonisation,” said Nathalie Seddon, who directs the Nature-Based Solutions Initiative at Britain’s University of Oxford. A broad range of companies, including some fossil fuel firms, are now promoting and adopting tree planting and other “nature-based solutions” as a smart and easy-to-grasp way to tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. More than 560 companies, including giants such as tech titan Microsoft and retailer Walmart, on Monday urged governments to put in place stronger policies to protect nature and fight climate change, and guide business efforts toward those goals. Many of the companies, part of the Business for Nature coalition, said at New York Climate Week events that they were pressing ahead with their own green actions, from adopting clean energy to offsetting their carbon emissions by adding trees…
Public News Service, September 22, 2020: Are Trees the Key to a Sustainable Building Future?
Michigan is in a unique position to capitalize on innovative building technology that can improve the environment. Mass timber is created from smaller pieces of wood, such as two-by-fours, that are glued together to create beams, floors and other load-bearing building structures. Michigan State University’s new STEM Teaching and Learning Facility is the first building in the state to use mass timber. Richard Kobe, professor and chair of the Department of Forestry at MSU, said the material is a more sustainable and carbon-friendly alternative to steel and concrete construction. “One thousand, eight hundred and fifty six metric tons of carbon that’s contained in that building,” Kobe said. “And when the trees were growing, they took that carbon out of the atmosphere and now this is a long-term mechanism for storing that carbon that will keep it out of the atmosphere.” A virtual tour of the building will take place today during the Michigan Mass Timber Summit. The event will be held online over three sessions, and will examine the costs and benefits of mass timber projects, design and logistics, building codes and construction. Dave Neumann, forest products utilization and marketing specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Forest Resources Division, said with about 60% of Michigan covered in forest, there’s great potential for mass timber building components to be sourced from the state in the future…
HAVE YOU EVER wondered how trees get water all the way to their tops? Or what limits the height of a tree? I mean, some western red cedars and Douglas firs get over 200 feet tall, but why don’t they get even taller? Given that our region is home to several of the tallest tree species on the planet, I thought I should investigate. The coast redwood is generally considered the tallest tree species on Earth. The current record-holding individual is a specimen in Northern California, known as Hyperion, which tops out around 380 feet. Though we don’t have any redwoods, our native trees are still world-class giants. Washington state is home to Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, noble fir, western hemlock, ponderosa pine and grand fir — all of which rate in the top 30 tallest tree species in the world. In fact, two of the largest known specimens in the world live in our state: a noble fir growing in the Cascades and a grand fir in the Olympics. So is there a limit to how tall a tree can grow? Researchers studying the coastal redwoods think so, and suggest the answer might lie around 400 to 430 feet. They believe the height of a tree is ultimately restricted at this height as the pull of gravity and the friction between water and the vessels it flows through make any further growth impossible. This is known as the hydraulic limitation hypothesis…
Phys.org, September 21, 2020: Mixed-species tree stands adapt better than pure stands
Firs and spruces dominate the tree population of the Black Forest with a share of 80 percent. However, such predominantly pure stands are particularly vulnerable to extreme events caused by climate change, such as storm damage, heat waves, and bark beetle infestations. In Baden-Württemberg, on average, every third tree is already sick. A conversion from pure to mixed stands could increase the resistance of forests. The potential benefits also include greater biodiversity, long-term economic efficiency, and stability. This is the result of a study by KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) for which experts from forestry, silviculture, and tourism were interviewed. “The natural adaptability of monospecific forests to persistent hot, dry weather periods alternating with heavy rainfall is relatively low,” says Dr. Christine Rösch, head of the Sustainable Bioeconomy Research Group at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) of KIT. “However, there is an urgent need to improve the adaptability of forest ecosystems to weather events, as stress due to climate change increases and occurs in much shorter periods than before so that the usual regeneration cycles can no longer make up for it…”
The Trap Creek Fire, located about nine miles northwest of Stanley on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, is currently burning at 2,211 acres and is 25% contained. It was first reported on September 14. 148 personnel are currently assigned to the fire. A cold front over the weekend brought rain that cleared the heavy smoke from the fire and provided relief for firefighters and the community. Wind, warm temperatures and dry conditions are expected today and could increase fire activity. Hazard tree mitigation began along Highway 21 on Monday is is expected to last for two to three days. A forest area closure is in effect for the area around the fire and was expanded on Saturday to include Valley Creek Road. This includes all roads, trails, campgrounds, and hunting units within the closure. The purpose of this order is to protect the public and firefighters during wildfire activity suppression activities…
CNN, September 21, 2020: A Florida woman was attacked by a 10-foot alligator while trimming trees
A Florida woman is recovering from injuries she received when she was attacked by a 10-foot, 4-inch alligator while trimming trees in Fort Myers. The 27-year-old woman was trimming by the edge of a lake near a country club on September 10 when the alligator bit her. She was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital and treated for injuries to both legs, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The FWC said it is still investigating the incident. A few days later, on September 13, a man suffered injuries to his leg when he was bitten by an alligator while walking his dog along a residential canal in Port St. Lucie, the FWC said. The 8-foot, 3-inch alligator that bit him was removed and transferred to an alligator farm. CNN affiliate WPTV reported that Mark Johnson, 61, said the alligator clamped onto his leg and was trying to drag him under water. When Johnson poked the alligator in the eye, the reptile let go, he said. “I kind of slide and my foot is stuck in the mud, and the next thing I know, I see the lunge,” Johnson told WPTV. “He starts clamping down pretty tight and he started to pull, and the next thing I do, I instantly, here’s my fingers, I poke through the eye.”Johnson received 62 stitches and his dog was unhurt, WPTV reported…
The Virginia Department of Forestry, known for developing healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians, is seeking 12 species of acorns and nuts that can be planted at its Augusta Forestry Center in Crimora, Virginia to help cultivate the forests of tomorrow. The department hopes to use the acorns and nuts to grow into tree seedlings. The hardwood crop will then be sold to Virginia’s forestland owners to build their future forests. Each year, VDOF asks the public from across the state to collect and donate nuts of select species to be planted at the state nursery. Seedlings developed from Virginia-grown seed generally produce trees that will best thrive in our state’s climates. Protocols and guidelines for acorn collection remain mostly the same as last year, with some minor adjustments to the collection deadline and species list. During September and early October, it is easy to pick up nuts in many yards and parking lots. Try to avoid trees in more heavily forested areas because there may be different species of trees nearby, making it difficult to sort the nuts by species for proper planting. The species the tree nursery needs this year are black oak, black walnut, Chinese chestnut, chestnut oak, live oak, northern red oak, pin oak, southern red oak, swamp chestnut oak, swamp white oak, white oak and willow oak…
A tree that made contact with an Avista Utilities power line on the southern edge of Spokane County appears to have started the Babb Road Fire, which raced through nearly 15 miles of dry brush and timber during an intense Sept. 7 windstorm, destroying the vast majority of homes in Malden and Pine City. The Spokesman-Review on Thursday located a partially burned pine tree that had been cut down with chainsaws, lying beside a row of recently replaced Avista distribution poles in the area where residents first reported seeing smoke. In an email Friday, Avista spokeswoman Casey Fielder said “we can confirm that the tree in question made contact with the lines, and appears to be the area where the fire started.” Avista also released a public statement Friday saying it has learned of instances where “otherwise healthy trees and limbs, located in areas outside its maintenance right-of-way, broke under the extraordinary wind conditions and caused damage to its energy delivery system.” However, the company said it “has not found any evidence that the fires were caused by any deficiencies in its equipment, maintenance activities or vegetation management practices.” Avista said it is cooperating with ongoing investigations by the state Department of Natural Resources, and it’s coordinating with the agency on fire suppression efforts…
The emerald ash borer has been causing havoc on ash trees in the United States. The beetle is native to Asia but was transplanted to North America. Since its discovery in the United States in 2002, it has spread across the eastern portion of the country and is now found in 33 states. Count South Dakota as one of them. The larvae of the insect is what causes most of the damage, feeding on the inner bark of the tree and eventually killing it. Although there hasn’t been a discovery in Brandon, there has been plenty in Sioux Falls and the city is in the middle of a 10-year plan to eradicate the problem. A blue No. 9 is spray painted on the side of ash trees in Sioux Falls, and last year alone, the city removed one-third of the trees in the city. Brandon parks superintendent Devin Coughlin said it’s only a matter of time before Brandon sees an infection, so the city is taking a preemptive strike to slow any spread…
Washington, D.C., Post, September 20, 2020: Ever wondered why trees ditch their leaves each fall?
Autumn arrives this week, and that means pumpkins, football and piles of fresh, crackly leaves. Did you ever wonder why trees throw away an important part of their anatomy each year? After all, wouldn’t it be similar to people losing all their hair — or even weirder, their skin — just as our part of the world gets colder? While it might seem strange from the point of view of a human, to a plant, losing leaves makes perfect sense. Trees are solar-powered. Each leaf is loaded with a pigment called chlorophyll, which absorbs light and helps convert water and carbon dioxide into energy. The process is called photosynthesis. But there’s a problem. In parts of the world that experience seasons, winter means less and less sunlight each day. It also comes with biting cold that can freeze the liquids inside leaves. These two factors hamper the tree’s ability to make energy. A full-grown oak tree might have more than 60,000 leaves, and each one requires valuable nutrients. So when fall turns into winter, trees discharge their leaves as a cost-cutting measure. If it had to spend resources on all those leaves through the winter, not only would the leaves freeze, but the tree would die. However, evergreen trees have a different strategy, says Mason Heberling, assistant curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Instead of dropping and regrowing their leaves each year, pine trees and other evergreens evolved short, thick “leaves” that can withstand winter’s wrath. Of course, we call them “needles…”
A 71-year-old Snellville woman was one of three Georgians killed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally when a tree fell on her Lynn Alice Trapp was walking her dog Thursday morning near her home on Capot Court in unincorporated Snellville when the tree came down. Gwinnett rescue crews responded to a report of a fallen tree before they realized someone was pinned under it, according to Gwinnett fire Captain Tommy Rutledge as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Trapp died at the scene, and her dog was taken for treatment. On Wednesday, 30-year-old Gerald Crawford died of his injuries after a century-old oak tree fell on his house in southwest Atlanta. Crawford’s family had recently called the city of Atlanta to have the tree removed after a branch fell and damaged a parked vehicle. Trees like that “are getting near the end of their life cycle,” said Jason Hudgins, president of the Westview community organization, to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Whenever there’s a storm, we put people in our community on alert because we do have the problem…”
With everyone spending more time at home, demand for residential toilet paper is way up. That’s bad news for the world’s oldest forests. Unlike the industrial rolls found in many offices and restaurants, the cushy TP Americans love for their own bathrooms is made almost entirely of trees cut from virgin forests. Procter & Gamble Co. – maker of Charmin, the country’s most popular brand – has defended the practice in part by saying it plants a tree for every one it cuts down. It also pays to protect trees in other parts of the world as a way of offsetting some of its greenhouse gas emissions. But carbon accounting isn’t that simple. Forests store carbon in the soil, not just in trees, and that isn’t so easily replaced. A rundown of how the major manufacturers treat their trees: Procter & Gamble Brand: Charmin. Made from virgin forest? Yes. Replants trees? Yes, 1:1. Buys carbon offsets? Yes, but not to cover emissions from TP. The company says: “Every decision we make is guided by what’s best for consumers and the environment. P&G has committed to using recycled fibers where it can have the most benefit for our consumers.” – P&G spokesperson…
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society recently launched its third “More Trees Please” fundraising campaign — a campaign desperately needed to keep the city Tree Tender crews planting saplings and growing our green canopy. The campaign undoubtedly will help Philadelphia strengthen its urban forest and reverse long-standing environmental inequities.Yet despite these laudable efforts and those of the city’s Tree Philly programs, our city continues to lose tree canopy faster than we can replant it, even prior to the current crisis. Per the Philadelphia Tree Canopy Assessment Report released in December 2019, between 2008 and 2018, we lost approximately 6% of our urban tree canopy. The report states that much of the canopy loss has occurred in park space — this loss will likely accelerate due to ash trees succumbing to the Emerald Ash Borerand weakened by the spotted lanternfly, losses from increased storm severity as our climate becomes hotter and wetter. Then there’s street tree attrition due to development-related construction. The reduced canopy coverage has largely coincided with the only period in decades when the city has gained population and experienced an increase in construction activity…
Trees are nature’s way of cooling off. Everyone knows the the benefit of shade, but trees also help reduce heat by pulling water up through their roots and releasing it into the air through leaves. Trees, shrubs and grass all help to reduce storm water runoff. Even mangroves help to slow down storm surge in a land-falling hurricane. Check out these graphics that show how much trees aid the environment. In areas where trees and vegetation have been removed for buildings, parking lots and other development, we have what is called a “heat island effect.” All of that concrete, pavement and brick absorb heat during the day and then releases it overnight. This link shows where areas near cities are warmer than the average for the surrounding area as a whole. Check it out to see if you live in a heat island and think about the trees, water and the heat any time you see development…
Patch-Ohio, September 17, 2020: Mentor: Talking About Trees
Trees and shrubs are an attractive and important asset to any property. In addition to their aesthetic benefits, they help improve air quality, reduce storm water runoff, and help reduce energy costs. Property owners are reminded that they are responsible for the maintenance of all trees, shrubs, and hedges on their property; including those on the tree lawn. As per Mentor City Ordinance, trees along roadways must be trimmed to a height of 14 feet above the road surface so that school buses and other vehicles can safely pass by. Trees should be trimmed to a height of at least 7 feet above the sidewalks, and bushes and shrubs should be trimmed to a height of no more than 3 feet adjacent to the Right of Way, so that walkers, joggers, and bicyclists can pass by unimpeded. Trees that are dead or weakened as a result of age or disease are a danger to you and others. Falling limbs can cause significant property damage as well as loss of life. And, property owners may be financially responsible for damage caused by limbs that fall on their neighbor’s property if those limbs have been identified as being a potential danger, and if the owner has been asked to address the problem by the City…
Nearly 300 miles of roads remain closed across Oregon with no timetable for reopening and “hundreds of thousands” of trees need to be removed along Oregon 22 alone before highways are safe for travel. That’s according to the Oregon Department of Transportation, which released preliminary information Wednesday showing how significantly intrastate travel could be affected by the wildfires for months to come. Wildfires are still burning in several sections of the state, and fire officials have said that some of the blazes will continue burning until heavy rains come later this year. According to a new transportation map released this week, nearly a dozen highways are closed entirely, many for long stretches. The closures will impact travel across the Cascade Mountains in several key spots – with Oregon 138, Oregon 22, Oregon 126 and Oregon 242 all closed at critical spots with no timetable for reopening. Those roads are key arteries connecting Roseburg, Salem and the Eugene-Springfield areas to Central Oregon. U.S. 20 and U.S. 26 remain open, as does Oregon 58, which connects the Eugene area to U.S. 97. As of Wednesday afternoon, roughly 281 miles of highway are closed due to wildfire damage, or roughly the distance on Interstate 5 between Portland and Medford. “It’s fair to say this is a whole new level of damage,” Katherine Benenati, a transportation department spokesperson, said in an email. “These are some of the most hazardous conditions and some of the most widespread damage we’ve seen in years…”
If past is prologue, then one night next May, a funny-looking insect – plump, brown, hunched – will emerge from the ground, crawl up the nearest vertical perch and cast off its mantle. Within an hour or two, the periodical cicada will fill out to its adult form, with beady red eyes and glassy wings framed with orange ribs. Soon thereafter, hundreds, thousands, millions more cicadas will join the creature for one of the natural world’s most bizarre spectacles: a six-week bacchanalian feast of loud music, acrobatics and, yes, sex, stretching from Georgia to New York. Before this wonder fades for another 17 years, there will be a couple of lingering reminders that this wasn’t some surreal dream. The garden will be littered with the carcasses of three species of spent cicadas. More ominously, the ends of the branches of shrubs and trees will begin to droop and turn brown. The female cicada lays eggs in slits she has cut in thin branches. This ensures that the ensuing hatchling nymphs will drop and burrow into soil laced with tree roots, for they feed off the root sap. The egg-laying also means that branches from the point of injury to their tips will probably die back. On big old oaks or hickories, the resulting branch flagging is unsightly, but it’s a temporary eyesore that the tree will outgrow. But for young, small trees, the dieback can harm the tree’s future and desired shape by pruning twigs destined to become its main branches. In extreme cases, the wounds can allow disease to move into the tree and kill it. The female cicadas prefer branches that are roughly between one-quarter and one-half of an inch in diameter, and each individual makes several cuts. “For trees planted in the past four years, you may want to consider protecting,” said Stephanie Adams, plant health care leader at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Ill. Young redbuds, crab apples and cherry trees are among the types of trees that are at risk…
The lore that shrouds Australia’s giant stinging trees, of the genus Dendrocnide, is perhaps as dubious as it is vast. Tales abound of nightmarish encounters with the hypodermic-needle-like hairs of its leaves injecting a toxin that drives men to madness and has prompted horses to hurl themselves off cliffs. Some of these stories are centuries old and cannot be verified. But as Edward Gilding can attest, these legends contain at least one lick of truth: the absolute agony of being stabbed by the fine, downy hairs that adorn the leaves and stems of Dendrocnide. The trees, which can grow taller than 100 feet, are found throughout the rain forests of eastern Australia, where they are known to torment hikers. “It’s like having a nail shoved into your flesh,” said Dr. Gilding, a biologist at the University of Queensland and self-described sting connoisseur. The sting from the trees’ hairs also has immense staying power, doling out anguish in waves for hours or days. Some anecdotes have reported intermittent pain lasting months; a few especially bad stings have even landed people in the hospital…
Some people in Nevada City are going to new heights to stop PG&E from cutting down trees. These protesters are not marching, but climbing to make sure one tree, in particular, does not get chopped down. Pitts and others are doing this for a particular reason.“What’s happening is we are having a lot of trees taken out unnecessarily, completely thoughtlessly. Like just making a huge mess; taking away our heritage,” Pitts said. That heritage is heritage trees. PG&E said some trees have to go because they’re too close to power lines and pose a fire risk. “Part of it is obviously to protect the number of the heritage trees that are here. We’re concerned about the trees that are not really presenting a threat in themselves,” Lorraine Nauman, a tree protester, said. “This particular tree was planted 160 years ago by one of the original tree foundation members in the county here,” Pitts said. Pitts told CBS13 that the tree they climbed to protect from being cut down is an Atlas cedar spruce. It’s not native to the Nevada City area. PG&E said 263 trees are marked to be cut down in Nevada City to provide shorter, smaller and smart Public Safety Power Shutoffs. But instead of cutting down, many want the utility to look down and put their power lines underground. “Undergrounding, in this case, is not a panacea to all of the problems,” Brandi Merlo, PG&E spokesperson, said. “It’s still subject to its own issues including weather impacts, dig in potential, lightning strikes…”
Homeowners in one North Shore community are in the midst of a tree fight with their utility over high voltage wires and tilting power poles.Families say PSEG Long Island is responsible for maintaining safe easements in their back yards. Down the street from Roslyn High School, Overlook Terrace has 34 homes with backyard PSEG Long Island easements containing power poles. They hold, among other wires, cables so strong they can electrocute. One of homeowner Cary Ratner’s 60 foot tall maples is in a precarious position. “I have a tree that’s a real peril,” Ratner said. “I tried to get a tree surgeon, three of them. They won’t go near. It’s too close to the high voltage. It’s 13,000 volts.” Next door, Jeffrey Kane’s 65 foot elm tree is also bending amid the high voltage wires, which is located on the right of way maintained, according to law, by PSEG Long Island. A stiff wind in hurricane season could topple branches. “That’s the problem. I am concerned that it will be dangerous,” Kane said…
Imagine its terror when a gust of wind whips a baby out of its snug nest to free fall through the air and then slam into the ground. If it’s lucky, it lands on rain-softened earth, not asphalt. St. Francis Wildlife is caring for 175 of these babies now, with more arriving every day. This is peak baby squirrel season. Every afternoon storm blows baby squirrels from their treetop nests. Tree trimmers also unknowingly cut down their homes. Squirrels are a paradox. They can be destructive, annoying pests. But they are also intelligent, curious, agile, and yes, valuable. Because all the little nut and seed treasures they squirrel away are never dug up, squirrels provide us with free gardening services and invaluable timber resources. With a little effort and ingenuity, we can learn to live in harmony with these resourceful little neighbors that have managed to survive on this continent for 36 million years…
The Sun-Times editorial California’s wildfires and Chicago’s derecho reveal cascading damage of climate change is spot on! We should not feel helpless, though, because we can move Illinois in the right direction during the current clear climate change crisis. Chicago has been a leader in reducing carbon emissions by planting some 300,000 trees over the last two decades. With the destruction of 7,300 trees throughout the city and county, we need to step up. Change always begins at the local level. Our neighborhood group, the Edgewater Glen Association, has partnered with Open Lands and received 11 trees to replant after the unprecedented derecho storm. For years our group has focused on tree replanting for every tree removed because of aging or disease. However, as ComEd sends out chainsaw crews to cut back trees encroaching on power lines, we have witnessed a very anti-environmental approach. Untrained ComEd crews have butchered mature trees so badly that they reduce the trees’ lives to less than five years…
Moon Crew, September 15, 2020: The story of a tree falling in Houston
I have watched this video — counting conservatively — over 500 times in the last 24 hours. Listen to that “ohhhhhhhh.” Even before he hits the “goddammit,” this amateur tree surgeon is yelling to God from his doomed heels. That is a cry from the soul to this cursed earth: Why have you turned against me, giver of life? Why has that which brought shade and life now become a swift hammer of a cruel justice beyond my understanding? What is that man with the rope supposed to be doing here, exactly? The “goddammit” — full-throated, delivered from a place of total despair in a raspy yowl best described as something between Yosemite Sam and an irate South Park yokel — only seals a universal moment. It is when fate finds a check written with your stupidity, and also the moment when fate decides to cash that check with such force, it overdrafts you straight into hell. First, know this: The screaming man in the video is not dropping a tree onto his own house. That house belongs to Matt Bieniek’s family. I spoke with him yesterday over the phone, after he saw his own house being assaulted on the internet by poorly executed tree surgery…
Dozens of conflagrations have raged across more than 5 million acres (1.6 million hectares) in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, laying waste to several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 35 people. The region’s increasingly dry and overgrown forests have become large-scale tinderboxes over decades while wildfires have become more frequent, more intense and more deadly. Here’s why. U.S President Donald Trump blames poor forest management – mainly a failure to cull overgrown forests – for the increasing number and intensity of fires. The governors of California and Oregon – the states worst hit this season – say climate change is largely responsible. Scientists say both factors are at work. Starting in the early 1900s, wildfires were fought aggressively and suppressed, which led to a build-up of dead trees and brush in forested areas. That means more fuel for bigger, more intense and damaging wildfires. But changes in climate and weather patterns — warming temperatures, periods of drought and erratic rains – also are causes. “We don’t want to minimize the impact of climate because it’s significant already and because it’s growing in the future,” said Dan Cayan, a climate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. The region generally experienced a relatively dry winter, leaving forests particularly dessicated and vulnerable to extreme heat that materialized in August. Dry, gusty winds, known as Santa Ana in Southern California and Diablo in Northern California, contributed to the fires’ rapid spread…
A disease that can be deadly to beech trees was found for the first time in Rhode Island this summer, threatening thousands of the trees known for their smooth, silver-gray bark. A homeowner in the Ashaway village of Hopkinton contacted the state Department of Environmental Management in June after noticing something was wrong with the beech trees on her property. A DEM forester and Heather Faubert, a University of Rhode Island plant scientist, visited the site in the southwest part of the state and confirmed that the trees were afflicted with beech leaf disease. Discovered in Ohio in 2012, the disease has spread to Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. It was found in Connecticut last year and this summer in Massachusetts, too. After the initial discovery of the disease at the home in Ashaway, Faubert, who coordinates the URI Plant Protection Clinic, found it spread throughout a nearby beech forest in an area off Route 91. Thousands of trees there showed the telltale signs of the disease: unnatural stripes between the veins of their leaves. Many of the leaves withered, yellowed and died as a result of the damage and the trees were forced to expend vital energy during the hottest and driest part of the year to leaf out a second time. A tree can do that only so many years in a row before the stress can kill it. The disease can spread to American beech trees, the species native to the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada, as well as European beech trees, an imported variety found on the grounds of mansions in Newport and other places. It can also affect Oriental beech trees…
To carve an aspen tree — to take a blade to the trunk for the sake of your initials, for example — is to do harm. Harm to a being with a life expectancy much like our own: 100 years, if we’re lucky. To leave your mark, “it may sound cool,” says Dan West, an aspen expert with the Colorado State Forest Service. “But that tree might not survive because of what you’re doing.” A cut to the human arm is a possible portal for infection. Same for an aspen tree. Though the risk might be greater in aspen, considering “aspen are one of the most diseased and infected trees in North America,” West says. Otherwise, yes, a wound to our body is much like a wound to Colorado’s favorite tree of autumn. On our travels to behold the golden displays, we’ve all seen it. Gashed groves. White bark disrupted by black scars that look nothing like nature’s doing. There’s someone’s name. There’s someone’s message that doesn’t matter. There’s some date marking what might be some romantic occasion. There’s a heart housing the names Megan and Jon. Paul Rogers, director of the Western Aspen Alliance based at Utah State University, came by this one once. A harsh revision was made — an “X” over “Megan” and a message above: “MEGAN IS A SKANK.” “It didn’t work out over time, their relationship, apparently,” Rogers says. But the advocate scientist cares not for such drama. Nor do the trees care for our drama and whatever vain impulses lead us to scarring their skin. It’s a particularly thin skin. That’s what makes aspen particularly susceptible. “Because of the thin skin,” Rogers says…
If you zoom in on a new map of California, you’ll start to see that the fields of green that represent the forest are actually made up of individual green points, and each point represents a real, individual tree. The tool, called the California Forest Observatory, uses AI and satellite images to create an ultradetailed view of the state’s forests—aiding work to prevent the type of catastrophic megafires that the state is experiencing now. Scientists at Salo Sciences, a startup that works on technology for natural climate solutions, began creating the tool after interviewing dozens of experts in California about the state’s challenges with wildfires: They need more detailed, up-to-date information about the forests so they can better predict how fast and in what direction fires will spread, and remove the most hazardous fuels. Even the rough satellite maps that exist now are often three years out of date, making it hard for agencies to plan their work. The new tool will be updated annually after the fire season ends, if not more often. Firefighters can use the tool to predict how current fires may spread as they’re burning. But just as critically, the state can also use the map to plan forest management to prevent future megafires. “What we really found was California more than anything has a vegetation and fuel load problem,” says David Marvin, cofounder and CEO of Salo Sciences. “This has occurred because, for the last century, we’ve been suppressing wildfire, and we’ve gotten really good at doing so. CalFire, the state fire agency, puts out something like 96% of fires, and we have thousands of them every year…”
Two years ago scientists warned that a massive tree die-off in the Sierra Nevada could set the stage for forest conflagrations akin to World War II fire bombings. The Creek fire, which forced the dramatic helicopter evacuations of more than 200 campers over Labor Day weekend in California, may be a hint of far worse to come in future years. It is burning in the Sierra National Forest, an epicenter of the bark beetle attacks that killed nearly 150 million drought-stressed trees during the last decade. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that dead stands in the Creek fire contain 2,000 tons of fuel per acre. As of Saturday, the fire had charred more than 196,000 acres, destroyed 365 structures and was threatening 14,000 more in the vicinity of Big Creek, Huntington Lake and Shaver Lake. Firefighters don’t expect to contain it until mid-October. For those who have studied the potential fire effects of the vast beetle kill, the Creek fire is a harbinger. “I don’t want to be alarmist. But I think the conditions are there,” said Scott Stephens, a UC Berkeley professor of fire science and lead author of a 2018 paper that raised the specter of future mass forest fires as intense as the Dresden, Germany, and Tokyo firebombings…
The devastating wildfires that swept through Northern California in recent years have left a new problem in their wake: dead trees that threaten people, roads, and gas and water lines. Enter American Tree Medics, which hit the 2020 Inc. 5000 with more than $2 million in 2019 revenue. The family-owned company uses a team of arborists and foresters to perform 15-minute diagnostic evaluations–factoring in each tree’s species, age, and other characteristics–and decide which ones need to be cut down. “Time is critical in these situations,” says co-founder and CEO Heidi Britt. The Modesto, California-based company earned $2.1 million last year from clients including the city of Santa Rosa and Butte County, site of the deadliest wildfire in California’s history, 2018’s Camp Fire. Employees use tape measures, magnifying glasses, hatchets, and other tools to give each tree a health score. Removing dead, dried-out trees can improve the overall health of the forest and hinder the spread of wildfires… The company creates teams of certified arborists, foresters, and loggers. All new employees shadow a professional for several months before they can perform assessments on their own…
Two ornamental pear seedlings have grown stronger in the past year, but they have not yet received permanent homes in Las Vegas. Last year, Las Vegas was selected as a recipient of the seedlings from the Survivor Tree Seedling Program as a symbol of hope after the mass shooting that occurred on Oct. 1, 2017. The Survivor Tree was recovered from ground zero with broken roots and branches after the 9/11 attacks in New York City. The tree was rehabilitated and replanted at the Sept. 11 memorial in 2010, according to the organization’s website. The program launched in 2013 with the harvested seedlings from the tree to share the message of solidarity. According to Las Vegas officials, the program sent a pair of seedlings in case one was damaged in transport. In the past year, the seedlings have grown, but they’re still too small to be planted. They are housed in the city’s tree nursery, where Steven Glimp, park maintenance manager for the city, cares for them. “The trees are doing very well and we look forward to their continued growth so that we can plant them next year,” Glimp said in a statement provided by a city spokesman. “The city of Las Vegas is honored to be a recipient of these trees.” City officials have not decided where the trees will be planted. Options include the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden or the Las Vegas Fire Department Station 5, which hosts a 9/11 remembrance ceremony each year and has a piece of World Trade Center steel on display…
Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sun, September 13, 2020: What to do when wind damages trees
Question: I lost about 1/3 of my crabapple tree and probably more than 1/2 of a mimosa tree in the wind storm on Tuesday. Is there anything I should do to try to help them?
Answer: Great question! The short answer is, “No, at least not urgently, and there’s no need for any type of wound sealant.” For now, in case it helps you rest easier, imagine what your trees would do if they were all alone in the forest and were damaged by wind gusts. They’d just sit there and be fine. That is, unless there are any immediate risks, like a car parked underneath or an area of high pedestrian activity nearby where a partially broken limb could fall and hurt someone. Aside from considering bodily harm and property damage, the next step mostly depends on the damage. How thick were the branches that were broken? How many branches, approximately, per tree? And are they within easy reach from the ground? Evidence from tree research has confirmed that clean-cut wounds (as opposed to scraggly jagged tears) seal better and faster. Trees’ natural responses to injury are partly influenced on the time of year and the growth stage. For example, responses may be faster in the active growing season than in the dormant season. In the coming weeks, you or a trained arborist can clean up the jagged branch breaking points to help the trees seal those wounded areas more easily. It is important that the wider base of each branch called the branch collar be left intact so that the cambial layer just inside the bark can grow over the wound to seal it…
A big mess on a Detroit street turned into a big safety concern. Washburn Street, on Detroit’s east side, was littered with debris and a large tree that came crashing down recently during wild weather. The damage wasn’t just an eyesore, but also a potential safety issue for residents. Neighbors wanted it cleaned up, so they called Help Me Hank to investigate. Hank Winchester found that the city had done some tree trimming on Washburn Street at about the same time DTE was doing some work in the area. Some who reached out weren’t exactly sure who created the mess, they just wanted it cleaned up. Winchester was alerted to the issue when someone Tweeted to him, Detroit mayor Mike Duggan and DTE Energy. Come to find out, DTE did not cause the mess. Detroit forestry crews were doing work here at about the same time as the DTE project. However, as it was being sorted out, DTE jumped into action and sent a crew to help. Winchester learned it was a city issue and Detroit city officials were quick to respond, sending a crew out to clean up the large mess and everything left behind. Washburn Street is now clear of the clutter and is no longer a safety concern for those living in the area…
“Was there a warm period in the Middle Ages that at least comes close to today’s? Answers to such fundamental questions are largely sought from tree ring data,” explains lead author Josef Ludescher of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). “Our study now shows that previous climate analyses from tree ring data significantly overestimate the climate’s persistence. A warm year is indeed followed by another warm rather than a cool year, but not as long and strongly as tree rings would initially suggest. If the persistence tendency is correctly taken into account, the current warming of Europe appears even more exceptional than previously assumed.” To examine the quality of temperature series obtained from tree rings, Josef Ludescher and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (PIK) as well as Armin Bunde (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen) and Ulf Büntgen (Cambridge University) focused on Central Europe. Main reason for this approach was the existing long observation series dating back to the middle of the 18th century to compare with the tree ring data. In addition, there are archives that accurately recorded the beginning of grape and grain harvests and even go back to the 14th century. These records, as well as the width of tree rings, allow temperature reconstructions. A warm summer is indicated by a wide tree ring and an early start of the harvest, a cold summer by a narrow tree ring and a late start of the harvest. The trees studied are those from altitudes where temperature has a strong influence on growth and where there is enough water for growth even in warm years…
An apple tree thought to be the oldest in the Pacific Northwest has died at 194 years of age. The Old Apple Tree in Vancouver, Washington, was planted in 1826 when fur traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company settled in the area. It was considered the matriarch of the region’s bustling apple industry and produced a green apple that was on the sour side but great for baking. “While we knew this day would come, we hoped it was still years away,” Charles Ray, urban forester for the City of Vancouver, told CNN. Around 2015, the team of experts caring for the tree noticed that the cambium layer — the growing part of the trunk — was starting to die back, Ray explained. That contributed to the creation of a spiral crack in the trunk, which hollowed out over the years. The tree finally died in June. “The tree itself has taken on its own persona. It’s a living organism, just like us, and it’s been faced with a lifetime of challenges,” Ray said. “It stood there for generations and witnessed the world change around it.” “When anybody speaks of the oldest apple tree in the Northwest, everybody knows it was that apple tree,” David Benscoter, a retired FBI agent who now runs The Lost Apple Project, told CNN. “I’m sure people never thought it could reach that age…”
Could your trees be dying of thirst? We’ve recently had some heavy rains so surely there is no issue for our favorite trees, right? While we commonly have dramatic heavy rain events, the effects do not always last long. A few days of no rain and our landscapes begin to dry out once again. The thirst that mature trees have is significant. A single live oak can consume hundreds of gallons of water in a single day. That is why we need to constantly consider the needs of our trees and our soil. According to NOAA, the Florida Panhandle has been in a significant long-term deficit for rainfall. NOAA measures drought conditions on a bi-weekly basis and for 80% of the last 32 months, we have been in a below normal or drought condition. This has a number of effects on mature trees that are easily undetected. One of the first things to happen when the soil dries is that roots start to die, starting with the small fine roots first. The dry soil becomes hardened and often filled with air gaps. Roots become dry, brittle, and die. This leads to decay and one of many root rot diseases. Next, the air fills the pores, cracks, and gaps in the soil. That air has to escape before moisture can occupy the pore space…
California’s mega-drought officially ended three years ago but may have turned the Creek Fire into a monster. By killing millions of trees in the Sierra National Forest, the historic drought that ended in 2017 left an incendiary supply of dry fuel that appears to have intensified the fire that’s ravaged more than 140,000 acres in the southern Sierra Nevada, wildfire scientists and forestry experts said Tuesday. “The energy produced off that is extraordinary,” said Scott Stephens, a wildfire scientist at UC Berkeley. “Large amounts of woody material burning simultaneously.” What’s more, the Creek Fire is shaping up as a frightening template for other wildfires that could ignite in heavily forested areas that suffered extensive tree loss. “This might provide this first glimpse into the future we’re in for,” said LeRoy Westerling, a climate and wildfire scientist at UC Merced. Brittany Covich of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency that funds projects aimed at reducing wildfire risks in forests, said what’s happening in Fresno County could easily take place in the Tahoe National Forest and other areas with lots of dead trees.“That’s the fear we have across the Sierra Nevada,” Covich said…
The storm Tuesday evening rolled in with business opportunities for tree removal companies. The owners of Eric’s Tree Care, Joel and Bonnie McMullan, said their team was out removing debris from people’s homes since the winds hit. “The phone has been going off since about four yesterday,” said Joel. His wife has been trying to keep up with the calls. “It’s been very hectic. We’ve had limbs fall on houses. Split trees, split in half. We have uprooted trees. The whole thing falls over,” she said. Bonnie said the extra business is a blessing. “It’s important for us to go out and help get these limbs out of people’s houses and everything. We want to make sure their houses are ok,” said Bonnie. However, she said it’s also sort of a curse. They have a crew of only six people. “We’re trying to get to as many as we can, but there’s only so many we can get to in a day,” she said. Other companies like Baca’s Trees are in the same boat. The business says they got more than 50 calls before noon for removals. Needless to say, they’re busy. But they ask people to still call the professionals. Bonnie said it can be dangerous if someone tries to handle a downed tree…
“There’s a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows up out of cellar gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows lushly … survives without sun, water, and seemingly earth. It would be considered beautiful except that there are too many of it.” — ”A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” Betty Smith’s best-selling 1943 novel traced the story of Francie Nolan from her impoverished early life in the tenement districts of Brooklyn in 1912 to her first year at the University of Michigan. The tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima, was her metaphor for Francie’s iron determination to grow and prosper, even under the most adverse conditions. Smith could hardly have picked a more apt symbol of persistence and the resolve to succeed at all costs. It’s difficult not to admire the tree’s robust life force. On the other hand … For modern urban planners and all but the most forgiving of homeowners, Ailanthus is largely considered a true pain in the derriere. Interesting history, interesting ecology, but an absolute bear to control…
Futurism, September 9, 2020: Too Much CO2 Is Killing Trees, Scientists Say
As humanity continues to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, scientists had long hoped that a portion of it would get gobbled up by plants — including the Earth’s vast forests — instead of contributing to climate change. They were right — to an extent. The prediction that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide would speed up forest growth held up. But new research suggests that these fast-growing trees also die significantly younger, according to Agence France-Presse, at which point they’d release carbon once again as they decompose. Unfortunately, the link between higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and accelerated lifespans was observed across a wide span of tree types and species, according to research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. That suggests that other trees may not be able to pick up the slack. “Our findings, very much like the story of the tortoise and the hare, indicate that there are traits within the fastest growing trees that make them vulnerable, whereas slower growing trees have traits that allow them to persist,” study coauthor and State University of New York forestry expert Steve Voelker said in a press release. For the last few decades, AFP reports, society has reaped the benefits of forests’ ability to absorb atmospheric carbon. But those benefits may soon end, as a sort of environmental reckoning approaches — though, to be fair, University of Arizona researchers found in 2013 that decomposing forests release less carbon than previously predicted…
From the look of it, one Vacaville family farm’s blackened soil and silvery white ghosts of some 100,000 trees might have looked like the end for their spice business. But the Attard family survived a similar fire almost 32 years ago. And this time, they knew something they didn’t know then: Their California laurel trees could start growing back within months. Paul Attard and his family, of Napa Mountain Spice Co., sell certified organic bay leaves to Spice Islands and other companies. They harvest them from the mostly wild California laurel trees that cover their property on a ridge straddling Solano and Napa counties. The land happens to be located right near one of the remote cameras used to monitor wildlife that caught some of the dramatic first moments of the LNU Lightning Complex the night of Aug. 18, which ultimately killed five people and has destroyed almost 1,500 structures. Due to the fire, Attard estimates the company will lose $1 million in sales…
Trees with faster growth rates die younger across multiple countries and species, which reduces their overall carbon storage capacity, a new study claims. Researchers analysed tree-ring data of more than 200,000 records of 110 species across Europe, Asia and the Americas. They found faster tree growth, indicated by tree rings, is causing earlier mortality and the release of the carbon back into the atmosphere. Many scientists believe planting more trees will offset the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from human activity. But shorter lifespans of trees will actually make them grow faster and have less time to absorb atmospheric CO2 than anticipated, the new study claims. The new study further calls into question predictions that greater tree growth means greater carbon storage in forests in the long term…
While wandering middle Alaska this summer, I noticed orange spruce trees along the entire length of the Denali Highway, from Paxson to Cantwell. In what looked like a dendrological case of frostbite, tips of every branch were afflicted with something. The real show happened when the wind blew: An entire valley glowed apricot. After the wind died, a Tang-like orange powder floated on rivers and puddles. It was as if someone had pepper-sprayed the Denali Highway. I suspected an insect outbreak — maybe the orange dust was millions of little eggs laid on spruce branches — but insect expert Derek Sikes of the University of Alaska Museum of the North said bugs were not to blame. It was a tree disease known as spruce needle rust, which infects only the current year’s needles of white, black and Sitka spruce trees. The orange powder is composed of millions of tiny spores, which the rust fungus uses to reproduce. Paul Hennon, an expert on forest diseases, wrote about spruce needle rust fungus in a 2001 bulletin for the Alaska branch of the USDA Forest Service…
A man died Monday in Warrington Township when the tree he was cutting down fell on top of him, authorities said. The York County Coroner’s Office was called around 7:33 p.m. for a special rescue on the 800 block of Old Mountain Road. The man was pronounced dead an hour later, according to Coroner Pamela L. Gay. Gay said the man’s death was accidental and the result of “traumatic asphyxiation.” His identity will be released once family and next of kin are notified…
Orange galls, fuzzy galls or fuzzy orange galls, no matter what you call them if you have an oak tree in your yard or on your property you likely have them. The culprit is the Cynipid wasp, a tiny member of the Vespidae family that lays its eggs on oak tree leaves. “The gall is the plant or tree’s reaction to the insect’s egg,” said Jim Dill, pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. “The leaf tissue grows around the wasp egg.” The gall then serves as a protective shell in which the wasp larvae can grow and feed, Dill said. In the case of the fuzzy orange galls, these growths look like tiny balls of fluff. Early in the summer, they are a light tan. As the season goes on they start to darken until in late August and September they are deep orange and brown. Around that time the gall, with the wasp larvae inside, falls off the leaf and the wasp will burrow into the ground until it pupates. It’s a lifecycle that can last one or two years, Dill said…
Sacramento, California, KCRA-TV, September 5, 2020: PG&E to cut down 200+ trees in Nevada County
People in Nevada City learned this week that Pacific Gas and Electric will begin cutting down more than 200 trees beginning next week. PG&E said it’s out of safety. Some residents, however, claim the utility is not handling the tree removal process correctly. Bob Nienaber, who lives along West Broad Street in Nevada City, recently noticed somebody spray painting the tree in his front yard and wondered what was going on. When he asked what crews were doing, he said he was told “PG&E was going to be removing a couple of trees in its path of sight to make sure the lines were safe.” When he got in his car and drove up the street, he said he “started seeing the markings everywhere.” Nienaber learned PG&E is scheduled to chop down 263 area trees beginning the day after Labor Day. City Planner Amy Wolfson confirmed the action. “About a hundred of those are on city property,” she said. “And then the remaining trees are all on private property.” Workers had marked which ones would be coming down with yellow spray paint. PG&E sent KCRA a statement, saying in part: “PG&E is required by law to assess and manage vegetation that poses a threat, including trimming overhanging limbs and branches above power lines…”
Las Vegas, Nevada, Sun, September 7, 2020: Climate change threatens Joshua Tree’s traditional home
Drive just outside of Las Vegas and they appear. Twisted, warped, their branches reaching out like alien hands, the Joshua tree is a symbol of the Mojave Desert. But the survival of the tree in its traditional range is at risk because of climate change, according to the National Park Service. With the desert getting hotter, drier and more susceptible to wildfires, some of the tree’s habitat could become inhospitable to the plant, scientists say. Joshua Tree National Park, about 200 miles from Las Vegas in California, could be virtually bare of the plant by 2070, according to a 2019 study by the University of California, Riverside. In the best-case scenarios, a sharp reduction of greenhouse gases could keep the trees at 18.6% of their historic range — from western Arizona to eastern California, the study found. The demise of the tree would “represent the collapse of the higher-elevation Mojave Desert ecosystem,” said Patrick Donnelly, the state director for the Center for Biological Diversity. The tree provides food and shelter for many desert animals, he said. The Joshua Tree Genome Project, a multistate scientific collaboration, has set out to sequence the tree’s genome to gain insight into how the tree might adapt to a changing climate…
Ars Technica, September 5, 2020: Could a tree help find a decaying corpse nearby?
Since 1980, the University of Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center has plumbed the depths of the most macabre of sciences: the decomposition of human bodies. Known colloquially as the Body Farm, here scientists examine how donated cadavers decay, like how the microbiomes inside us go haywire after death. That microbial activity leads to bloat, and—eventually—a body will puncture. Out flows a rank fluid of nutrients, especially nitrogen, for plants on the Body Farm to subsume. That gave a group of University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers an idea: what if that blast of nutrients actually changes the color and reflectance of a tree’s leaves? And, if so, what if law enforcement authorities could use a drone to scan a forest, looking for these changes to find deceased missing people? Today in the journal Trends in Plant Science, researchers are formally floating the idea—which, to be clear, is still theoretical. The researchers are just beginning to study how a plant’s phenotype—its physical characteristics—might change if a human body is composing nearby. “What we’re proposing is to use plants as indicators of human decomposition, to hopefully be able to use individual trees within the forest to help pinpoint where someone has died, to help in body recovery,” says UT Knoxville plant biologist Neal Stewart, coauthor on the new paper. As a large mammal like a human decomposes in a forest, its breakdown transforms the soil in a number of ways. The body’s “necrobiome”—all the bacteria that was already in it when it was alive—replicates like crazy in the absence of an immune system. This necrobiome mixes with the microbes in the dirt. “The soil microbiome will change and, of course, the plant roots will also sense some changes,” says Stewart. But, he adds, “we don’t really know what those changes are…”
A senior citizen in Gary, Indiana, says the city has let her street get completely overrun by trees and undergrowth and it’s unsafe for her now. For 20 years Doris Crockett has called DeKalb Street home, but now it’s a headache. “There’s debris all along there,” she says. “I have been in the bed, and one of them limbs fell on my bedroom, sounds like a bomb hits my ceiling. They let everything grow off. They don’t care. It’s become a jungle. I hate to say it, but the city has allowed this block to go.” It’s so bad even delivery drivers get confused. “FedEx has rung my bell because they want to go down the street. I say, ‘You’ll have to turn around. The street is closed off,’” Crockett says. That same overgrowth has made it really easy to hide various activities on the block, too. “There was a trailer in the trees, and I think they were making out every day,” Crockett says. On a more serious note, she says not only has the overgrowth posed a danger to her house and her car but also she has caught people using the street like a junkyard. “They’re so used to seeing in my window to see if they’re dumping that they turn around and come back out,” she said. “One time someone brought a car and put it on fire.” Since her husband died, 70-year-old Crockett has been struggling to adapt to living on her own. She wrote a letter last year begging the city for help with DeKalb Street…
A man was trapped under a tree for four days before help arrived, a Minnesota sheriff says. According to the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office, Jonathan Ceplecha, age 59, was cutting down trees when a tree fell on him pinning both legs under the tree Ceplecha had been pinned under the tree since Thursday, August 27 – over 100 hours. After nearly two hours, the Redwood Falls Fire Department extricated Ceplecha, and he was airlifted from the scene. Ceplecha lives alone near Redwood Falls, and his ex-wife went to check on him after growing suspicious when he missed work on Friday and Monday, KMSP reported. It wasn’t until Monday afternoon that the sheriff’s office and fire department learned of the accident, officials say. After rescuers arrived, it took them almost two hours to free the man from under the tree…
Radiocarbon dating of five large and potentially old sessile oaks from Aspromonte National Parks has revealed a long lifespan ranging from 934 ± 65 to 570 ± 45 years. For a long time, majestic oaks have been considered a symbol of longevity, and this study proves that a millennium age horizon is attainable longevity in angiosperms growing at high-elevation belt in Mediterranean mountains of South Italy. “Studying the longevity of trees in response to climate change under different environments is a research priority for both nature conservation and climate change mitigation strategies,” says Gianluca Piovesan from University of Tuscia, Dafne. “For a long time, majestic oaks have been considered a symbol of longevity. In a study just published in the journal Ecology, we dated five large and potentially old sessile oaks from Aspromonte National Parks using radiocarbon, revealing unexpected long lifespan ranging from 934 ± 65 to 570 ± 45 years. Jordan Palli and Michele Baliva from Dendrology Lab, University of Tuscia, say: “The sampling was arduous for two reasons: Firstly, these ancient trees stand on steep, rocky slopes that are difficult to reach and to walk through. Secondly, very old individuals are often rotten or hollowed in the inner part of the stem, given the centuries of exposure to the elements and to natural pests and pathogens. This means that the oldest rings were often missing or severely degraded, challenging the identification and collection of the closest tree rings to the pith for radiocarbon dating. In the Dendrology Lab we carried out a careful stereoscope screening to identify the oldest rings in our samples. Given the very narrow size of the rings, we had to use a scalpel to collect them…”
Q: Could you please clarify the obligations of neighbors who have a tree that straddles the property line? Our insurance company is requiring that the tree come down due to liability to the house. Should our neighbor have to pay some portion of the bill to remove the tree? — Linc
A: When a tree straddles the property line, it creates a few thorny issues to resolve. To do so, we will need to first look at tree law in other situations. When a tree is on your neighbor’s property, but its limbs or roots extend onto your property, you have both the right to trim them back to the property line so long as you do not damage the overall health of the tree. You also have the responsibility to do this before it hurts your property. If your neighbor’s tree is healthy and a branch breaks off in a storm, you cannot hold your neighbor responsible, even if it falls on your roof. The law both allows and requires you to protect your property in this situation by trimming the branches back. However, if the tree is unhealthy or dead when it falls, your neighbor will be responsible for the damage it causes. This is an incentive for him to maintain his property in a way that does not harm others. Both parties own a tree that straddles the property line. Trimming the branches and cleaning up the fallen leaves is up to each owner on their side of the line…
Attorney General Ken Paxton today commended a settlement awarding $20 million to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) to remedy devastation caused by the failure of Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC to properly manage vegetation growth. Almost nine years ago to the day, unmaintained trees damaged power lines and sparked a wildfire that destroyed 1,700 homes and burned 96 percent of the Bastrop State Park, which is one of only seven state parks across the country that have been designated as a National Historical Landmark. “This settlement marks a monumental step in the continued restoration of the Bastrop State Park and healing of this beautiful Texas community,” said Attorney General Paxton. “After fires and floods brought colossal damage, TPWD has been expertly nursing this state treasure back to health. As more work is still needed, I commend this settlement and the hard work of everyone involved for providing much needed remedy to this stunning Texas landmark…”
Along the scenic drive through the Pike National Forest, aspen trees line Highway 285 between Grant and Jefferson. But some of those trees are not covered in their usual green-about-to-turn-yellow leaves. Many of them are brown and dead. Several Denver7 viewers and employees noticed this on their weekend treks into the mountains, and raised the questions of “why?” And “what does that mean for leaf-peeping season?” Dr. Dan West is an entomologist with the Colorado Forest Service, specializing in trees and tree issues. He blamed the issue on drought and bugs. “As they no longer have enough water, the tips (of the leaves) start to burn and we see this brown margin or the outside edge of the leaf turns brown,” he said. The entire state of Colorado is seeing some form of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Conditions in many of the mountains west of Denver are dealing with “severe” or “extreme” drought. “The precipitation kind of turned off,” West said…
Scientific American, September 2, 2020: Death by Lightning Is Common for Tropic Trees
The chance that a human being like you will be struck by lightning is miniscule. But what if you’re a tall tree in the tropics? “Lightning happens in milliseconds. We can’t predict where it’s going to be and we generally can’t find it after it’s happened, so what a hard thing to study.” Evan Gora, an ecologist at the University of Louisville. Now, for the first time, Gora and his colleagues were able to quantify the effects of lightning strikes in tropical forests around the world—thanks to satellite data and a network of ground sensors. “We saw that forests that have more lightning strikes hitting per hectare per year have fewer large trees per hectare, presumably because they’re killed by lightning. More biomass turns over every year, so basically the lightning seems to be affecting the forests and causing trees to die. And then they have less total biomass…”
Detroit, Michigan, News, September 2, 2020: Utility, police say tree’s fatal fall had no human cause
Officials said Wednesday that further investigation has determined that an incident in which a Clarkston motorist was killed by a falling tree was nothing more than a freak accident. Ronald Ohlinger, 41, was driving his 2005 Chrysler Town and Country minivan south on Williams Lake Road approaching Vanden Drive in White Lake Township about 6 p.m. Monday when a tree on the west side of the street fell on top of the vehicle. Ohlinger’s 18-year-old stepdaughter suffered only minor injuries but also had to be cut out of the vehicle by emergency response workers. Ohlinger, who owned a tattoo parlor and pizzeria in Clarkston, was pronounced dead at the scene from his resulting injuries. An autopsy determined cause of death was extreme trauma to the head. Neighbors reported to media outlets their feeling the accident could have been prevented and theorized that a tree trimming crew under contract with DTE Energy had made the tree unstable. That theory was disputed Wednesday by others, including the utility, which said the crew “never touched that particular tree…”
A group of Pleasanton residents gathered at sunrise Tuesday beneath a heritage tree that’s at least as old as the city itself to protest its impending removal. The tree has survived major earthquakes and both world wars, and witnessed the city grow from a time when the transcontinental railroad was new, and ranchers, horse breeders and dairy farmers flooded the area because of its favorable climate and vast land. But now, the Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus tree that has stood tall at Lions Wayside Park on 4401 First St. in downtown for at least 125 years will have to be cut down because of a sulphur fungus that has taken over, according to the city. The tree is sick and decaying, the fungus incurable — and it’s now become a public safety hazard and too dangerous to let it continue to live, the city says. “You just don’t kill someone because they’re ill,” said Wayne Strickler, 81, who has been a Pleasanton resident for 50 years…
Questions are being raised after a falling tree suddenly takes the life of a local family man who was driving along a busy road in Oakland County. Some in White Lake Township say it’s an accident that could have been prevented. “He was a great guy who would help anybody out he could, like they say he’d give the shirt off his back,” said Tom Meloche, the best friend of Ron Ohlinger. Family members say 42-year-old Ohlinger was devoted to his kids and wife more than anything else. He was also known to so many throughout his community as a proud owner of local tattoo and pizza shops. After word spread of his sudden death Monday night, after a large tree fell onto his minivan, countless social media posts began immediately sharing condolences and sympathy online. “He started with a tattoo company in Clarkston then a pizza shop next door, and everything he did was for his family,” Meloche said. “They just opened a second location in Waterford…”
Grist, September 2, 2020: Wildfires are getting worse. Will forests start to burn themselves out?
Thousands of lightning strikes have put California under a “fire siege” since mid-August, setting parched grasses, shrubs, and trees ablaze across the state. Last week, when word got out that wildfires had entered Big Basin Redwoods State Park, many feared for the fate of its namesake redwood forest. But by Friday, those fears were dispelled. The “Mother of the Forest” and other ancient trees remained healthy. This was not the first time their thick, fire-resistant bark has withstood such heat. Forests in the West are used to fire, even dependent on fire, and many tree species have adaptations that help them survive or regenerate in the wake of one. But wildfires are changing, becoming more severe and more frequent. As the climate warms and heat and drought in the West become more extreme, these shifts are expected to intensify. The result is a Gordian Knot of feedback loops that threaten Western forests in unprecedented ways, and scientists are racing to understand how the relationship between forests and fire is changing in response. One question is whether the increase in fire frequency might eventually burn itself out. “There is this hope, I guess you could call it a hope in some way, that that will eventually cause a negative feedback,” said Briam Buma, an ecologist at the University of Colorado in Denver. “You’ll get a bunch of fires and everything will be burned up and there won’t be a lot of fuel left, and so fire frequency may go down…”
The historic mid-August heat wave started with one of the most significant outbreaks of thunderstorms that I have ever seen in California’s coastal regions. These thunderstorms created a flurry of dry-lightning strikes that started more than 700 wildfires throughout Northern and Central California. So far this year, around 2,500 square miles have been burned in California. The Golden State is on track to break the previous record of 3,125 square miles burnt in 2018. In fact, the worst part of the fire season is still ahead, as the dry and hot Santa Lucia (northeasterly) winds historically start to develop in the late summer and fall. The mid-August heat wave of 2020 smashed numerous temperature records. Many more would have been broken if it were not for the shade from the extensive and thick smoke plumes that covered most of the state…
The flames are mostly gone after roaring through the coastal mountains northwest of Santa Cruz, but the danger lingers. Smoke still billows around the bases of trees that hang ominously over the roads. Some trees wearily rest on their neighbors, others lean out at angles, some dangle massive broken limbs. They’re known among firefighters as “widow-makers,” perilously suspended branches that can fall without warning and injure or kill crew members working below. It is a peril firefighters are all too familiar with — and carefully trying to eliminate as they begin to allow more than 40,000 evacuated residents to return to areas ravaged by the CZU August Lightning Complex fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “A lot of the fire weakened trees are beginning to fall,” Mark Brunton, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Friday. “There’s a lot of fire-weakened trees in there…”
The March Tornadoes devastated Middle Tennessee, destroying homes, businesses and uprooting trees. One local organization’s goal is to replace some of what was lost. The Nashville Tree Conservation Corps has been working to replace trees that were uprooted by this year’s severe weather events. Since March, the Corps has been working hard to replace the trees destroyed in many Nashville neighborhoods. News 2 spoke to Jim Gregory, Chair of the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps, about their efforts. “By November, there will be six semi-truckloads of trees coming into Nashville. The majority of those have already been delivered. Due to a very generous contribution from Hale and Hines Nursery, we were able to move 1,000 trees, four semi-truck loads of trees, within 45 days…”
CBC/Radio Canada, August 31, 2020: Deadly affliction in elm trees creeps into Alberta
Two cases of a disease fatal to elm trees were recently discovered in Lethbridge. Dutch elm disease is a fungus and will kill an elm if infected, says Janet Feddes-Calpas, executive director of the Society to Prevent Dutch Elm Disease, a non-profit organization. The disease has killed millions of trees in North America since it was discovered on the continent nearly 100 years ago. And until now, Alberta had successfully kept out the disease, with only one previous case. That was in Wainwright in the late 1990s. But in early August, two elm trees growing side by side in Lethbridge tested positive for the fungus. Someone spotted the trees, which seemed to have the typical symptoms like wilting leaves and flagging, which is when the leaves on a whole branch turn yellow. “Because of the seriousness of the disease … those trees that were confirmed were removed and immediately buried,” said Feddes-Calpas. As to how the trees got infected, Feddes-Calpas says the affliction can spread from tree to tree by elm bark beetles or by root grass…
One of the city’s oldest trees will be removed from a downtown park this week, officials said Monday. According to a weekend post on a city social-media account, the tree was “has been sick with an incurable sulphur fungus that has spread throughout the tree, and will need to be removed.” The tree, a Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus, towers over a meadow within Lions Wayside Park, 4401 First St., in the city’s historic downtown. A 2013 city park and recreation commission agenda described the tree as the city’s largest, at over 100 feet tall and more than 33 feet in circumference. The park regularly hosts concerts, picnics, pet parades and other gatherings, drawing residents and visitors to relax underneath or near it over many year. Heritage trees, covered by the city’s tree preservation ordinance, are usually 55 inches or larger when measured 4.5 feet off the ground, or at least 35 feet in height, and can be any species and either publicly or privately owned…
Elise Scripps is worried about a tree. Eight years ago — before anyone imagined that California’s wildfires could get so bad — the San Jose naturalist volunteered as a docent at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, leading hikes around the Redwood Loop. The short trail near the visitor center was the park’s most popular attraction, and there Scripps introduced visitors to some of the region’s tallest and widest old-growth coast redwoods: the Mother of the Forest tree, a towering 293-footer, and the Father of the Forest tree, 251 feet tall and 18.47 feet across. It was Big Basin’s magnificent trees — the longest contiguous stand of old growth redwoods south of San Francisco — that in 1902 led to the formation of the state park, California’s first. Scripps loved every tree in the park, but one of her favorites wasn’t on the loop: the Auto tree. When the tours were over, she would sometimes visit the tree by herself. Estimated to be more than 1,500 years old, the Auto tree was one of the oldest trees in the park and it stretched 282 feet in the air from not just one but two trunks. Over time the tree had endured so many fires that its heartwood had burned out, leaving its interior hollow and distinguished by a large scar. It seemed miraculous to Scripps, but somehow the tree was still alive, and continued to grow. Even more amazing, the gap seemed to be shrinking over time, a tree healing its own wound. “It really embodied a redwood and its ability to triumph,” she says. “I loved walking into that tree and looking up.” Two weeks ago, lightning set off the largest conflagration in the region’s recorded history — the CZU Lightning August Complex fire. It tore across more than 83,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, leveling Big Basin’s historic headquarters, main lodge, ranger station and many other structures, and extending over all 18,000 acres of the park…
CNN, August 30, 2020: The bizarre story of a man who tried to murder a 600-year-old tree
In May 1989, a bizarre murder attempt in Austin, Texas, gripped the nation and made worldwide news. The details of the case were unusual, and unlike anything police had seen before. The victim? Austin’s oldest resident, a nearly 600-year-old tree known as Treaty Oak. Treaty Oak is a spectacular specimen. It is centuries older than the city it resides in and stretches out to a spread of nearly 100 feet. In the 1920s, the American Forestry Association named the Treaty Oak the most perfect specimen of a tree in North America. And thanks to a citywide fundraiser in the 1930s, the tree even owns the park it lives on. “Certainly there are not many trees, not just in Austin or in Texas, but in the world, that own their own land,” said John Giedraitis, Austin’s first city forester. When Giedraitis took on his role as a forester with the parks department in 1985, he was well acquainted with the Treaty Oak. “Well, certainly we had several historic trees in Austin … but the most important tree was Treaty Oak,” he said. Native American tribes, including the Tonkawa and the Comanche, believed the tree was sacred. Students would take field trips to the Treaty Oak every year, and residents found shade and comfort under its cover during the heat of the summer. And for Giedraitis, the tree holds an even closer place in his heart. “When I decided to propose to my wife, I proposed under the Treaty Oak,” he said. So, when evidence of criminality against the tree surfaced, Giedraitis could not understand why anyone would harm such a beloved piece of Texas history…
So many bad things are happening in the environment that the sight of what looks like huge balls of cotton candy all over some trees feels like the latest new disaster. But don’t fret: They’re routine and not as bad as they look. These aren’t gypsy moths or tent caterpillars, both of which can kill trees. These are fall webworms, whose nest are ugly but almost never a real problem. There’s certainly no need to spend money on pesticides, which probably wouldn’t penetrate the webs even if you tried. “Don’t panic” is the succinct advice from UNH Cooperative Extension in its online page about fall webworms. It explains that these are moth caterpillars, part of a complicated lifecycle. The moths hatch in mid- to late-July and the larvae crawl up the tree and eat leaves for a while inside a silky home they weave to protect themselves, then make a cocoon and spend the winter as pupae in the soil. In early summer the moths emerge, find a mate and lay eggs, which hatch soon afterward and start the cycle over again. The best bet if you hate the sight of the webs is to pull them down with a rake or a pole. Even better, says Co-op Extension: “Treat yourself to a hot cup of coffee and let birds, insect predators and internal parasites keep fall webworms in check,” although poking a couple of holes in a web can help those predators get in. No action is really needed because, despite an alarming appearance, the webs do little harm. Webworms appear late in summer, after trees have already stored much of the energy they need for winter and they are native to the area so that our forests have learned to live with them…
Bloomberg City Lab, August 28, 2020: Can Planting Trees Make a City More Equitable?
As the U.S. grapples with natural disasters and racial injustice, one coalition of U.S. cities, companies and nonprofits sees a way to make an impact on both fronts: trees. Specifically, they committed to planting and restoring 855 million of them by 2030 as part of the Trillion Trees Initiative, a global push to encourage reforestation to capture carbon and slow the effects of global heating. Announced on Thursday, it’s the first nationwide pledge to the program, and additionally noteworthy because the U.S. group — which includes Microsoft Corp. and Mastercard Inc. — will focus on urban plantings as means of improving air quality in communities that have been disproportionately affected by pollution and climate change. “We’re passionate about urban forestry and the goal of tree equity,” says Jad Daley, president and chief executive officer of American Forests, the longtime conservation group that’s helped organize the pledge. “It’s not just about more trees in cities. If you show me a map of tree cover in any city, you’re showing me a map of race and income levels. We see this as nothing less than a moral imperative…”
An acorn took root, perhaps sometime around the founding of the republic, and grew into an oak tree that survived this country’s most storied events: wars, droughts and economic depressions, not to mention enormous amounts of development in southern Passaic County. The massive oak, however, met its match when Isaias blew through this month and snapped the tree in two. Its loss did not go unmourned. The Rev. Michael Lombardo of Wayne’s Our Lady of Consolation Church had a 56-year history with the tree, which for as long he can remember towered over the family home. Lombardo’s family moved to Totowa in 1964 after buying the house at the corner of Willard Avenue and Totowa Road. It helped cool the house in summer, its massive arms providing shade. Its loss was a loss for his family and the surrounding neighborhood…
COVID-19 outbreaks popping up in farms across rural North Carolina struck the small town of Sparta in the state’s northwestern corner and resulted in the single largest outbreak in Alleghany County. With 112 cases as of Tuesday, Bottomley Evergreens & Farms also has the biggest outbreak among farmworkers housed by farmers during the season, workers who are brought from Mexico with H-2A visas for temporary agricultural work. That’s more than a quarter of the farm’s nearly 400 workers. The outbreak is included along with 10 other farms in the list of congregate living facilities with active outbreaks maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. Alleghany County had fewer than 70 cases at the end of July, until the virus broke out at the Bottomley Christmas tree farm, which employs nearly 400 workers. As of Monday, the county now has 180 cases. “It’s not particularly surprising where you’ve got such a large group of workers and essentially sharing housing spaces,” said Justin Flores, vice president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, the state’s only farmworker union. “…With just one or a few cases, it would pretty rapidly spread cases, and especially (when) you have folks that are either asymptomatic or not having severe enough symptoms to raise big flags…”
A tree service vehicle caught wires on Route 50 in the Town of Ballston Wednesday and brought down a utility pole Wednesday afternoon. A Wade’s Tree Service vehicle failed to lower its boom arm when exiting a work site on Route 50 near the intersections of McCrea Hill Road and Meadowbrook in the Town of Ballston. The arm became entangled in the overhead wires and brought down a nearby utility pole. The traffic signal at the intersection of Outlet Road and Route 50 was out of service due to the accident. A spokesperson for National Grid said no customers were impacted by the accident and crews were working at the scene. The repairs were expected to be completed by 7 p.m. Wednesday evening…
A ginkgo tree outside the president’s house at Cornell College — older than the school itself — suffered a severe hit in last week’s derecho storm. According to the Cornell Report, the college’s alumni magazine, at one time the 85-foot ginkgo was dubbed a “State Champion tree … the largest reported of (its) species in the State of Iowa” by the Iowa Conservation Commission. The facilities team at Cornell believes the ginkgo lost about half its body in the storm. Tree experts will examine whether it can remain. Jill Hawk, public relations director at Cornell, said that 10 companies currently are working to make repairs to campus. The college made the decision to delay the start of classes by two weeks, until Sept. 7. “While the storm damaged more than 100 trees, many of which will need to be removed, several of our largest tree specimens appear, for now, to have minimal damage,” Hawk said. “That includes the massive cottonwood just in front of King Chapel and the white ash, which was #5 in the state in height before they stopped keeping track — just below the cottonwood on the hill. Also standing is the blue spruce that was the state’s third-largest tree of its kind, a huge knotted redbud, and a stand of four huge larch trees lining First Street in front of the Scott Alumni Center…”
A group of neighbors rescued an 80-year-old woman Sunday morning from her Framingham home after a massive tree crashed through its roof and trapped her inside, officials said. Teddy Quintal was having brunch in his home around 10:45 a.m. when he heard a loud crash next door at 37 Rockridge Road. “We had very little understanding of what caused it until we saw the tree on the house,” Quintal said. “I ran over right away.” An oak tree that was abut 100 feet tall had toppled onto a one-story house, trapping the home’s lone occupant inside. Quintal tried to get to the front door, but it was blocked by damage from the tree. He ran around to the back of the house and looked in through the windows, yelling to get someone’s attention. “That’s when I saw her moving inside. She was a little disoriented because of the impact,” Quintal said. Three more neighbors rushed down the street to help. Quintal said he ran back to his house and grabbed masks for everyone to wear before helping his neighbors pull the woman out through a window…
Phys.org, August 17, 2020: Scientists unlock Alpine trees’ molecular defence
Needle bladder rust causes Norway spruce needles to yellow and fall out, causing a significant reduction in growth. Scientists in Austria have unlocked a natural defence mechanism that the species can use to fend off the potentially fatal pathogen. The findings have been published in the BMC Genomics journal. Disease is one of the major threats facing trees around the globe, especially in a warming world where many organisms are finding themselves living in an environment in which they are under increasing levels of stress. It is widely predicted that invasive pathogens, and the insects that can spread them, are expected to thrive in a world experiencing climate change. In evolutionary terms, harmful pathogens developed alongside plants’ attempts to protect themselves, creating a multi-millennia cold war between biological kingdoms…
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 17, 2020: Could trees live forever? Scientists disagree
Trees do not pay taxes. Some seem to avoid death as well. Many of the world’s most ancient organisms are trees, including a 3,600-year-old cypress in Chile and a sacred fig in Sri Lanka that was planted in the third century B.C. But a paper published in the journal Trends in Plant Science — “Long-Lived Trees Are Not Immortal” — argues that even the most venerable trees have physiological limits. Sergi Munné-Bosch, a plant biologist at the University of Barcelona, wrote the article in response to a January study on ginkgo trees, which can live for more than 1,000 years. The study found that 600-year-old ginkgos are as reproductively and photosynthetically vigorous as their 20-year-old peers. Genetic analysis of the trees’ vascular cambium — a thin layer of cells that lies just underneath the bark and creates new tissue — showed “no evidence of senescence,” or cell death. Munné-Bosch said he found the paper “very interesting,” but disagreed with the study as interpreted in popular media. “In my opinion at least, there is no immortality,” he said. Those tree species that can live for millenniums have simple body plans and develop modularly, so they can replace parts they lose. They build on their own dead tissue, which provides support and volume at a low metabolic cost. The trunk of a very old tree might be 95% dead, Munné-Bosch said…
Researchers in the Which Plant Where project based at Western Sydney University have assessed the physiological tolerance of five key urban tree species across four geographic locations as part of efforts to select species that are more likely to cope with heat and drought as they mature over the next decades. The five species identified—Lophostemon confertus (Brush Box/Queensland Box), Celtis australis (Nettle Tree), Cupaniopsis anarcardioides (Tuckeroo), Eucalyptus microcorys (Tallowwood) and Tristaniopsis laurina (Watergum)—represent commonly-planted tree in urban Australia and are from different backgrounds and locations of origin. According to Dr. Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez, lead author of the research at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, these key species could support significant efforts underway to increase the use of climate-ready tree species that will thrive in an increasingly warm and drier future. “We measure a species’ adaptiveness to heat and drought through measures such as leaf turgor, wood density, isotopic carbon analysis and leaf area,” said Dr. Esperon-Rodriguez. “Interestingly, the exotic and cooler-climate origin species such as Celtis and Tristaniopsis showed greater ‘plasticity’ under warmer conditions than the species that actually evolved in warmer climates such as Eucalyptus and Cupaniopsis. Plasticity is a term that refers to a species’ ability to modify its functions or features that show potential for better coping with the warmer and drier conditions, and could mean they are actually better suited to future climates,” Dr. Esperon-Rodriguez said…
Chicago, Illinois, Sun-Times, August 16, 2020: Trees: What to do after the storm hits
The ‘derecho’ storm that hit Chicago Monday felled thousands of trees, leaving downed trunks and limbs scattered across yards, streets and sidewalks. Afterward, 5,600 emergency calls were placed to the city’s Bureau of Forestry, according to Deputy Commissioner of Streets and Sanitation Malcolm Whiteside. The forestry bureau is part of that department. Many homeowners may still wonder about what’s next — how to remove the trees, what to do about broken limbs still teetering in the branches, how to save damaged trees, or how to replace their favorite maple. Where does my private land end, and public land begin? And how does this affect how I deal with storm-damaged trees around me? Although it’s clear the street is public land and your yard is private, the interactions between private and public land and property beyond that get trickier. The sidewalk and the parkway — that patch of land between the sidewalk and the street— are public land. However, as homeowner, it’s your job to mow the parkway and keep the sidewalk clear (shoveling snow, for instance). But if a tree falls there, you can call 311 to ask the city remove it because the tree is public property…
St. Louis, Missouri, Post-Dispatch, August 16, 2020: Apple tree holes could be insect or woodpecker
Q: I have a red delicious apple tree that I have never sprayed. It has needed protection; it’s just that I did not have the time to devote to it. I would want to use an OMRI listed spray. Parts of the tree are dying. If one examines the trunk, there are holes bored into it, going around the full circle of it. A recent storm brought down most of the dead limbs, and it’s clear that our tree needs help. One limb came directly off the trunk, where there is now a large area that my neighbor said might need to be painted with a special protectant. Is there anything that you can tell me from this brief description?
A: Insects (borers, specifically) might be the cause of the holes in the trunk, but the holes they produce in tree trunks are entirely at random. If the holes you are seeing are arranged in more or less circular, geometrical patterns, then they are caused by yellow-bellied sapsuckers, a secretive, migratory woodpecker that passes through Missouri in spring and autumn on its way to and from its northern breeding grounds. It’s a good practice to remove dead wood, and pruning dead wood can be done anytime. It would be more effective to spray the wound caused by storm damage with an insecticide, rather than painting with a wound sealer, as those particular products are no longer recommended…
The National Weather Service says there may be an “interesting phenomenon” affecting Long Island trees in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias. A photo taken on the south shore of Long Island on Saturday shows several trees and bushes with withered and brown leaves on one side and normal green on the other. “You can very clearly see that much of the south side of the vegetation looks as if it has progressed into late autumn with much of it turning brown. However, the north side of the trees and the bushes are still green!” the weather service tweeted along with the photo. What could cause this to happen? According to the NWS, the powerful wind produced by Isaias — with gusts up to 70 mph in some areas — caused ocean spray containing sea salt to blow onto the south side of plants and trees along the island’s south shore…
The Mud Volcano thermal area is one of the more exciting places in Yellowstone because gas that discharges there has the most magmatic character of any thermal area in the region. In addition to fumaroles, the area contains a variety of other degassing features such as mud pots, steaming ground, and pools of bubbling water. At some pools the bubbling action is simply the result of boiling as liquid water transforms into steam. Other pools are cooler and exhibit vigorous degassing, and the water surface churns and splashes. This roiling action is due to gas forcefully discharging from vents at the bottom of the pool. The gas is a mixture of many components but primarily contains carbon dioxide (CO2). During the growing season trees take up CO2 from the air and use it along with water and light energy to create new wood. In winter months at Yellowstone the trees go dormant and wood production stops. The process begins anew in the spring when a new layer of wood starts to form. The character of this early wood is different from the wood in the later part of the growing season and makes a distinctive band called a growth ring. Since each ring generally indicates a single year of growth (although sometimes two rings, or none, are possible), it is possible to use tree rings to see how trees grew over time, and how they were affected by environmental conditions like fire, drought, and even volcanic gases…
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gazette, August 13, 2020: The derecho’s calling card, a tangle of trees
We take the trees for granted. Sure, in the spring when they leaf out or bloom we take some notice. And in the fall when they paint the landscape we enjoy the show. But this time of year they tend to fade into the background, a canopy of late summer green that goes unnoticed, unless we have to mow around them. Then came Monday and The Storm. Trees all around us were bent, broken, splintered, stripped and pulled out by their roots. They were twisted and smashed in our favorite parks. They fell dead in cemeteries and littered the fairways of golf courses. Trees whipped by 100 mile-per-hour gusts snapped power lines, blocked streets and fell on homes they had shaded for decades. In the middle of a pandemic, at a time when many of us have found solace outdoors, the derecho closed our parks, trails and even sidewalks. Thanks again, 2020. For all of the human and economic tragedies that accompanied the storm, from missing roofs to flattened crops, and the hardships that have followed, it’s the downed trees that are the calling card of this disaster. Everywhere you look there are trees destroyed or badly damaged, and branches piled high by homeowners trying to recover from nature’s madness. Shredded leaves are plastered everywhere…
A Modesto family says their homeowner’s insurance is dropping their coverage over a city tree, so they called Kurtis. The insurance company doesn’t like the branches hanging over the roof. When we called the city, they went out and inspected the property. The city said the trees are pruned properly, and if the insurance company needs them pruned further, they can apply for a permit to trim it themselves. “This just isn’t fair, and I don’t understand,” said Corrine Sawyer. “They’re city trees. These are their trees” said her sister, Shelley Farmer. The city of Modesto said it has 81,000 trees to maintain and a limited budget, admitting on average, each tree gets pruned once every 11 years. But if the city learns of a safety hazard, they said they’ll usually prune within a day or so. The city has agreed to talk with the family’s insurance company and explain the trees are not a hazard. We’ll see how the insurance company responds. The city issued the following statement: “The City maintains approximately 81,000 trees and our current cycle for maintaining (pruning) each tree is about 11 years; this is not acceptable, but our limited budget and resources simply does not allow for us to maintain trees more often. On the other hand, when we receive an inspection request, we get out to the trees sooner. If a tree poses a safety hazard, we prune as soon as possible, likely within a day or so…
A camera inside a Florida man’s truck captured a bolt of lightning striking a nearby palm tree – and it wasn’t even raining. Jonathan Moore was working Monday afternoon in Lutz, a suburb of Tampa, when the lightning bolt struck a tree about 75-feet away. A loud boom can be heard in the video moments before the strike, which caused a single limb to fall. Meteorologists said storms were in the forecast, but skies were blue at the time of the strike. Lightning is common during thunderstorms, but what about in seemingly clear, blue skies? Experts call this occurrence a “bolt from the blue.” According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, a bolt from the blue is a flash from the side of thunderstorm clouds that travels a relatively long distance into the clear skies, and then angles down before striking the ground. These lightning flashes can travel several miles away from the thunderstorm…
A Norfolk neighborhood says the city is neglecting its responsibility to keep trees on the right-of-way pruned so they don’t hit houses. It is a particular problem in the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Residents complained about a tree that is clearly on the right-of-way, touching the home, complained and nothing happened. 10 On Your Side viewer Joe Ritchie is fed up. “This is a huge tree right here next to me. It’s on city property. The branches behind me cover power lines, and there’s also rats in the tree going up the tree to my neighbor’s apartment,” he said. What got Ritchie thinking was when he and others called the city to complain to prune back the trees for the next big storm, they got what has been described by the city as a standard return letting them know “estimated timeline for completion is 547 business days.” A year and a half. “You got to be kidding me. We pay taxes. I pay mine on time, and I know there’s a budget for it,” Ritchie said…
Last month, Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, was quoted by a local newspaper as saying: “We maintain an inefficient tree-trimming system, lose trees due to disease and opaque removal processes, and reinforce long-standing inequities in the delivery of city services.” Waguespack was piggybacking on a 2019 report by City Inspector General Joe Ferguson that said the city could save up to 60% on the average cost of trimming a tree. Waguespack and Aldermen George Cardenas, 12th, and Samantha Nugent, 39th, want to create a board to run a better forestry program. So where are the aldermen now? Here’s a novel idea: How about the three of them take a walk out their front doors and look at the devastation caused by Monday’s storm. Maybe talk to their constituents. Who has been out there cleaning up their wards? Must be the men and women of those “inefficient” city crews. Right, aldermen? Men and women who have been working 16-hour days. Who have been using heavy, high-powered chain saws, chippers and lifts to cut and remove trees blocking streets all across the city. Who are exhausted but still on the job because they are dedicated to the city they live in and work for. That’s right — every one of them lives in Chicago. They are not out-of-town contractors who have no stake in the city except on pay day. And, speaking of that, maybe someone should explain to the aldermen how the union that represents these men and women won the work several years back because city forestry workers come substantially cheaper than any private contractor…
As trees and limbs came crashing down across the metro during Monday’s storm, one homeowner had a close call but remains worried it could happen again. Near 41st and Decatur Streets, Kathleen Glover was left shaken but not surprised by the fast-moving storm. “I knew the minute I heard that big ole crack, it had to be one of these trees,” she said. Dangerous cottonwoods stand on the vacant lot next door and two years ago falling branches damaged her home. Then Monday’s near-miss left her feeling lucky — and angry. “If you can’t be responsible then stop buying lots because it’s not fair to the person that’s got a house in between or a house on the side,” she said. Three years ago, the city sent violation notices to the property owner Orchard Hill Neighborhood Association which led to tree trimming but not removal. The Mammel Foundation purchased a dozen empty lots with plans to revitalize the neighborhood. Nancy Mammel said she didn’t know about the city orders or the mess left in Kathleen’s yard Monday. “I want this cleaned up, and I want my front yard restored the way it was,” Kathleen said…
Whenever we see wildfires in California, the biggest priority is always to save lives and property but for the Apple Fire, there was an unusual challenge: to save what some call a “national treasure”. It’s called the Champion Oak Tree and the name says it all. The tree is estimated to be between 800 and 1,000 years old and it almost didn’t make it another year but thanks to a special crew, it lives on. “They were going up to save the largest oak tree in North America,” Tim Krantz, the Botanic Garden Director at Oak Glen preserve, said. Krantz said when he woke up and saw the flames moving toward the tree, he “knew right away what we had to do.” Of course, he needed a team. A group of 30 inmates was assembled to help Krantz with the task. “It was a special crew, it was a convict crew.” They had no idea what they were getting into when it came to the hike to get there. “It’s 3,000 feet of vertical,” Krantz said. “It’s a 45 degree angle and we hit that slope at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, full sun.” The fire crew was lugging chainsaws, fuel, picks, shovels and more in full fire gear. “The guys get to the base of the tree and look up, it’s 43 feet in circumference, about 100 feet high and 100 feet wide,” he said. With the fire quickly approaching and water drops just a hundred meters up the slope from them, the team got to work…
Geoffrey Donovan says trees can help Portland fight crime. He realizes that might sound peculiar. But with the city locked in debates over police funding and gripped by a wave of gun violence, any relief would be welcome. And Donovan, a Portland research forester with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has conducted several studies showing a correlation between a neighborhood’s tree canopy and its crime rates. “Trees signal that a neighborhood is well cared for,” Donovan tells WW. “Neighborhoods that show signs of disorder send a subliminal signal. Buildings that had more trees around them had less crime.”And guess what East Portland lacks? Trees. Citywide, about one third of Portland is covered with trees. More specifically: 30.7% of the city has what experts call canopy coverage. This is measured by looking down from a bird’s-eye view at the top of the tree and measuring how far the leaves span out in all directions. But this canopy coverage is not distributed equally. Between 2010 and 2016, Portland Parks & Recreation conducted an inventory of streetside and park trees in most Portland neighborhoods. Outside of natural areas like Powell Butte, not a single neighborhood listed in the inventory report east of 82nd Avenue meets the 30.7% average citywide canopy coverage. The East Portland neighborhood with the highest percentage of canopy coverage is Powellhurst-Gilbert at 27%. The lowest in outer East Portland is Argay Terrace, at 13%. These neighborhoods also have a high population of low-income residents and people of color…
Juan Betancur walked around his Jamaica, Queens, home in a state of disbelief – disbelief that a city crew had actually shown up to deal with a massive oak tree that crashed his roof during Tropical Storm Isaias last week. Because when he tried calling 311 – and he did repeatedly – he got the brush off. The proverbial municipal cold shoulder, reported CBS2’s Marcia Kramer. By the city’s own admission there are sill thousands like Juan Betancur waiting for help. “We had called them three or four times a day. All you get is a report,” Betancur said. The report said they would be updated in 23 days. That’s 23 days with a hole in the roof and no way to fix it, and since it was a city tree, the city has to remove it or insurance won’t cover it. “I couldn’t believe it: 23 days. Unheard of when you’re living with your roof on the floor and thunderstorms are coming,” Betancur said. A spokesman for the Parks Department told CBS2 the agency received 21,000 calls for help after the storm, more than they receive in four entire months. They say 75% have been addressed, but that leaves over 5,000 people who still need help. Kramer demanded answers from Mayor Bill de Blasio. She told the mayor about 311’s cold shoulder. “He’s been having difficulty getting 311 to take his call, but they finally said we can’t get there for 23 days,” Kramer said. “Can you help this man? We sent a picture of the damage to your staff…”
A Lawrence man is facing a federal hate crime charge for allegedly using racial intimidation against a neighbor, who is Black. According to a news release from the Department of Justice, 50-year-old Shephard Hoehn became angry when a construction crew started removing a tree from the neighbor’s property on June 18. Hoehn, who is white, is accused of doing the following in an effort to intimidate the neighbor: placing a burning cross above the fence line and facing the neighbor’s property, displaying a swastika on the fence, displaying a machete next to the swastika, displaying a sign with a “variety of anti-Black racial slurs,” and loudly playing the song “Dixie” on repeat, according to the news release. FBI agents searched Hoehn’s home in July and said they found firearms and drug paraphernalia. They also learned he is a fugitive from a case in Missouri and not allowed to possess firearms, according to the release…
A small Staten Island neighborhood suffered the consequences of fallen trees after Tropical Storm Isaias last week despite years of raising their arboreal concerns with the city. Going back to 2010, residents of Talbot Place and Norwood Avenue in Clifton have placed 56 calls to 311 to complain about trees, according to city records. Two of those calls came shortly after Isaias brought down a large tree near the corner of those two streets. In total, the 56 complaints come from 22 addresses on the two blocks that account for less than half a mile of street. The fallen tree caused by Isaias damaged a home and downed power lines causing outages in the area. Multiple 311 complaints dating back to 2010 had been filed regarding street trees at the location of the damaged home. A spokesman for the city Department of Parks and Recreation, which is responsible for street tree care and maintenance, said the fallen tree had last been inspected July 7 and determined to be in “fair condition.” A 311 complaint from July 4 described a tree at the location as having a “branch crack” adding that it “will fall…”
Our neighbor for years has had a very tall, unkempt tree. It just fell on our yard, and caused plenty of damage. He is liable, right?
-C.D., Fountain Valley
A: Knee-jerk reaction: of course he is liable. More studied analytical response: Are you sure that is his tree? In California, the location of the trunk determines ownership; if it started out wholly on his property but the trunk had since extended to your side as well, there may be a level of shared ownership. Assuming the trunk is on his land only, did it fall of its own accord, or did intense weather blow it over, thereby raising an issue of “Act of God,” which could possibly absolve the neighbor of liability? A pragmatic suggestion: Contact your homeowner’s insurance company; if the neighbor is uncooperative, the insurer may fix things and go after the neighbor for reimbursement.
Q: Can we trim the branches from the tree next door that hangs far over our property? We have asked several times but have gotten nowhere
A: The answer to this question, like the first inquiry, seems basic common sense: If their tree is hanging over your yard and causing a nuisance, you should be able to trim it back, particularly when you have asked the neighbor to do so to no avail. The case law, however, has made this a little trickier than otherwise: You do not have an unconditional right to cut the encroaching limbs because you have to take into consideration the health of the tree. Bottom line: you have to act reasonably. You should not take actions that so harms the tree it cannot recover. Do what is needed, but make sure it does not harm or destroy the tree. If you cause injury to the tree, it may result in your being held accountable for at least the amount of harm caused thereby…
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must hire new tree-trimming supervisors, improve records about the age of risky electrical equipment and bolster the way it inspects high-voltage power lines under a recent order from a federal judge. U.S. District Judge William Alsup imposed the mandates Friday as additional conditions on PG&E’s probation arising from the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion. It comes after months of back-and-forth among Alsup, PG&E and others as the judge sought further ways to help prevent the company from starting more major wildfires, such as those sparked by its equipment over the past five years. Alsup’s latest decision replaces an earlier and stricter order that could have made PG&E hire many more inspectors and force contractors who work on transmission towers to carry enough insurance to “cover losses suffered by the public should their inspections be deficient and thereby start a wildfire.” PG&E urged Alsup to reconsider that decision and proposed a more modest set of conditions in June after conferring with federal prosecutors and the company’s court-appointed monitor. Friday’s order adopts those conditions in full…
The extent of Southeast Michigan’s tree canopy and its urban sprawl both increased between 1985 and 2015, according to a new University of Michigan study that used aerial photos and satellite images to map individual buildings and small patches of street trees. The researchers described the increase in forested area across the region as a positive finding. But their analysis also revealed that the region’s forested lands grew increasingly fragmented due mainly to increased urban sprawl, interfering with the ability of plants and animals to disperse across the landscape. “Our results show that the forested landscapes of Southeast Michigan appear more fragmented and less cohesive in areas experiencing urban sprawl, in accordance with findings worldwide,” said study lead author Dimitrios Gounaridis, a postdoctoral research fellow at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability’s Urban Sustainability Research Group. “We found that low-density single-family housing, in particular, had a detrimental effect on the functionality of adjacent forested landscapes,” he said. “And the distance to these built-up patches appears to be a factor in determining the magnitude of the impact…”
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed in March over the clear cutting of trees from a site where Costco plans to building a new store. In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Mae D’Agostino concluded that the nearby residents who sued Pyramid Corp. over the tree cutting failed to show that Town Planning Director Kenneth Kovalchik was not within his authority to allow the March 26 harvest. Within hours of getting the go-ahead, crews cleared trees from 2.5 acres of land next to Crossgates Mall. After residents alerted Town Supervisor Peter Barber later that day, however, he imposed a cease-and-desist order since the area was supposed to be undergoing an environmental review. The site, owned by Crossgates Mall owner Pyramid Co., is slated to house a Costco store. Another nearby site is also set to be developed into a 222-unit apartment complex. It would be the first time the wildly popular Costco opened one of its warehouse stores in the Capital Region. Both are next to the mall on Western Avenue. Residents Thomas and Lisa Hart and Kevin and Sarah McDonald as well as Red Kap Sales, which operates a nearby gas station, alleged that Pyramid violated the federal Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, as well as the state Environmental Quality Review Act, when the trees were cut down…
New York City, Patch, August 10, 2020: Cuomo Threatens PSEG License
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday threatened to revoke the licenses of two major New York utilities in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias, which left hundreds of thousands in the dark for days. Additionally, he said more than 100 school districts have not submitted plans to reopen in the fall and will not be allowed to if they fail to submit them. Cuomo’s news conference came as about 73,000 homes and businesses in New York were still without power Monday, including 25,000 on Long Island and 20,000 in the Hudson Valley. PSEG and Con Edison did a “lousy job” preparing for the tropical storm, Cuomo said. Isaias lashed the region Tuesday, downing, uprooting and toppling numerous trees, many of which were massive and stood for decades. On Long Island, over 400,000 people had no power in the days following the storm. Cuomo said the state’s Public Service Commission is investigating the utilities’ response to the storm and is still obtaining the facts about what happened. But even so, he stressed he was “personally disappointed with them,” and that he has instructed the commission to be “as aggressive as the law will allow.” This includes levying fines, penalties and ordering restitution. “Because New Yorkers are fed up,” Cuomo said. The essential service of a utility is preparing for and recovering from major storms, he said…
How much is a tree worth? More than $75,000, one Port Richmond property owner contends. The owner, 88 Cortlandt LLC, is suing K&J Landscaping & Tree Service, alleging the company destroyed a tree on its land while working on an adjoining property. 88 Cortlandt is not only suing K&J for the tree’s purported worth, but for an additional $10,000 to restore its property. And, the plaintiff maintains, it’s entitled to triple damages under state law, raising the demand to more than $255,000. Add in $100,000 for a civil trespassing claim, and the total amount of damages sought is $355,000. Recently filed in state Supreme Court, St. George, the suit stems from an incident that allegedly occurred sometime in May. According to a civil complaint, K&J was retained to do work on a neighboring property on Cortlandt Street. While in the process of doing so, company workers “cut, removed, injured and destroyed … a large tree which was located on plaintiff’s property,” the complaint alleges. The type of tree is not specified in the suit…
Salisbury, Maryland, Post, August 9, 2020: Fig trees are gaining popularity in home gardens
Many homes in Rowan County have included fig trees in their plantings to supplement their fresh produce. Most plants are located in a protected area such as a barn or against house or other buildings. Figs are gaining popularity as a small fruit in home gardens and often incorporated into landscapes. Growing figs in our area can be a challenge because of erratic weather patterns. Figs are actually considered a sub-tropical fruit and are often damaged when temperatures fall below 20 degrees. This fruit tree has done well this season with above-average summer temperatures and ample rainfall. “Celeste” is a hardy fig variety that is violet or light brown fruit containing strawberry pink pulp. The fruit can be enjoyed fresh or used or making fig jams or preserves. Celeste figs ripen in mid-July. “Brown Turkey” fig cultivar is another popular variety with light coppery brown skin and amber pulp. This popular bush produces a heavy crop of medium-sized fruit in August for fresh use and is also excellent for preserves. Brown Turkey also adapts well as a container plant…
The bright August sunlight revealed an arboreal massacre in downtown Washington’s largest park. Limbs were strewn about. The dead trees were left where they fell, or fed into a machine that shredded them into bits. Survivors stood silently by, some of them ominously marked with an “X” for possible removal. At the corner of 14th and K streets in Northwest, Franklin Square’s trees, many of them decades old, were being weeded out. And it was all part of a plan. For Franklin Square to be saved, much of it has to be destroyed, and 63 trees are going down with it. The square was fenced off in June for a long-planned year-long renovation — a $13.9 million joint project between D.C. and the National Park Service, which controls the five-acre parcel. With a pavilion, fountain, art exhibit space, children’s play area and public restrooms, officials say Franklin Square will no longer be just a place to wait for a bus but an outdoor destination like Manhattan’s Bryant Park. But first things first: The trees must come down…
The most common issues we find with overhead powerlines during home inspections are trees rubbing up against them and exposed connectors that present an immediate shock or electrocution hazard. When we find either one of these conditions, we recommend repair. The question that always follows is “Who’s responsible for that?” According to Xcel Energy, tree branches in contact with the overhead powerlines between the pole and house are the responsibility of the homeowner. Of course, this is only fair. Tree maintenance should be the responsibility of the homeowner, not the power company. Before trimming trees around overhead powerlines, you should contact the power company to have your service temporarily disconnected. The one exception is if a tree branch falls onto one of the overhead powerlines. If this happens, it’s considered an immediate safety hazard. Xcel Energy will take care of this issue at no charge to the owner…
With high winds and lashing rain, Tropical Storm Isaias pummeled Connecticut Tuesday afternoon, leaving more than 800,000 without power. Like Irene and Sandy in previous years, much of the damage came from trees and limbs uprooted or broken off by powerful winds that dropped power lines, smashed into homes and crushed cars or left driveways and roads impassable. With the winds abated and Connecticut residents left surveying the damage, police and fire departments are still urging caution. “Trees and wires are continuing to come down well after (Tuesday’s) storm. Some wires are not live, but others are, and there is no way to tell the difference between the two visually,” Bethel Police said in a Facebook post. If a tree falls on a house, immediately call 911, said Andrew Ellis, fire chief for Brookfield. Firefighters will check the damage, often with a municipal building inspector, to make sure it’s safe, he explained. If power and phone service are knocked out as well, he said residents should find a neighbor or someone else who can reach first responders. If a tree has come down on a homeowner’s property without taking any wires with it, whose responsibility is it? The answer is complicated…
If a neighbor’s tree falls on your house, what do you do? That’s the question many Long Island homeowners are facing in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias, which brought trees and branches crashing down onto homes and power lines when it swept across the region Tuesday. Local insurance experts — including a broker, adjuster and attorney — said the first step is to make sure the property is safe. Then photograph the damage, keep records of expenses and report the damage to your insurance company as soon as you can — since your insurer, not your neighbor’s, will handle the claim, the experts said. Insurance will typically cover tree removal if it causes structural damage or a safety problem such as a blocked driveway. But if the tree fell without causing damage, insurance typically will pay $500 to $1,000 for debris removal depending on the policy, and if there are additional costs it’s up to the neighbors to work out a deal to pay for them, said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group. She said a homeowner’s insurance rates typically would not rise as a result of one claim, but multiple claims could affect rates…
Chicago, Illinois, Tribune, August 6, 2020: Beloved ‘Keebler’ tree to come down in Western Springs
Western Springs officials know a new tree cannot replace residents’ beloved “Keebler” tree that will be removed as part of the reconstruction of Prospect Avenue, but they plan to help preserve their memories of the tree. Village officials became aware of the tree’s poor condition in May after they had a firm do a tree inventory. The firm rated the catalpa tree, estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old, on the corner of Prospect and Reid Street as a 5 on a scale of 1 to 6, where 6 is a dead tree. The low rating was based on the findings that 50 percent or more of the tree was dead wood and the tree trunk was basically hollow to the ground due to decay, said Casey Biernacki, Western Springs’ assistant director of municipal services.The tree has grown so that ComEd’s power lines run through the canopy. “The tree has undergone a lot of aggressive trimming from ComEd,” which the utility has the right to do, Biernacki said. “Over the last 50 to 70 years, it really has taken a beating from ComEd,” he said…
The destructive emerald ash borer continues its march across Upstate New York, appearing for the first time in the Adirondacks. The state Department of Environmental Conservation announced that the beetle that kills ash trees was found recently at the Warren County Canoe Launch, on the Schroon River in the town of Chester. “It’s very sad to hear that the emerald ash borer has reached Warren County,” Frank Thomas, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, said in a news release. “The spread of this invasive will be absolutely devastating to our ash trees and substantially degrade our beautiful forests.” New York has about 900 million ash trees, about 7% of all trees in the state. Ash comprise a smaller percentage of trees in the Adirondacks, DEC said. The borer has now been found in all but nine of Upstate New York counties. The emerald ash borer adult eats the leaves of the ash tree, then lays eggs just beneath the bark, starting at the top of the tree and working its way down. The tiny larvae eat their way around the tree just beneath the bark, killing the tree by cutting off the nutrients that are pulled from the roots into the canopy…
A roadblock near a local hospital prompting residents to take action; a Jeep crushed under an uprooted tree in Annadale, and thousands who remain without power Wednesday across Staten Island. Felled trees on property, streets and power lines continue to cause chaos after Isaias, and it’s so far been a joint effort including Con Edison, Emergency Management, the FDNY, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city’s Parks Department — and even residents — to navigate the situation. Said Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid Island): “We need as much help as we can,” he said. “We’ve got to get these trees out of the streets, out of wires that are dangerous.” More than 1,000 downed trees have been reported to 311 on Staten Island alone after Isaias swept through the borough, up from a total hovering around 900 as of 7 p.m. Tuesday. Many of them uprooted by what’s been described as the strongest wind gusts since Hurricane Sandy…
Across the region, cleanup is underway following Tropical Storm Isaias, and many home and car owners are dealing with the aftermath of downed trees. If you’ve experienced tree-related damage, Eyewitness News has information on filing an insurance claim for repairs. There’s always a lot of confusion when it comes to these types of claims so here’s what you need to know. Trees down in yards, on houses and on top of cars — it’s inevitable after a powerful storm. But what’s covered by your insurance and what’s not depends on a number of factors. If your tree falls on your house, your insurance company will pay for the removal of the tree from your home and repairs to your home. If your tree falls on your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s homeowner policy is going to be responsible. It’s considered an act of God and your neighbors should file a claim with their insurance company and vice versa…
The National Interest, August 5, 2020: Can Infested Trees Be Repurposed as a Building Material?
A large portion of North America’s 8.7 billion ash trees are now infested by a beetle called the emerald ash borer. Since its discovery in the U.S. in 2002, the emerald ash borer has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees, drastically transforming entire forest ecosystems in the process. As of October 2018, infestations have been found in 35 U.S. states and several Canadian provinces. Ash wood is used as a material for furniture, flooring and baseball bats, and in the past, was used in heavy timber construction. The larvae of the emerald ash borer hatch underneath the tree’s bark, which hinders the plant’s ability to transport nutrients throughout its trunk, causing it to decay. The infestation has left arborists, researchers and scientists scrambling to find a way to slow the spread or repurpose the infested trees. With emerald ash borers creeping into Cornell University’s Arnot Research Forest in upstate New York, we wanted to see if we could figure out a method to make use of dying ash trees as building material…
North Platte, Nebraska, Telegraph, August 5, 2020: How to help lonely trees in modern landscapes
In our modern landscapes, trees often get planted as lone individuals surrounded by a sea of lawn. This is less than ideal for trees — and vice-versa. Trees typically grow in forests where little grass is present. When trees are placed in lawns and those lawns are excessively fussed over (and we Americans love to fuss over our lawns) trees can be sitting ducks for such things as mower and trimmer damage as well as herbicide injury. Another issue is underground as tree roots and lawn roots don’t always mix well. Lawn soils are often wet and compacted which favors grasses while tree roots prefer loose soils rich in microbial and fungal life. This is too bad, because we can have both a nice, highly-functional lawn and healthy trees if we do it right. One place to start is by surrounding trees with companion plantings that create an island of landscape. Trees in landscape beds will suffer fewer conflicts with lawn care and the soils typically become more bioactive and sustaining for the trees and the other companion plants that share the rooting zone. Tree islands can be small — such as a few perennials or groundcovers in the mulch ring around the tree. But generally speaking, the larger they are the more benefits they provide. Good companion plants include shrubs of all kinds, as well as many perennials, ornamental grasses and various groundcovers. When the trees are young, the companion plants should be sun-loving. But as the trees grow, the companion plantings can transition to more shade-tolerant types…
After numerous trees were cut prematurely, a cease and desist order was recently issued to the developers of the future Bow Lane apartment complex behind Bedford High School. In addition to clearing trees on the site prior to final planning board approval, the limits of the clearing exceeded what was conditionally granted by town planners. “A letter of violation and a cease and desist order was issued to the property owners and all construction activity at this time has stopped at the site,” said Planning Director Becky Hebert. “ … At this point, construction can’t begin again until we have an amended site plan that proposes some restoration and revegetation of the areas that have been cleared.” One year ago, despite a petition with more than 1,100 opponents, developers Dick Anagnost and Bill Greiner received conditional approval to construct three, three-story apartment buildings behind the high school — a controversial project that was debated for more than a year and will result in 93 workforce housing apartment units…
Yahoo.com, August 4, 2020: Making the most of a tree epidemic
A large portion of North America’s 8.7 billion ash trees are now infested by a beetle called the emerald ash borer. Since its discovery in the U.S. in 2002, the emerald ash borer has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees, drastically transforming entire forest ecosystems in the process. As of October 2018, infestations have been found in 35 U.S. states and several Canadian provinces. Ash wood is used as a material for furniture, flooring and baseball bats, and in the past, was used in heavy timber construction. The larvae of the emerald ash borer hatch underneath the tree’s bark, which hinders the plant’s ability to transport nutrients throughout its trunk, causing it to decay. The infestation has left arborists, researchers and scientists scrambling to find a way to slow the spread or repurpose the infested trees. With emerald ash borers creeping into Cornell University’s Arnot Research Forest in upstate New York, we wanted to see if we could figure out a method to make use of dying ash trees as building material…
Phys.org, August 4, 2020: In a warming world, New England’s trees are storing more carbon
Climate change has increased the productivity of forests, according to a new study that synthesizes hundreds of thousands of carbon observations collected over the last quarter century at the Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site, one of the most intensively studied forests in the world. The study, published today in Ecological Monographs, reveals that the rate at which carbon is captured from the atmosphere at Harvard Forest nearly doubled between 1992 and 2015. The scientists attribute much of the increase in storage capacity to the growth of 100-year-old oak trees, still vigorously rebounding from colonial-era land clearing, intensive timber harvest, and the 1938 Hurricane—and bolstered more recently by increasing temperatures and a longer growing season due to climate change. Trees have also been growing faster due to regional increases in precipitation and atmospheric carbon dioxide, while decreases in atmospheric pollutants such as ozone, sulfur, and nitrogen have reduced forest stress. “It is remarkable that changes in climate and atmospheric chemistry within our own lifetimes have accelerated the rate at which forest are capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” says Adrien Finzi, Professor of Biology at Boston University and a co-lead author of the study…
Butte, Montana, Standard, August 4, 2020: Trees: Live or let die?
What the right hand giveth, The left hand taketh away. Martin Luther’s Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount (translation). If there is a photo in the newspaper, any newspaper, to trivialize Earth Day, it is one of tree planting, preferably with children involved. The Montana Standard recently had an article “Protect a Tree.” The Natural Resource Damage Program (NRDP) has spent a small fortune planting trees locally along with their smaller cousins, shrubs. Then on the Duhame property near Miles Crossing purchased by NRDP and bestowed upon FWP, what do my wondering eyes behold but a bunch of felled Douglas firs? I immediately scent the pejorative “conifer encroachment,” a favorite FWP term used to blame, among other things, the sage-hen decline. It’s an all-purpose villain! What they are encroaching upon I’m not entirely sure. But a few years ago, I read in the Standard that NRDP was funding the destruction of other trees in the name of Conifer Encroachment into riparian areas up Little Basin Creek. As a restoration professional for 45+ years, I thought the replacement of plants needing an enhanced soil-moisture regime with those suited to drier sites resulted from a combination of stream downcutting and the floodplain aggrading. This effectively dries previously wet sites. I must have played hooky the day the UM Forestry School taught “conifer encroachment…”
Eight months after a federal judge green-lighted a roadside logging project to remove fire-damaged trees on 7,000 acres in Mendocino National Forest, the Ninth Circuit on Monday reversed that decision and issued a preliminary injunction to stop it. The majority of a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel found the U.S. Forest Service should have studied the potential impact of logging on the environment first, rejecting arguments that the project fell within an exemption under the National Environmental Policy Act for roadside repair and maintenance. “We’re very glad that the court saw that the Forest Service has been abusing this categorical exclusion and has just gone too far with that,” said attorney Matt Kenna, of Public Interest Environmental Law in Durango, Colorado, who represents a conservation group fighting against the project…”
Worried about water quality in your stream? Plant a tree next to it, says the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, or DNCR. The DCNR recently announced a new stream buffer program, urging 10,000 Pennsylvania landowners who live along the state’s streams, creeks, and rivers to plant native trees near the water’s edge. The term “stream buffers” may sound new, but the concept isn’t — it applies to any trees and shrubs that are deliberately planted along a waterway. They provide nutrients for native insects and fish to flourish and slow the spread of other invasive plant species. Their roots also stabilize the bank, reduce soil erosion, and help to filter chemical fertilizers and other pollutants that would otherwise go directly into the water. Why is the state encouraging landowners to plant them now? “The DCNR has made a more concerted effort recently because of the efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, as well as all of the surrounding watershed,” said Teddi Stark, who manages both the riparian buffer and watershed forestry program for the department. “It’s not necessarily super common knowledge that trees are really good for streams,” she added, “but they’re what form the basis of the food chain for stream ecosystems. They intercept pollution, they prevent erosion… [trees are] very multifaceted, and very essential to stream health…”
A west Omaha homeowner near 144th and Shirley Streets claims a new neighbor has gone too far. But it’s not your typical property line dispute. The neighborhood called Harvey Oaks has one less tree and property owner Jason Harre says it shouldn’t have been cut down. “It’s well within the property line on my parcel,” Harre said. Harre got photos of tree cutters who work for a subcontractor of Applied Underwriters, which is developing the land north of the neighborhood. “I understand they have to clean up their land of entry but this our property line and it’s ridiculous. They can come onto my property and cut down so many trees that have been here for so long,” he said. Former city forester now consulting arborist Phil Pierce counted two dozen trees removed on Harre’s property. Pierce tells 6 News several were not cut properly and he saw limbs trimmed too far from the trunk. Harre says the contractor marked the property and an oak tree is clearly his. And it shouldn’t have been confused with a nuisance volunteer tree…
This year, many Michiganders have found time to reacquaint themselves with the outdoors. Whether you spend time walking, hiking or exploring neighborhood parks, you can help protect Michigan’s trees by spending a little of your outdoors time checking for signs of the Asian longhorned beetle. August is Tree Check Month, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking the public to look for and report any signs of this invasive pest that’s not native to Michigan and could cause harm to our environment and economy. In late summer and early fall, adult Asian longhorned beetles drill perfectly round, 3/8-inch holes to emerge from within tree trunks and limbs, where they spend their larval stage chewing through the heartwood. After a brief mating period, female beetles chew oval depressions in trunks or branches to deposit eggs. Sometimes a material resembling wood shavings can be seen at or below exit holes or coming from cracks in an infested tree’s bark…
Due to the ravages of time, development pressures, over-watering, agriculture and smaller planting spaces in new neighborhoods, the prevalence and visibility of Woodland’s namesake tree, the valley oak, has diminished over the arc of history. In 2018 the Woodland Tree Foundation counted 880 valley oaks over 12 inches in diameter throughout the city’s 15 square miles. However, Foundation members seeking more definitive data, recently used GIS mapping software, to learn the precise locations and attributes of Woodland’s largest valley oaks with a diameter of at least 40 inches. As a result, the Foundation has learned there are 200 trees of this size in the city. All can now be identified and located on the Foundation’s website: woodlandtree.org. These are Woodland’s true heritage trees, many of which are as old as the town’s American settlement in the 1850s, according to members of the Foundation…
Norwalk, Connecticut, News12, August 2, 2020: Tree services see increase in business ahead of Isaias
Tree services in Connecticut say that with Isaias taking aim at the Northeast, they’re preparing to handle its potential aftermath. Experts recommend being proactive in the days leading up to a big storm to minimize the chances of major damage. K & J Tree Service says it has seen an increase in business and is performing extra safety inspections. The service says it’s looking for cracked limbs, dead liters and anything that could be a hazard during the upcoming storm. Ed Grant, the chief operations manager, says the biggest thing is to be aware of potential dangers in your yard. K & J Tree Service says it has 24-hour emergency service, which people will more than likely need in the next few days. The company says just because a tree is full and looks healthy doesn’t mean it’s not hollow and decaying…
A man was killed while tree trimming in Stockton on Saturday when the truck he was working in tipped over, police said. The incident happened in the 9700 block of Hickock Drive around 8:14 a.m., the Stockton Police Department said. The 52-year-old man was inside the boom lift cutting a tree. As the lift was lowering, the truck tipped over and the man fell out, police said. Medics arrived shortly after and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said…
Tulsa, Oklahoma, World, August 1, 2020: Catch Dutch elm disease early to save your tree
Q: I have an American Elm that started looking like it had a problem and then died a few weeks later. What in the world happened?
A: The culprit was likely Dutch elm disease. I was speaking with Jen Olson of the OSU Plant Disease & Insect Diagnostic Lab recently and she said she was seeing more Dutch elm disease this year than in recent years, which is too bad because it’s one of the most destructive tree diseases in North America. Dutch elm disease was first discovered in the Netherlands in the early 1900s, but it didn’t take long for it to make its way to the U.S. It arrived around 1930 on beetles who were hitching a ride on some logs headed our way to make furniture. Quarantine helped control the disease until 1941, but the nation then became more focused on fighting a war. Some estimates suggest there were approximately 77 million elms in North America in the early ’30s. By 1989, more than 75% of those trees were lost. Dutch elm disease grows in the xylem of the tree. The xylem is the tissue that helps bring water up from the roots throughout the entire tree. You typically start to see evidence of Dutch elm disease in the upper branches with leaves gradually browning, then yellowing and eventually getting dry and brittle…
Worcester, Massachusetts, Patch, July 30, 2020: New Beech Tree Leaf Disease Found In Worcester
Beech leaf disease was first found in Plymouth in June. State forestry officials later found the disease in Worcester and Blandford. The disease first emerged in the U.S. in 2012 in Ohio. The disease is associated with a parasite called Litylenchus crenatae, which causes leaves to become weak, sometimes leading to tree death, according to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. The state will survey Beech trees across the commonwealth for signs of the disease. Beech trees are found widely across New England. The three main species, American beech, European beech, and Oriental beech, can all be impacted by the leaf disease. It’s unclear how the disease spreads, and how long it takes for a tree to show symptoms…
Throughout the month of August, the Washington Invasive Species Council and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are asking the public to take a couple of minutes to check trees in their communities for invasive insects. August is the peak time of year that wood-boring insects are most often spotted outside of trees. “State and federal agencies do a fantastic job at preventing the introduction of invasive species to the United States, but occasionally some slip through,” Executive Coordinator of the Washington Invasive Species Council Justin Bush said in a news release. “When a new invasive species is introduced, we need to know as quickly as possible so we can stop its spread.” Invasive species are non-native organisms that include plants, animals and diseases. When introduced to a new environment, they do not have natural predators or diseases to keep their growth in check. Once established, they may damage the economy, environment, recreation and sometimes human health…
Named for the biblical figure Joshua by Mormon pioneers who saw its outstretched limbs as a guide to their westward travels, the Joshua tree is an enduring icon of the Southwest. In tiny Yucca Valley, California, the spiny succulents that once guided pioneers through the Mojave Desert still adorn the landscape, but as climate change threatens their future, residents are increasingly at odds over their preservation. Some in the town of roughly 20,000 say that by listing the Joshua tree – which actually is a yucca – as threatened, new restrictions will negatively affect the town’s economy, while others view the protections as necessary to ensure the survival of Yucca brevifolia, which is native to the Mojave Desert. In October, Brendan Cummings, the conservation director of the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a petition to have the western Joshua tree listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act…
Forests are thought to be crucial in the fight against climate change – and with good reason. We’ve known for a long time that the extra CO₂ humans are putting in the atmosphere makes trees grow faster, taking a large portion of that CO₂ back out of the atmosphere and storing it in wood and soils. But a recent finding that the world’s forests are on average getting “shorter and younger” could imply that the opposite is happening. Adding further confusion, another study recently found that young forests take up more CO₂ globally than older forests, perhaps suggesting that new trees planted today could offset our carbon sins more effectively than ancient woodland. How does a world in which forests are getting younger and shorter fit with one where they are also growing faster and taking up more CO₂? Are old or young forests more important for slowing climate change? We can answer these questions by thinking about the lifecycle of forest patches, the proportion of them of different ages and how they all respond to a changing environment…
Johnson City, New York, WBNG-TV, July 29, 2020: ‘Tis the season for Christmas tree farmers
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…well for tree farmers it is. They’re putting in work almost year-round to get your Christmas tree ready for December. After Christmas, farmers get a few months off. Then come March, things start to pick back up. At Morgan Hillside Tree Farm in Windsor, that’s when planting begins. “We plant every place that we’ve lost a tree to harvest. Even if we’re going to have a tree where we think we’re going to harvest in the next year or two, we’ll start a seedling in between the two of them. That way, we can get a little bit of a jump on things,” said owner Mark Morgan. Summer is the real marathon for tree farmers. “It’s all hot and sticky, there’s bugs and bees and all sorts of stuff you have to deal with this time of year, but it’s part of farming,” said Morgan. June is when mowing starts at the farm. “We let all of the animals get their babies in so to speak, and then we start mowing and then we’re getting ready for shearing which starts very late June, early July and goes for about three weeks,” said Morgan. Shearing may be the most important part — it’s what gives the tree the perfect shape. “The trees when they grow, they’ll kind of get out of the traditional shape of a Christmas tree, which is kind of a cone shape. So what we do is keep them within those small parameters and make them look as good as they possibly can for Christmas,” said Morgan…
Shade from urban trees has long been understood to offer respite from the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon that can result in city centers that are 1-3 degrees Centigrade warmer than surrounding areas. Less frequently discussed, however, are the effects of tree transpiration in combination with the heterogeneous landscapes that constitute the built environment. Writing in BioScience, Joy Winbourne and her colleagues present an overview of the current understanding of tree transpiration and its implications, as well as areas for future research. Their work, derived from tree sap flow data, reveals the complexity and feedbacks inherent in trees’ and urban zones’ responses to extreme heating events. Dr. Winbourne joins us on this episode of BioScience Talks to discuss the newly published article, as well as directions for future research and the prospects for using trees to better mitigate urban heat in the face of a changing climate…
Tampa, Florida, Tampa Bay Times, July 29, 2020: St. Petersburg Banyan tree removal draws protest
When the crew showed up Wednesday to remove a Banyan tree on Granville Court N, they weren’t the only ones there. More than a dozen neighbors and members of the Florida Indigenous Rights and Environmental Equality group gathered to demonstrate against the removal of a Banyan tree between two homes near the intersection of Ninth Avenue N. Protesters bore signs that said “Save the Trees” and “Protect the Earth” as the tree removal company, El-Cheapo, began cutting off the branches of the estimated 57-foot tree. The Banyan tree has a sacred meaning to the group, said Alyssa Gallegos, 29, who has a tattoo of a Banyan on her back. “They were here long before us,” she said. “These trees are no one’s property.” The indigenous rights group also burned sage and prayed after the El-Cheapo crew members left for the day. But the crew was set to return. The job will take a couple more days. “To us, this is like killing our grandfather,” said member Alicia Norris, 50…
More than 25 years after Arlington adopted its first ordinance to preserve trees, City Council members and environmental advocates are leading an effort to update the ordinance in the face of rapid residential and commercial development. Spearheaded by Arlington Council Member Sheri Capehart and the council’s Environmental Task Force, the movement to amend the city’s tree policies has spanned more than six months of presentations and debate. The central goal? To encourage real estate developers to preserve trees, particularly those native to Arlington, rather than cut them down and plant replacements elsewhere. “With every development, there are trees that are removed and that is an irreplaceable loss,” Richard Gertson, Arlington’s assistant director of planning and development services, said. “There’s no time like the present to recognize that fact and say: Let’s make the effort now, going forward, to try and encourage preservation and encourage education of the public on the importance of preservation.” Council members and environmentalists hope that amending tree policies will allow Arlington to preserve more of the Cross Timbers ecoregion, which spans from southeastern Kansas into central Oklahoma and central Texas. The city is in the eastern Cross Timbers, a hardwood upland forest that is home to trees like the post oak, a slow-growing species that has adapted to extreme droughts and often lives for hundreds of years…
Lighting is causing significant damage to ecosystems, damaging or killing more than 800 million trees each year in the tropics alone, according to a new study out of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). Based on ground and satellite data, researchers were able to estimate there are more than 100 million lightning strikes on land each year in tropical regions. According to the authors, the findings are significant, given the challenges associated with studying lightning. Because of this, its ability to alter ecosystems is often overlooked in favour of other destructive events like storms, drought, or fire. Even a single lightning strike can impact an ecosystem. Past research suggests one strike damages approximately 23.6 trees, leading to the eventual death of about 5.5 of them. For the current research, scientists analyzed the impact of about 92 lightning strikes, estimating lightning damages approximately 832 million trees in the tropics alone each year. An estimated 25% of those trees die…
Phys.org,July 24, 2020: Understanding why trees are dying may be key to locking up carbon
Rising tree deaths may be reducing the ability of many forests worldwide to lock up carbon by pulling in greenhouse gases from the air. To properly grasp what this means for carbon budgets, scientists need to solve the puzzle of why trees are dying—and how they respond to change. ‘There are widespread observations of increasing tree mortality due to changing climate and land use,’ according to new research. This appears to be transforming woodland habitats, with trees getting younger and shorter in many forests, the authors add. Estimates suggest that forests have absorbed up to 30% of anthropogenic carbon emissions in the past few decades. Though the overall effects of tree loss on the carbon cycle are complex because old trees and the young ones that replace them take up carbon at different rates, rising mortality appears to be affecting forests’ ability to lock up carbon. The researchers in the new study think that higher mortality rates may begin to outweigh the capacity of remaining and new trees to maintain that uptake at the same level—and potentially lead to an overall reduction of canopy cover and biomass. ‘It’s quite concerning, because at the moment, two to three of every 10 molecules of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere come back into the forests, but we don’t know how it’s going to continue into the future,’ said Dr. Thomas Pugh, an environmental scientist at the University of Birmingham, UK…
Christmas in July celebrations may go up in smoke this year after Home Accents Holiday recalled over 100,000 artificial Christmas trees because they have a potential burn hazard. The company issued the recall because the Christmas trees’ foot-pedal controller can overheat. Home Accents Holiday has received 509 reports of overheating and one report of a burn incident from the recalled Christmas trees. The recall affects Home Accents Holiday artificial trees with mode-switching foot-pedal controllers. The Christmas trees are 7.5- and 8-feet tall artificial pine trees with model numbers W14N0126, W14N0127, W14N0148, W14N0149, and W14N0157.SKU numbers for the recalled trees can be found on the product label of the tree’s cord and include 1004391988, 1004147107, 1004363928, 1004213736, 1004363929, 1004213737, 1004213744, and 1004213742. The affected trees were sold at Home Depot from June 2019 to December 2019 for about $80 to $360. Consumers should stop using the Christmas trees’ foot-pedal controller immediately and dispose of it…
Associated Press, July 28, 2020: Colorado tree selected for Christmas at US Capitol
A Colorado tree has been selected to move to the U.S. Capitol Building to be displayed over the Christmas holiday, a U.S. Forest official said Monday. The acting regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region, Jennifer Eberlien, said in a conference call that included Colorado Gov. Jared Polis that a Capitol architect will make the official announcement in a few days. The Christmas tree will make its way from the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests to the West Lawn of the Capitol Building, where it will be decorated and displayed, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported. The tree’s specific location is expected to be withheld until fall for security purposes. It will be cut down some time in autumn. The tree is expected to be 65 to 80 feet (20 to 24 meters) tall. Polis said that the tree will likely be an Engelmann spruce. “Colorado is proud to contribute part of our natural beauty to the United States Capitol in Washington,” Polis said. The coronavirus pandemic is complicating some of the pageantry the tree is usually afforded, officials said. The winning tree is usually cut down in a public event, but this year’s ceremony is uncertain…
Trees do not pay taxes. Some seem to avoid death as well. Many of the world’s most ancient organisms are trees, including a 3,600-year-old cypress in Chile and a sacred fig in Sri Lanka that was planted in the third century B.C. One bristlecone pine known as Methuselah has been alive for nearly five millenniums, standing in a forest in what is now called California. But according to a paper published Monday in the journal Trends in Plant Science, time ravages us all in the end. The paper, “Long-Lived Trees Are Not Immortal,” argues that even the most venerable trees have physiological limits — though we, with our puny life spans, may never be able to tell. Sergi Munné-Bosch, a plant biologist at the University of Barcelona, wrote the article in response to a January study on ginkgo trees, which can live for over a thousand years. The studyfound that 600-year-old ginkgos are as reproductively and photosynthetically vigorous as their 20-year-old peers. Genetic analysis of the trees’ vascular cambium — a thin layer of cells that lies just underneath the bark, and creates new living tissue — showed “no evidence of senescence,” or cell death, the authors wrote. Dr. Munné-Bosch said he found the paper “very interesting,” but disagreed with how some readers of the study in popular media and beyond had interpreted it…
Wordsmith.org, July 27, 2020: A Word A Day
Where I live here in the Seattle area, fruit trees dot the whole neighborhood and they seem to take turns being in the spotlight. Last year it was the sweet juicy plums, so many that if you stood near a tree, opened your palm, and closed your eyes, the tree might put plums in your hand and whisper in your ear, “Please enjoy some plums and help lighten my load. There’s also a lone cherry tree and this year it was the cherry’s turn. So many! Birds swooped in. The way I see it, they have as much right to the fruit as we do. They eat, rejoice and make noise, and also leave pits around. The whole fruiting season doesn’t last very long, just a few weeks. The other day I went to the homeowners’ association office, and as it happened, someone else was also visiting the office. I caught the tail end of the conversation. They were talking about cutting down the cherry tree. “What?” I said. “It makes too much of a mess,” she said. I’d rather we not cut any trees, but if you really are itching to kill a tree, maybe chop down that hemlock tree on the other side. But no! It’s the cherry tree that’s making the mess…
Bangor, Maine, Daily News, July 27, 2020: Why you should plant a tree
One of the most soothing past times is observing the natural world in our immediate surroundings: birds perching on telephone wires, butterflies fluttering over bushes and bees buzzing around flowers. If you want to help support your local natural ecosystem, experts say that one of the best, easiest and most cost effective ways to do so is by planting a tree. “Trees serve so many purposes,” said Jennifer Cummings, owner of Full Circle Landscaping in Yarmouth. “They’re one of the earliest flowering things in the spring, so pollinators get to use those first. They shade our houses, so it makes them need less air conditioning. If they’re deciduous trees, they lose their leaves in the winter so the sun can warm your house.” Trees also create habitat for wildlife and beneficial pollinators that often go ignored in efforts to make a more environmentally friendly landscape — namely, birds. “We [most often] think about insects, but birds are also really important in that category,” said Kristen Brown, crew supervisor at Full Circle Landscaping. “You are creating habitats for them with trees, also shrubs.” Brown also said that trees are one of the “best investments you can make” when it comes to increasing the value of your property over time. Plus, it is an investment for the ecosystem around your property. “[Trees] aren’t just our human families, but think about all the other families within nature that are going to benefit in the long term,” Brown said…
In a few U.S. cities, street protests against racial inequities have escalated in the two months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In that city, however, people are trying something else. From pastors to politicians, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, they are “working to quell community tensions and exploring new strategies to combat racial injustice.” One particular effort focuses on bringing people together to reshape the urban landscape – literally. In the city’s racially diverse northern neighborhoods, for example, volunteers and local residents have been working the land since June – planting trees, creating gardens – as an act of social healing. This urban regreening “is about putting Black, brown, Indigenous, white hands in the soil together,” Jordan Weber, artist-in-residence at the Walker Art Center, told Minnesota Public Radio. According to various studies, people who live in communities with trees and gardens tend to be closer to one another. A canopy of trees in summer can prevent “heat islands” that drive people off the streets. With more trees, people tend to be outside more where they can meet neighbors. Shared gardens not only root useful plants but also a community. With more natural greenery around them, neighbors have a stake in protecting their environment. Places without such leafy cohesion have “tree inequity,” according to American Forests, the nation’s oldest conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring U.S. forests. Since 2018, the group has launched a campaign to plant trees in marginalized communities…
Two more Tennessee counties have been placed in quarantine after a beetle that kills emerald ash trees was found there earlier this month. Tennessee agriculture officials say Hickman and Dickson counties have joined 63 other counties under state and federal quarantine for the emerald ash borer. The quarantine bars the movement outside the county of firewood, ash nursery stock, ash timber, and other material that can spread the beetle. Signs of the beetle include a thin canopy or yellow foliage on the tree, small holes through the bark of the tree, or shoots growing from roots or a tree trunk, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture said in a news release Friday. The state Division of Forestry estimates that there are 5 million ash trees on urban land and another 261 million ash trees on Tennessee timberland, with a combined value of about $11 billion…
You could call it the “Franklin County chainsaw massacre,” a dispute over the wrongful felling of dozens of trees that was resolved Friday by the Nebraska Supreme Court. Officials in Franklin County, in rural south-central Nebraska, had sought and received permission in December 2015 to clear several trees on the property of Thomas and Pamela Russell. The goal: to improve visibility on an adjacent county road. But county workers, in cutting down and uprooting trees, strayed from the area that was designated for clearing. Before they could be stopped, 67 additional trees had been cut down or uprooted. While the county and the Russells agreed that trees were wrongly removed, a lawsuit ensued over the monetary damages due to the Russells. Franklin County argued in court that the landowners were only due damages equal to the diminished value of the property, which they estimated at $200. But the Russells, who said they used the property for hunting, recreation and bird-watching, argued that damages should equal the cost of restoring the property to its prior condition. Using experts, including an arborist, they estimated the damages at $150,716…
A trend I have noticed over my career — I am retired now — is unintended consequences causing problems. Avenues for unintended consequences include bringing stowaways when we transport things long distances or deciding that this pretty plant will look nice in my yard. This is how we got a lot of invasive exotic plants and animals in our area that have caused a lot of problems to both our economies and our environment. Besides invasive exotic plants and animals, we also get diseases that come from “someplace else.” Our current COVID-19 pandemic is a good example of one that is affecting us right now. Today I would like to bring your attention to a problem caused by both an exotic insect and the fungus it carries. In this case, the story starts with two trees common to the Southeast that are being affected by a recent introduction of both the beetle and the fungus. They are the red bay and the sassafras. The red bay, it is believed, will be eradicated from the Southeast. The sassafras also will be affected by the disease, but to a lesser extent. Many people have heard of sassafras as settlers often used this aromatic tree to make tea brewed from the bark of its roots. The bark, twigs and leaves of sassafras are also important foods for wildlife…
Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sun, July 26, 2020: Controlling invasive Siberian elm trees
Q: What’s the best way to kill elm seedlings?
A: I’m glad you’re asking this question when these weedy, invasive trees are small and relatively easy to control (emphasis on the “relatively”). We all know how precious shade is in New Mexico, and we love our trees for providing it, but weedy trees like tree of heaven, salt cedar, and the Siberian elm are real problems across the state. Several traits make Siberian elms (Ulmus pumila) one of the most despicable invasive tree species around. For one, they produce a ton of seeds each spring that fly around, sprout up everywhere, and unless you get them that first season, are very hard to pull. If they just germinated this year, they’re probably still small enough to pull by hand. Pull ‘em when you see ‘em. You’ll be sorry if you don’t. Siberian elms also outcompete other, more desirable species, uproot walls around yards, don’t age well (branch breakage is common), and exacerbate allergies too. Albuquerque’s pollen ordinance bans these pests from being sold or planted within city limits. And did I mention the crazy amount of seeds they produce? In April, the seeds go whirling up and down my street in the wind, making cute pitter-patter sounds that make me shudder. Talk about nightmare on elm street…
An Alberta judge has upheld a $2.1-million fine against a world-renowned ski resort for cutting down endangered trees nearly seven years ago. Lake Louise Ski Resort pleaded guilty in 2017 to taking down a stand of trees, including 38 endangered whitebark pine, along a ski run in 2013. The fine, which was imposed a year later for charges under the Species at Risk Act and the Canada National Parks Act, amounted to roughly $55,000 a tree. Lake Louise’s lawyer argued the fine was ‘grossly disproportional and demonstrably unfit’ as a result of remediation efforts the resort took after the trees were cut down. He asked for the court to either stay the charges or reduce the penalty to $200,000. The resort has taken steps to ensure no other whitebark pine are cut down. Staff are better educated and the 7,000 whitebark pine within the resort area are now marked. But the Appeal judge rejected the request and said the trial judge did not make an error handing out the fine. “The penalties imposed by the sentencing judge for these offences were certainly more than a slap on the wrist,” wrote Justice Barbara Romaine in a decision released Wednesday. “An observer, uninformed of the circumstances of the case, may consider the penalties to be excessively high given that the offence involved flora and not animals,” she said. But, Romaine said, this was not a case of an “otherwise good environmental citizen making an isolated mistake…”
Christmas is still more than five months away but the recent hot and dry weather could be having an impact on one of the holiday’s most popular symbols. Local Christmas tree growers may have to start watering their trees if we get another long stretch of hot dry weather. That could have a big impact on growers. The owner of Sweet Providence Farm in Floyd County, John Houston, said Thursday that most local growers don’t normally have to irrigate their trees. “I was starting to keep track of how long it has been and looking at our rainfall from the previous month,” Houston said. “We grow specifically Fraser furs. That’s what everybody seems to like. They’re a little bit temperamental.” He said his trees were doing well as of Thursday and expected to have a good crop for the holiday season…
Popular Science, July 23, 2020: Pole saws to keep trees healthy
If you want to keep your trees healthy and looking their best, it’s important to occasionally prune older or damaged branches. A great tool for this is a pole saw. Essentially, pole saws are chainsaws attached extendable rods and designed to cut thicker branches. Pole saws can be powered by gas, an electrical outlet, or rechargeable batteries. Gas-powered tools are best for larger jobs, with longer run-times and more power for branches up to 12 inches thick. However, they’re often heavier and more expensive than their electric cousins. For smaller branches or fewer trees, consider a plug-in or battery-powered option—they’ll also save you money. When looking at pole saws, you want to pay attention to their working height, the cutting bar length (which determines the maximum diameter of the branches you can cut), the weight, and whether or not the saw is removable. That last feature makes it easier when you want to cut up the branches you fell. Pole saws aren’t necessary if you’re just cutting off twigs, and they’ll come up short for branches with more than a 12-inch diameter—for that you’ll need a heavy-duty chainsaw. But for basic general property maintenance, they’re handy tools that cut through the mess…
University of California, The Stanislaus Report, July 23, 2020: Protect Trees from Sunburn
Did you know that plants can suffer sunburn injury just like people? Sunburning of plants is actually a common and serious problem in the San Joaquin Valley, especially after a few days with temperatures over 100° F. Sunburn is damage to leaves and other plant parts caused by a combination of too much light and heat and insufficient moisture. The first symptom of this problem may be leaves that appear dull or wilted. A yellow or brown “burned” area develops on the leaves, which then dies beginning in areas between the veins. The best way to avoid sunburn is to choose plants that are adapted to the planting site. Trying to grow shade-loving plants in full sun is asking for sunburn problems. But even sun-loving plants will suffer sunburning of leaves if the plants are growing in dry soil. You need to provide your plants adequate irrigation water to prevent most sunburning problems. If you notice the symptoms early enough, you may be able to restore the color to sunburned leaves before they killed…
This is the time of year when the monsoon starts to do its thing, wreaking havoc across the Valley. Tree experts say that if Valley homeowners would simply cut back the big trees around their house, before the storms hit, it would greatly reduce the destruction we see every summer. Bill Weatherill, with TreeTime Design, said the more branches and leaves left on a tree, the easier it is to blow over. “The problem is that two things happen, “said Weatherill. “The limbs will break off from too much weight of the tree, or it will fall over if the ground is wet enough and you haven’t trimmed it and its too dense for air to travel through the tree and it becomes a giant sail.” Roof damage is also an issue during the monsoon. Every year, countless roofs cave in from all the heavy rain. Jeff Knudson, with Roofstar Arizona Inc., said that most roofs collapse because of a small, underlying problem, that could have been fixed long before the storms rolls in…
Idaho Falls, Idaho, Post-Register, July 22, 2020: Remembrances of a tree explosion
Here I go again. Hope you’re not bored with my ramblings. I occasionally refer to things that I have seen or observed that have stood out for me. I was reading the article entitled, “Livestock loss to lightning” by Heather Smith Thomas in the July 5 issue of Farm and Ranch. Her description was of particular interest and, although, from within a different context, caused me to reflect on an experience some 25 years ago while traveling down the eastern side of Nevada. I like the geography of that region with its expansive pattern of long, narrow ranges and valleys. Typical of the Great Basin (“land of interior drainage”), it is wonderfully remote. I had tucked myself in for a long winter’s nap (remember that quaint Christmas tale of long ago?), when out of the lawn there rose such a crash, like a shotgun blast, I tucked myself in for the next one. Luckily, it hadn’t had my name on it. I lay there anticipating the atmospheric fireworks. Nothing. Silence. The storm had expended its energy with one stroke. In the morning, I walked down a narrow gravel path and saw one of the native trees that closely resembled a tamarisk about 100 feet from my tent. It was shattered from top to bottom as if hit by the hammer of Thor. Wood all over the place. Upon closer examination, there was no apparent burn mark on any of it…
Yahoo News, July 22, 2020: ‘Disgraceful’ vandals damage 1000-year-old tree in Sherwood Forest
The world-famous 1,000-year-old Major Oak tree in Sherwood Forest has fallen victim to vandalism. Someone has caused a large three-foot chunk of bark to fall off the iconic tree, where the legendary outlaw Robin Hood is fabled to have met his “merry men”. The RSPB, which runs part of the Sherwood Forest Nature Reserve, said that fibreglass protection on the iconic tree has also been damaged. It is thought the damage was caused by someone climbing on the tree – despite access to it being prohibited for more than 40 years. An estimated 350,000 tourists visit Sherwood Forest each year to see the oak tree. Completely hollow inside, it has a hole in the trunk which visitors used to climb inside. However, the practice was stopped and the area around the tree’s roots fenced in the 1970s as conservationists recognised the damage this was causing to the ancient tree. The forest is also a National Nature Reserve and has some of the highest natural protections in Europe. Gemma Howarth, the RSPB’s site manager, said it was “heartbreaking” to find the damage while she was doing a regular check of the site during lockdown…
Trees planted along urban streets in cities and towns throughout Arkansas have seen better days. Over the last several years, arborists have noted an increase in the decline, mortality, and removal of urban street trees, which add beauty, shade and other benefits to areas otherwise dominated by vehicle traffic and asphalt. Colin Massey, agricultural agent for the Washington County Cooperative Extension Service office, said urban tree decline can occur with many species. “Here in northwest Arkansas, this has been most visible on red maple,” Massey said. Red maple (Acer rubrum) is widely planted due to its popularity as a street and landscape tree, he said. It was listed as the 2003 Tree of the Year by the Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA). Red maples offer a fast growth rate but often exhibit shallow root systems and thin bark that is susceptible to sun injury, also known as sunscald. Red maple cultivars such as “Red Sunset” and “October Glory” can provide striking color to the fall landscape, maturing on average to a height of 45 feet, with a canopy spread of 35 feet…
Staten Islanders and residents across the city have been frustrated with the city Parks Department’s Trees and Sidewalks program that has been backlogged for years. The Parks Department is responsible for pruning city trees, as well as inspecting tree-related issues, like tree roots that have cracked and raised a sidewalk square, for example. Homeowners have said inspections and repairs are near impossible to get, and when an inspection finally does happen, they don’t agree with the results or they’re put on a waiting list that has been known to take years for service. The Advance has reported issues several homeowners have had with the city Parks Department’s Trees and Sidewalks Program — including a homeowner who waited 11 years for a repair. Major budget cuts to the Trees and Sidewalks program could exacerbate the wait times homeowners face…
A large tree crashed into a condo complex in Denver Tuesday afternoon and witnesses say it had nothing to do with the weather. Neighbors say that around 2 p.m., they heard a cracking sound and the building shaking at Cherry Creek Village Condominiums. The complex is near East Mississippi Avenue and Cherry Creek South Drive. “It felt like an earthquake,” Jahnice Johns told FOX31. Johns was inside her the condo with her mother when the tree fell… The large cottonwood tree came to a rest on their roof and tore through a portion of the ceiling. While the accident comes as a shock, residents of the complex say it is not a surprise. “This is something that I’ve been concerned about for many years because it’s been at a 45-degree angle and it was just a matter of time,” neighbor Augustus Johnston told FOX31 and Channel 2. Several owners tell the Problem Solvers they have expressed concern about the tree to their HOA on multiple occasions. “This tree started leaning in 2009 or 2010. We’ve been saying it, ‘You guys got to get that tree,’” Johns said. “It was an obvious hazard and they didn’t take care of it,” Johnston said…
A new study has found that planting native trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses can cool the summer daytime temperature of an area by more than 4 C in a decade. University of Waterloo researchers used a new thermal camera on the International Space Station (ISS) called ECOSTRESS to gather images that show temperature decreases over time when biodiverse, native species are restored to areas of Southern Ontario. “We found a decrease of 4.5 C in summer daytime temperatures over 12 years and we found that this change was dependent on biodiversity,” said Jonas Hamberg, PhD candidate at Waterloo’s School of Environment Resources and Sustainability and lead researcher on the study. Hamberg’s team is one of the first to work with the new ECOSTRESS technology which was attached to the ISS in 2019 via a SpaceX rocket and the Canadarm2 (the Canadian-made robotic arm). “I’m honoured to have had access to this new technology,” said Hamberg. “It opens up so many avenues for exploration – not just in my field, but for the whole scientific community…”
Palm trees are more than five times more numerous in such neotropical rainforests as the Amazon than in the large-scale rainforests of Africa and Asia, according to a new study. Led by researchers from Sweden’s Uppsala University (UU) and Brazil’s University of Campinas (Unicamp), the findings shed light on the unique characteristics and contribution of the trees to tropical forest ecosystems. They also demonstrate the importance of taking palm trees into account when estimating uptake and carbon sequestration in tropical forests and evaluating their resilience to climate change, the study states. “To get a better understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about carbon balance in these ecosystems during climate change, we summarized data to show how the number of palms vary around the world compared with other tree species,” said UU’s Bob Muscarella, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution…
During a storm last week, lightning likely hit one of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s most prized trees, a white basswood. “The lighting strike sounded like a bomb went off across the street,” said Gwen Merz, who lives a block away from the garden and posted a video of the hit on social media, where it was widely shared. “It shook the windows and the entire house — it was an insane experience.” But when garden employees inspected the tree the next day, they couldn’t find any sign of the strike. The tree’s saving grace: a metal rod at the tree’s peak, attached to a copper wire running down the trunk and then to a bigger rod underground. Lightning hits the garden once or twice a year. To protect some of its 3,500 trees from damage, the nonprofit has outfitted nearly 100 of its most valuable and vulnerable with a tree lightning protection system. If a tree is hit, it can prove fatal — sap will boil along the path of the strike, generating steam and causing tree cells to explode. “Lightning can completely shatter a tree,” said MOBOT Horticulture Supervisor Ben Chu, who inspected the trees for damage the day after the thunderstorm. “I’ve seen the bark blown right off the trunk…”
When Shelley Ames and her family of five moved into the Willow Bend subdivision in Arlington last year, she was attracted to the shady front yards and friendly neighbors. She had not heard of the Southeast Connector, a $2 billion project the Texas Department of Transportation says will transform a 16-mile stretch of highway along Interstate 20, East Loop 820 and U.S. 287. Ames’ home is right behind an I-20 access road, separated by a backyard fence and a tree-filled ditch. TxDOT plans to expand the access road from one to two lanes without building a noise barrier wall, which Ames and her neighbors fear will lead to increased traffic and the inescapable sound of cars whizzing by. “Had we known that something like that was in the works, I don’t know if I would have chosen to live right here,” Ames said. “I don’t want them to take down our tall trees right behind our fence that help with the sound and certainly help with the view.” The Southeast Connector, which has been moving steadily forward since 2017, will affect parts of Fort Worth and Arlington when construction begins in late 2021 and continues through 2026, according to TxDOT plans. About 24 businesses and residential buildings are slated to be destroyed in east Fort Worth, with owners receiving compensation for their properties, said Rep. Nicole Collier, who represents the area in the state legislature. “It’s bound to happen with most projects: businesses are going to be displaced and homes are going to be displaced, but the state is going to have to offer compensation for that,” Collier said. “The only thing you can ask for is cooperation, and that is what TxDOT has been providing in terms of my district…”
Lexington city officials and tree professionals are questioning a recent push by Kentucky Utilities to cut down trees under power lines. Trees that were once in the median under a transmission line on Southpoint Drive in the Southpoint neighborhood off of Nicholasville Road were recently cut down. A line of stumps is all that remains. Earlier this spring, the power company axed and trimmed trees in Pinnacle, Waterford and Belleau Woods neighborhoods under a distribution line that leads to a substation on Wilson Downing Road. It is not known how many trees have been cut down in backyards and along streets. Mike Mills owns a home in Pinnacle. KU cut down two evergreen trees that were approximately 20 feet tall in his backyard. Mills and his neighbors, who also had trees cut, questioned why the power company was taking down trees when in prior years, those trees were trimmed. According to KU’s website, trees under distribution lines should be no taller than 15 feet. “They were about 15 or 20 feet from the bottom of the lowest line. From the highest line, it was probably 30 feet in difference,” said Mills. “Those trees had been there for 22 years. What has changed?” Mills said KU told him the maximum height requirement has always been in place — KU was now enforcing it. When trees were cut on Southpoint, a well-traveled road in south Lexington, people became aware of KU’s latest stance on tree heights under power lines. “My mother-in-law lives off of Southpoint Drive,” Mills said. “That drive now looks completely different. It’s terrible…”
VT Digger, July 20, 2020: New trees require extra care in drought
“How much should we be watering our trees?” That was the question from Bob Fireovid and Joan Falcao of Health Hero Farm, who received 115 trees from the Franklin County Conservation District this spring to plant a windbreak for their farmstead. Trees need consistent moisture to survive being transplanted, especially during a dry spring and summer like we’re having. The windbreak, along with about 7 acres of other tree plantings facilitated by the Conservation District and the 3500 trees sold through their spring tree sale, was planted in the first few days of May. While rain has brought relief a few times, mostly it was a dry spring; April through June in Franklin County fell short of our average rainfall by about 25%, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell. Fireovid and Falcao have been watering the trees whenever they can fit it into their busy schedule, and it makes a big difference. Out of the 29 white cedars planted only three have died so far, and all but one of the 14 white spruce are doing well. “Given how dry it’s been, that kind of survival rate is a real testament to Bob and Joan’s commitment to keeping these trees watered,” said Jeannie Bartlett, who has been providing technical guidance on the project through her role at the Conservation District. She advised the farmers to water their new trees so that the soil two- to eight inches down stays consistently moist. “Planting a tree or a live-stake is not just about the planting,” she continued. “Just like no one would plant seeds and expect them to grow without water, or without controlling weeds and pests – the same is often true with trees…”
For years Ellen Murphy got used to seeing a swath of large linden trees across the street from her Park Street residence, but this spring the trees were taken down to make way for an expansion project on State Street. “Judging from the size of the stumps left behind — some of which are 2 feet in diameter — they had stood in that spot for decades. I’d say some of them were about 20 feet high or more,” Murphy said of the mature lindens that used to line a parking lot at Gray and Park streets. Their removal was part of an Avesta Housing project at 75 State St., an independent and assisted living facility. New rules under consideration by the City Council may help protect trees like those lindens. The Heritage Tree Ordinance, which the council will vote on Aug. 3, would “discourage the removal or extensive pruning of Heritage Trees located in historic districts of the City of Portland on public and private property and to replace the valuable ecological services such trees provide should they be removed.” The city estimates it would cost around $41,000 to implement the program because a part-time tree inspector would be needed, as well as a work vehicle, a computer, supplies and a phone. Heritage trees are defined as oaks, maples, pines or spruce that are at least 24 inches in diameter; ornamental trees of at least 12 inches in diameter; or any native tree on the endangered list. Property owners would be able to remove those trees if they are in poor health, dead, damaged or infected, but if a tree is removed for any other reason, a permit is needed…
Phys.org, July 20, 2020: Portable DNA device can detect tree pests in under two hours
Asian gypsy moths feed on a wide range of important plants and trees. White pine blister rust can kill young trees in only a couple of years. But it’s not always easy to detect the presence of these destructive species just by looking at spots and bumps on a tree, or on the exterior of a cargo ship. Now a new rapid DNA detection method developed at the University of British Columbia can identify these pests and pathogens in less than two hours, without using complicated processes or chemicals—a substantial time savings compared to the several days it currently takes to send samples to a lab for testing. “Sometimes, a spot is just a spot,” explains forestry professor Richard Hamelin, who designed the system with collaborators from UBC, Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. “Other times, it’s a deadly fungus or an exotic bug that has hitched a ride on a shipping container and has the potential to decimate local parks, forests and farms. So you want to know as soon as possible what you’re looking at, so that you can collect more samples to assess the extent of the invasion or begin to formulate a plan of action…”
If you were dropped into virtually any region of North America 56 million years ago, you probably would not recognize where you had landed. Back then, at the dawn of the Eocene epoch, the earth was warmer and wetter than it is today. A sea had just closed up in the middle of the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains had not yet attained their full height. The continent’s plant and animal communities were dramatically different. In the Canadian High Arctic, which today harbors relatively few tundra plant species, year-round temperatures above freezing nurtured a rich and diverse flora; Ellesmere Island in far northern Canada, across from the northwestern coast of Greenland, was home to alligators and giant tortoises. What is now the southeastern U.S. was dominated by tropical rain forest, complete with primates. The northeastern U.S., for its part, ranged from broad-leaved (as opposed to needle-leaved) evergreen forest to deciduous forests of ginkgo, viburnum, birch and elm, among other species. The deciduous broad-leaved forests that now cover 11 percent of North America north of Mexico were in their infancy. But that was about to change, with the spread and extraordinary diversification of what would eventually become some of the most ecologically and economically significant woody plants in the world: the acorn-bearing, wind-pollinated trees we call oaks. Over the course of some 56 million years, oaks, which all belong to the genus Quercus, evolved from a single undifferentiated population into the roughly 435 species found today on five continents, ranging from Canada to Colombia and from Norway to Borneo. Oaks are keystone species, foundational to the functioning of the forests they form across the Northern Hemisphere. They foster diversity of organisms across the tree of life, from fungi to wasps, birds and mammals. They help clean the air, sequestering carbon dioxide and absorbing atmospheric pollutants…
Associated Press, July 18, 2020: Study: Charlotte losing tree canopy in part to development
The tree canopy that shades much of Charlotte is in decline, according to a study which said the current coverage is threatened. A study by the University of Vermont says Charlotte lost 8% of its tree canopy between 2012 and 2018, The Charlotte Observer reported Friday. The study was done in collaboration with the nonprofit group TreesCharlotte. According to the study, North Carolina’s largest city still had 45% of tree canopy in 2018, but it is threatened. The city gained about 2,200 acres of canopy through replantings, but the study also found Charlotte lost nearly 10,000 acres, much of it in large tracts of forest cleared for development. A study by the school commissioned by the city in 2014 characterized Charlotte’s tree canopy at 47% and holding steady despite surging development…
Israel21c, July 8, 2020: Scientists discover trees have a mutual aid network underground
Israeli scientists have recently discovered that trees of different species utilize underground fungal networks to transfer carbon among them. Tamir Klein, principal investigator at the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Tree Lab, and PhD candidate Ido Rog, installed underground devices and employed sequencing techniques to analyze 1,000 root tips from 12 trees of four different species. They unearthed intricate fungi networks that connected the trees’ roots to one another and proved that they serve as a conduit for carbon sharing. While tree kinship would suggest that carbon sharing would only occur between trees of the same species in order to give them an evolutionary edge over others, carbon was found to be transferred among four species — spruce, pine, larch and beech — indicating that a different actor might be responsible for this resource management. “The fact that trees are ‘sharing their wealth’ across species suggests that there is some sort of ‘hidden’ management occurring. We think the management is dominated by the fungi,” says Klein. “Fungi need to secure their own carbon sources; it is in their best interest to ensure that all the trees within the network are healthy and strong…”
The South Carolina Department of Transportation announced Thursday it will begin construction on 14.75 miles of Highway 61 in Dorchester County to improve the road’s safety and quality. Construction will begin first on the scenic 6.5-mile portion of Highway 61 from the intersection of Highway 165 to the Charleston County line. Improvements will include a new roadbed and pavement, two 11-foot wide lanes with three-foot paved shoulders, safety rumble strips on the centerline and edge lines, higher-visibility paint and reflectors and warning signs at curves. “Our refined design for Highway 61′s improvements preserves the corridor’s live oak trees that are hundreds of years old and improves citizens’ safety as they drive along the scenic route,” Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said. “Based on a detailed analysis of seven years of crash data and significant input from the community, we were able to work with Gov. Henry McMaster and other stakeholders to alter our plans to maintain the area’s historic beauty while fulfilling our commitment to make our roads safer…”
If, like me, you’re one of the folks that is blessed enough to be able to enjoy the lovely grounds of Mount Mary University along the Menomonee River Parkway on Milwaukee’s far west side, you may have been surprised to see portion of it undergoing drastic change this week. A wooded site at the north end of the campus, along Burleigh Street, is being cleared to make way for a new $45 million housing development – by Mount Mary, the School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province and Milwaukee Catholic Home – that will offer intergenerational living for sisters and seniors, as well as supportive housing and education for students at the university who are single mothers. Thus, the site is no longer wooded. Radio personality Gino Salomone noticed and posted about it on social media. “Almost every day, I would walk through the quiet and beauty of a pine forest at Mt. Mary College,” he wrote. “The majestic trees that were around for who knows how many years are gone.” According to a fact sheet provided by Mount Mary spokeswoman Kathleen Van Zeeland, about 300 trees are being cut down to make way for the building, and 225 of them were non-native Scotch pine trees that were found to be diseased and “reaching the end of their life…
Auburn, New York, Citizen, July 9, 2020: Eco Talk: How to spot the tree-eating gypsy moth
Gypsy moths have been making the news recently, as their population in some regions of the state is causing a lot of defoliation. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation website, they are causing noticeable defoliation in both central and western New York. Gypsy moth populations can remain at almost undetectable numbers for a number of years, and then for some unknown or unexplainable reason the population skyrockets. When populations are high, there are an estimated one million caterpillars per acre in some forests. While a single year of defoliation will not kill hardwood trees, there is decreased fall foliage. As you may already suspect, the gypsy moth is not native to the United States. They were brought here from France in the late 1860s with the intent of developing a silk industry in the United States. The experiment was not successful and some of course escaped, becoming established in Medford, Massachusetts, and since spreading. By 1981, the gypsy moth was found throughout New York state, and they are now considered to be naturalized in New York’s forests. It is not the adult moth that causes the problem. It is the larvae (caterpillars) that hatch from overwintering egg cases in April and May that start eating the emerging young leaves of many tree species. The early damage from the tiny caterpillars often goes unnoticed. Once the caterpillars are close to an inch in length, their huge appetites kick in and become visible with thinning tree canopies. The caterpillars will grow to just over 2 inches…
If you are looking for rays of hope in dark times, consider this: The urban forest in Washington is lush and vital. It is one part of our (green) infrastructure that is being maintained proactively and, from a plant lover’s perspective, has never looked more interesting or been more inspiring. Those of us who have lived in this town for a long time remember when that wasn’t the case, with an alarming decline in the canopy of the urban forest due to neglect and development, a situation that led to the creation of the nonprofit Casey Trees. The condition of the urban forest goes beyond pure aesthetics. A leafy city is a cooler, cleaner city; it’s simply a nicer place to live, and it makes us healthier in mind and body. The tree, it turns out, is the one hugging us. Today, the city government has an active program of replacing dead trees and uses interactive maps to encourage residents to get involved in the care of newly planted trees. Moreover, there is a collective sense that in an age of climate change and more extreme weather, the need for a healthy urban forest has never been greater…
A fragment of history has been ripped out of Ramona with the recent removal of a eucalyptus tree in the Ramona Main Street Colonnade. Many of the Colonnade trees were planted in 1909 to be grown and harvested for railroad ties until it was discovered the wood often splintered and cracked. Nonetheless, the trees provided welcome shade to locals traveling by horse and buggy and later offered a scenic corridor for drivers of all sorts of vehicles. The value of having a majestic gateway to Ramona that reflects the town’s rural character was recognized by the State Historical Resources Commission on Aug. 3, 2018. By unanimous approval, the commission placed the Colonnade on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic tree that was reported to have been felled June 15 was located between O’Reilly Auto Parts store at 1935 Main St. and Tanguay’s Ramona Truck & Auto repair shop at 1939 Main St. Chris Anderson, secretary of the Ramona Tree Trust which works to preserve and protect the Colonnade, said this particular tree was a replacement tree planted in 1993. Anderson said replacement trees were needed back then when the road was widened in the late 1980s and again in the early 1990s. Area landowners along with Kmart operators worked out a deal to replace the trees with Caltrans, which has jurisdiction over their right of way. Ordinarily, Anderson said a permit is needed from Caltrans to plant or remove a tree…
“Everything you see here, my momma planted it,” Jinnean Evans told ABC11. “And my momma is gone now. My sister is gone. I have had enough loss.” She’s upset because she awoke on Tuesday morning to discover that City of Raleigh workers were cutting her beloved fruit trees. “I come down and all I could see were these four guys and they were having at it,” she said. Evans said the men told her there was a complaint that people couldn’t see when going around the curve near her Farmington neighborhood home. “All they had to do was call me and say, ‘Ms. Evans, we had a complaint,'” she said, “and I would have told them I already made arrangements to have those trees trimmed back when the fruit is gone.” The City of Raleigh said a “visual obstruction” complaint was made in 2019. According to a statement from the city, “the limbs were encroaching into the street 2-3 feet making it a safety issue for drivers and pedestrians regarding visibility…”
Cleveland, Ohio, WKYC-TV, July 8, 2020: How to keep your trees healthy during the heat wave
Trees help to clean the air. They also help to provide shade this time of year. Of course, trees are also a great way to add a little beauty outside your home and keep things inside nice and cool. But with temperatures soaring into the 90s these last few days, keeping trees healthy can be a challenge. “Trees will show signs of drought stress when we haven’t had periods of rain,” explains Tedd Bartlett from Davey Tree. “You’re going to see some curling, some dropping, even some premature fall coloring.” Bartlett says while your outdoor plants require some water on a daily basis, your trees do require way more water. “The best thing you can do is regular watering. What you want to do is water your tree 3-5 times a week depending on the rainfall,” Bartlett says. He also recommends paying attention to what’s around the base of the tree and doing what he describes as “deep watering.” “Pull away some of the mulch from the base of the tree and create a well. When I say deep watering, it doesn’t mean digging out any soil away from the tree. It means applying enough water that filters into the root system deeper into the ground,” he explains. If you do notice that your tree has started to die, don’t worry. There is still time for it to recover if you catch it in time…
New Atlas, July 7, 2020: Beverly Hills to turn green with $2 billion tree-filled development
A sizable area of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, is set to turn green – literally – thanks to a new plant and tree-filled development designed by Foster + Partners. Assuming all goes to plan, the project will create two new residential towers and a hotel, and will feature sustainable design, including extensive greywater recycling to meet its considerable irrigation needs. The project, named One Beverly Hills, is being created in collaboration with Gensler, landscape architect Mark Rios, and developers Alagem Capital Group and Cain International. It will be located on a 17.5 acre (roughly 7 hectare) site currently home to the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and Beverly Hilton hotels. The existing hotels will be integrated into the new development, which will add an “ultra-luxury hotel,” two greenery-covered residential high-rise towers containing 303 residences in total, and a pavilion with retail and dining space. There will also be 4.5 acres (1.2 hectares) of publicly accessible botanical gardens and sculpture gardens, with pathways and extensive landscaping. In all, over 300 species of plants and trees will be planted…
UC Riverside today announced that its scientists have discovered a new treatment for a disease that has affected millions of acres of citrus crops worldwide and continues to threaten crops in California’s citrus hot spots including Riverside County. Fingertip-sized, moth-like flying insects spread citrus greening disease, also known as Huanglongbing or HLB, which can destroy plants’ vascular systems and render fruits misshapen and unsellable, and typically kills infected trees within a few years. The new treatment is an antimicrobial peptide that kills the bacterium in affected crops. It’s a naturally occurring molecule found in wild citrus relatives, but it needs to be applied a few times each year to fend off new insects that can keep re-infecting crops as time goes on. There remains no one-time systemic cure for the disease, although researchers contend the new treatment can be sprayed on healthy crops periodically as a preventive measure…
A Northeastern Pennsylvania family who watched as work crews, accompanied by armed federal marshals, destroyed their budding maple tree farm to make way for the failed Constitution Pipeline has settled with the company Williams for an undisclosed amount. A federal court has also vacated the eminent domain taking of about five acres, reversing an order it made more than five years ago. “We’re really glad that it’s ended,” said Catherine Holleran, co-owner of the 23-acre property that has been in the family for 50 years. “We’ve gotten our land returned to us. That was our main objective right from the first.” The Constitution Pipeline project would have carried Marcellus Shale gas from Pennsylvania to New York state. Though the project received federal approval and the necessary permits from Pennsylvania regulators, New York blocked the pipeline by not issuing permits. Williams dropped the project in February. The Holleran family of New Milford fought a lengthy battle to prevent the company from building the pipeline across their property. But in March 2016, the crews arrived at the 23-acre farm in rural Susquehanna County along with the federal marshalls, who wore bullet proof vests and carried semi-automatic weapons. The crew spent several days clearing about 558 trees, including some that were hundreds of years old…
National Science Foundation, July 7, 2020: Warming reduces trees’ ability to slow climate change
The world’s forests play an important role in mitigating climate change. Trees are carbon sinks — they absorb more carbon dioxide than they emit. But according to new National Science Foundation-funded research, the most prolific tree in North America, the Douglas fir, will absorb less atmospheric carbon dioxide in the future and therefore do less to slow climate change. “More warming for trees could mean more stress, more tree death and less capacity to slow global warming,” said University of Arizona dendrochronologist Margaret Evans. Dendrochronology is the scientific method of dating tree rings, which can provide data on climate and atmospheric conditions. “Until now, forests have stabilized the climate, but as they become more drought-stressed, they could become a destabilizing carbon source,” Evans said. Evans is senior author of a study published in Global Change Biology. To study the impact Douglas firs could have on future climate, researchers gathered a massive amount of data to understand the relationship between tree-ring width and climate. Tree rings are annual layers of growth made of carbon. When rings are thinner, that suggests the trees pulled less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “We chose to study Douglas firs because they have a huge environmental niche,” Evans said. “Douglas firs grow in the western half of North America, ranging from as far south as the mountains of southern Mexico, to the mountain peaks punctuating the Sonoran Desert, to the Pacific Northwest rainforests, to the frigid peaks of the Rocky Mountains…”
A Delhi Township woman is vowing to do whatever it takes to protect a more than 100-year-old tree on her property from a sidewalk construction project. The project is a part of the “Safe Routes 2 School” program. Holt Public Schools and Delhi Charter Township received a grant from the state to make safer routes for children walking to and from school. “I contacted the community development as soon as it started and I said, you know I have this big tree out front,” said homeowner Jessica Bouvier. “I really want to make sure you guys don’t cut into the roots, so is there any way that we can build above the tree so we don’t kill it.” Construction crews plan to work to remove earth and clear a path to level the ground in front of the tree for a sidewalk. Monday, Bouvier stood in front of the tree to prevent that from happening. She said the township previously told her the tree’s root system would be avoided. “It would cut into more roots and it would definitely kill this tree, for sure,” Bouvier said. “I had an arborist come out here he said if they cut into it, it’s going to die…”
Everybody knew that COVID-19 would bring a lot of changes but I’m not sure many people anticipated society’s sudden love of bushy trees. “This is our busiest spring ever. We have never sold as many big trees as we have this year,” is how Rob Farquhar, garden center manager at Brochu Nursery in Concord, put it. What’s the COVID connection? Social distancing. “People say: How can I hide my neighbor? I’ve never been home this much!” Farquhar said. “They want big shade trees and evergreen screening.” Even without neighbors to hide from, I’ve spent a lot more time contemplating the trees on my property during these stay-at-home months and have become positively Lorax-like in my admiration. When you really look at trees you have to admit that they are weird, monstrous, incredibly cool things. But they also seem imperiled. I’ve lost track of how many of our tree species are being attacked by invasive insects, invasive plants, new diseases, the shifting climate or a combination of all four. Pine, oak, maple, hemlock; varieties of each seem like potential candidates to join elm and chestnut – and, soon, ash – on the list of tree species wiped out in North America. That leads to a question: What should I plant if I want the tree to last for a century or more and turn into a gorgeous giant like a century-old ash tree I’ve admired in a neighboring town?
An attempt by the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to remove trees considered to be a wildfire risk along a stretch of track was halted by a cease-and-desist order from the United States Forest Service. This after the Forest Service filed a $25 million lawsuit last year against the railroad for allegedly causing one of the largest wildfires in the state’s history. The federal government claims a cinder from one of the railroad’s coal-fired steam locomotives ignited the 416 Fire in June 2018. That blaze burned more than 54,000 acres. The railroad faces other lawsuits seeking liability for the fire, including one from the insurance company of a nearby ski resort that was forced to close during the fire. The railroad denies its locomotive caused the fire, but months later committed to converting at least one locomotive to diesel fuel from coal. By the time the Forest Service cease-and-desist order was issued in late May, eight miles of the tree-cutting project had already been completed. Now, however, tree-cutting is at a standstill as the historic locomotives run on a limited schedule and USFS personnel review what has been downed and cleared thus far. “One of the chief complaints we hear is about fire mitigation,” said John Harper, general manager of American Heritage Railways, which owns DSNGRR. “And now we’re actively mitigating and people are concerned and upset about it…”
Recently, we published a study1 tracking tree mortality through an extreme drought for ~1.8 million individual trees over 8 years, revealing a continuous upward trend in mortality risk with respect to tree height. In the accompanying paper, Stephenson and Das dispute our findings, highlighting two scenarios in which broad changes in forest composition control mortality trends. We re-analyze our full tree-level dataset2, controlling for forest type by testing for an increasing height-mortality trend in ten unique topographic positions and ten unique forest types (Fig. 1). In all topographic positions and all forest types covered in the original 40,000-ha study area, we still find a consistent upward trend in mortality rate with increasing tree height. We also find that plot-based sampling schemes may not confidently detect the full height-mortality trend due to undersampling of tall trees in forests. Our remote sensing-based approach helps solve this logistical challenge. With these lines of evidence, alongside our original findings1, we argue in favor of a broad height-mortality trend that is interactive and modulated by species-specific factors. Drought-induced tree mortality is controlled by a complex series of interacting stressors—not by a single binary factor…
The city is betting on an experimental program to control emerald ash borers before the destructive bugs kill off what’s left of our ash trees. Before the invasive species of Asian insect started making its way up the Highway 401 corridor from the U.S. about 10 years ago, Toronto was home to an estimated 860,000 ash trees. Since then, the emerald ash borer infestation has killed or resulted in the removal of all but about 10,000 ash trees in the city, with the rest likely headed for the same fate unless a solution is found. The answer — hopefully — is blowing in the wind and dangling from the high branches of ash trees in the Guild Park and Gardens, where the final battle is underway. My regular walking route includes the Guild Park, where signs were recently attached to ash trees asking people not to fool around with ropes that lead to two types of traps suspended far above the ground. Josh McMeekin, a forest health care inspector with urban forestry, said the Guild area is “a unique place, very ash dominant…”
City officials are seeking to regulate how residents can grow native prairie grasses on their properties, aiming to allow those plantings without bringing unwanted wildlife and other problems into neighborhoods. The Decatur City Council on Monday will consider amending city code to allow for native planting areas, with guidelines and some restrictions. In a memo to the city council, City Manager Scot Wrighton said the goal was to offer an ordinance that “adds value to the urban landscape while still controlling the undesirable elements of uncontrolled prairie grass pastures.” Wrighton said the proposed rules were developed after staff met with an advisory committee that included representatives from several organizations, including the Macon County Conservation District, Richland Community College, U of I Master Gardeners Club of Decatur, Macon County Soil and Water Conservation District, Sustain Our Natural Areas and the Decatur Audubon Society. The council has a history with the issue. Members agreed last year to consider amending city code to allow for native planting areas and approved a temporary moratorium on the enforcement of high-grass nuisance code violations for properties that claimed to have authentic native or prairie grass landscaping…
To hear local leaders tell it, the proposed listing of western Joshua trees as an endangered species would be an economic catastrophe for the high desert Town of Yucca Valley. It would place an onerous regulatory burden on property owners, they say, at a time when they are being pinched by declining revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a state mandate to install a $375-million sewer system on parcels where the trees grow, as some residents put it, “like weeds.” But state wildlife authorities have recommended that Joshua trees be considered for listing. The recommendation was based on a review of a petition submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity, which argues that the trees are facing the risk of extinction after years of development, drought and more frequent wildfires due to climate change. And therein lies the pickle for the town of 21,000 residents along California 62 about 25 miles north of Palm Springs. On Monday, Assemblyman Chad Mayes (I-Yucca Valley) added a new wrinkle to the controversy on behalf of his constituents: He introduced a hastily crafted emergency bill that would amend the California Endangered Species Act to make it easier to take a threatened or endangered species found to be causing significant economic hardship or impacting critical infrastructure such as a sewer system. Mayes is especially interested in changing regulations that grant temporary protection to Joshua trees or any other species in the process of being considered for listing. “If the tree is just a candidate for listing,” Mayes said in an interview, “it doesn’t seem fair to make our struggling desert communities pay a heavy price for the international problem of climate change…
From the depths of the Shawnee National Forest to backyards in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois’ biggest trees are branching out. For the first time, the state’s champion trees are now available as an interactive digital map. “For more than 58 years, the Illinois Big Tree Register has inspired generations of big tree hunters who relish the opportunity to find and nominate the next champion tree,” says Jay Hayek, a University of Illinois Extensionforestry specialist in the department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES). “The map is an exciting new way for us to continue to discover and recognize the value of our largest native tree species.” NRES graduate and forestry technician Julia Allison developed the map, available at go.illinois.edu/championtrees, to give big tree hunters access to detailed information about each of the 88 champion trees listed on the Illinois Big Tree Register. The map includes tree species details, GPS coordinates, measurements, and their resulting scores, as well as a list of the 10 largest trees on record to date. Big tree enthusiasts can use the map to track down Illinois’ top-ranked tree, a 122-foot tall Eastern Cottonwood in Ogle County, and the county with the most champion trees, Union County in Southern Illinois. The register began in 1962 as a citizen-science outreach project to recognize the Prairie State’s largest native trees, and anyone with a tape measure can nominate a tree…
If there is one good thing to say about browntail caterpillar season, it’s that it is wrapping up. As far as enemies go, this foe is unassuming. But don’t be fooled by its small, fluffy appearance. The caterpillar’s hairs can cause a fierce itch when they land on skin. “It’s awful — the itch is worse than chicken pox,” says Valerie Folckemer, who encountered the insects at her house on Newbury Neck in Surry. The caterpillars are brown and can be identified by the two white stripes that run along their backs and by two distinctive orange dots. Their tiny hairs are barbed and toxic. “I am covered in a severe rash from this stupid caterpillar and have been for an entire week now; it just seems to be getting worse, not better,” said Jill Rothrock of Hancock. The itching started June 17 when she was running errands in Ellsworth. Her daughter spotted a caterpillar on her shirt. “I didn’t even look, I just screamed and tried to shake it off my shirt. My daughter screamed and ran away,” Rothrock recalled. A friend plucked the insect off her shirt with a paper towel. “Then the rash started getting worse. By the time I went to bed, I had what looked like hives on my chest, shoulder and neck.” The following Monday she went to the doctor, who prescribed a compound for the rash. It didn’t help much. “My doctor and his nurse said they are getting so many calls about this caterpillar and rashes that it is causing people,” she said. There is little good to say about browntail caterpillars, according to Tom Schmeelk, a forest entomologist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry…
In February, Fort Bend County Road and Bridge granted the city of Rosenberg 280 free oak trees. But nothing is really free. At the most recent Rosenberg City Council workshop meeting, council members discussed the cost of landscape irrigation for the live oak trees donated by Fort Bend County. City staff revealed that irrigation and installation for the trees could cost anywhere between $240,000 and $344,000. This project would be scheduled in three phases to allow the county’s contractor time to prepare the trees. Council agreed in February that the trees would be planted at center medians along major thoroughfares along Bryan Road, Spacek Road and possibly Town Center Boulevard. City staff explained that while the trees would be free, the city would have to pay for irrigation and other upkeep. “When we first discussed this, I had a feeling this was going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” council member Isaac Davila said. “We have more important things to spend money on. That’s a wish list. If we had a lot of extra money then maybe. But we don’t. I’m against it.” Mayor Bill Benton said nice towns have a lot of things like sidewalks and trees. “I think we are out of touch with our constituents, especially the poorer ones,” Davila responded…
Southern Living, July 1, 2020: The Manchineel Is a Scary Tropical Tree That Can Kill You
There’s a toxic coastal plant you need to know about, and it’s called the manchineel tree. You may have seen one during your travels—it’s often accompanied by cautionary signs and a bright red band painted around its trunk as a warning to all who pass by. While not all manchineel trees are so painted, they require a fervent advisory, because they are one of the most dangerous plant species around. The manchineel (aka Hippomane mancinella, aka the Tree of Death) is native to coastal areas in southern North America, such as South Florida, as well as the northern reaches of Central and South America and the Caribbean. The plant gets its name from the Spanish word manzanilla, which means “little apple.” It is so named because the fruit and foliage of the plant resemble those of apple trees. It’s also been called manzanilla de la muerte, or “little apple of death,” a foreboding moniker if ever we’ve heard one. As it happens, all of the fearsome names are warranted. The manchineel has bright green leaves and round, yellowish-green fruits, making it a rather ordinary looking tropical plant. Don’t let it fool you, though: Every part of the manchineel is poisonous. The fruit is toxic, and the sap from the leaves and stems is too. If touched, the irritants found in manchineel sap can produce inflammation and painful blisters on the skin. Passersby are warned not to stand underneath the tree when it’s raining, as dripping water can transfer toxins from the tree to anyone nearby. And finally, burning manchineel bark has been known to cause irritation, even blindness, due to airborne poison ash…
Arkansas City, Kansas, Cowley Courier Traveler, July 1, 2020: Tree removal digs up complaint
Some of the trees planted as part of a 2006 Summit Street beautification project are being cut down and removed in response to complaints from businesses. But removing the trees has also led to complaints from residents who like them. Public Services Supervisor Tony Tapia said several business owners in the 100 block of South Summit Street want the trees removed because they hide their signs and make their location less visible. “Like TCK investments,” he said. “They’ve got a new sign and they want the tree removed.” Tapia said that Riggs Tax Service has also complained about his sign being blocked and was also concerned about the tree on the north side of his building. He said the tree was breaking up the sidewalk and filling his bottom stairwell with leaves. “So the only thing I can do is take them out,” Tapia said. In some areas, the trees are causing a lot of damage, Tapia said. Sidewalks in front of Starlyn Venus Insurance at Summit Street and Chestnut Avenue are being badly damaged by tree roots. Another problem area is near the Council on Aging building in the 300 block of South Summit Street. He said Bob Niles complained that the roots were popping up the tile work in the doorway, so that tree was also removed. Tapia said the city is not planning to remove all of the trees, just the ones causing problems and receiving complaints. The only other tree slated for removal at this time is in front of The Grinder Man restaurant…
Miami, Florida, Miami Today, July 1, 2020: Million Trees plans pruned
Million Trees Miami, an initiative funded by Miami-Dade County, has set its sights on establishing a 30% tree canopy in the county through tree giveaways, plantings, grants and special programs directed at shading bus stops and playgrounds. In 2016, the Miami-Dade County Urban Tree Canopy Assessment placed the county’s coverage at 19.9%. However, Gabriela Lopez, community image director for Neat Streets Miami, which oversees Million Trees, said up to 30% of this canopy may have been lost over the past four years due to storms such as Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Dorian. The organization’s original goal, she said, was to plant one million trees in Miami Dade; roughly the number needed to reach the 30% canopy based on 2016 estimates. Now, the goal is to plant as many trees as possible while the county works to update the assessment via satellite imaging and reassess, a project that Ms. Lopez said should be completed by next spring. This percentage, she continued, “is the national standard for a healthy urban environment.” In addition to providing aesthetic benefits, Ms. Lopez said studies have shown that trees provide economic perks. In fact, well-placed trees can raise property values, increase the time and money pedestrians spend at shopping centers, and help residents and businesses save up to 56% on annual air-conditioning costs, according to the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service…
Southern Living, June 30, 2020: Chaste Tree Produces Pretty Lilac Blooms in Summer
The shrubs are blooming and the trees are bursting—you know what time it is. Summertime brings gorgeous flowers, lush leaves, and bright colors in every corner of the garden. Seeing all the vibrant garden changes makes the summer heat almost bearable—almost. This season, a blooming tree with pretty lilac flower spikes has been catching our eyes, and we think it’s a gorgeous planting for Southern gardens. Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is also known as Texas lilac tree, Vitex, chasteberry, and Monk’s pepper. It’s a great tree for small yards and compact spaces. The multi-trunked tree grows to heights of 10-15 feet tall and tends to spread. It produces small, spiked blue and lavender flowers in summer along with long, fragrant grey-green leaves. During the early hot days of the season, branched panicles emerge. Those are the colorful, easily recognized flower spikes that make chaste tree such a popular planting. Some selections produce pink and white flowers too. It’s a hardy planting that’s drought tolerant and can stand up to the hot Southern climates, but you’ll get the best bloom by providing full sun and regular water in well-drained soil. It’s even hardy enough to plant in coastal conditions. Chaste tree can also withstand garden pests and browsing deer. It does require regular pruning to keep the tree looking its best. After planting, it doesn’t take long for Southern gardeners to declare this tree their favorite summer bloomer in the garden…
A group of students in Marion made their voices heard after losing a classmate. Katie Jo Maynus, 18, was a graduate of Oak Hill High School. She was killed in a crash after she went past a stop sign at the intersection of 4th Street and Butler and was hit by a semi. Her friends blame a tree that was blocking the stop sign.”It is dangerous because the trees you can barely see any cars when you cross by until you are right up on them,” said Emily Henry, one of Maynus’ friends. Some of the branches were cut back after the deadly accident and a “Stop Ahead” sign was put up. Even with those changes, the stop sign is still hard to see and Maynus’ friends, family and even one of her teachers want the tree to come down. “I’ve lost kids to drunk driving accidents and cancer and suicide and stupid accidents but this is the first one that is 100 percent preventable and I am not going to rest until it is taken care of,” said teacher Danielle Hewitt. “We do not want any other family to go through what we have gone through and are going through and will continue to go through for the rest of our lives,” said Maynus’ grandmother, Arvida Newcomer…
Port Huron, Michigan, Help trees regrow leaves if gypsy moths get to them (June 30, 2020)
First introduced in eastern New England more than 100 years ago, the gypsy moth was brought to the United States for use in silkmaking, said Scott Lint, Forest Resources Division forest health expert for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.But they escaped. Arriving in Michigan in the 80s, the species caused serious problems in the early 90s. While the insects have become somewhat naturalized over the years, there are occasionally outbreaks when certain conditions are suitable. These outbreaks usually collapse on their own, but there are two areas of the the state causing concern for the DNR this summer. “We suspect this population will also collapse, but the issue is from a nuisance standpoint for homeowners,” he said. “They have to tolerate thousands of caterpillars crawling on their house and stripping all the leaves off their trees…“
The city of Elgin will not preemptively cut down 10 trees along Chicago Street after residents complained about such a plan. The 10 trees, including some large silver maples, are on the public parkway. They had been slated for removal because of “a high likelihood of considerable damage or death” — and therefore a risk to property and people — during the ongoing rebuilding of East Chicago Street, city spokeswoman Molly Gillespie said. The city sent a letter with an apology to residents last week and offered to plant “a larger-than-typical replacement tree,” Gillespie said. After negative feedback from some residents, the city opted instead to allow the homeowners who live across from the trees to decide whether to keep them or replace them before construction proceeds further, Gillespie said. “We will be doing as much as practical to not harm the trees that are requested to remain standing, but if during construction we encounter a tree and have concerns it is a threat to safety, we will take steps to remove it,” she said…
A dead tree is a topic of debate between the city-parish and a property owner for more than two months. Kim Scarton’s records show that she called the city-parish’s 311 call center about a dead tree behind her fence line on June 26, 2019, and took down a work order. But it wasn’t until 2 On Your Side got involved did she receive an answer from the city-parish about who it thinks should take responsibility. “We requested removal, we got a work order number and they said they’d be in touch,” said Scarton. A couple of weeks went by. Scarton says her neighbor called the city-parish after a tree behind her house was damaged during Tropical Storm Barry. On July 15, 2019, she says a representative from the South Drainage Department came out to investigate and told her the trees were not on their properties, but in the city-parish servitude. On July 23, 2019, two city-parish arborists visited Scarton’s home. “We were told they’re on city property and they’ll be recommended for removal,” Scarton said. After following up a few times, Scarton said she didn’t hear anything. Then on August 24, 2019, a branch fell from the tree onto Scarton’s roof. Estimates to repair the damage exceed $3,500…
Standing on the Ironwood Golf Course, Reid Gibson can identify a tree’s species, diameter and condition within a matter of minutes. Gibson, an arborist with Davey Resource Group, has entered thousands of trees in Normal into a program that will help the town fight off invasive insect species and keep track of its urban canopy. With a handheld computer attached to his tool belt, he is able to pinpoint the exact location of the tree into a geographic location system to create a database of the town of Normal’s trees. “In the future, we’ll use the tree inventory for years to come, so it’s a huge benefit for the town,” said Tyler Bain, Normal park maintenance supervisor. “We’re trying to put trees in the urban forest in the forefront because it’s not always there. “We’re trying to protect what we have and improve it for the future. Gibson completed a nearly two-month long inventory of 12,000 trees throughout Normal. He has surveyed roughly 250 trees per day, working 10 hour days Monday through Friday to prepare a database for Normal’s tree canopy…”
Grand Rapids, Michigan, WXMI-TV, June 29, 2020: 85-year-old says tree service took his money and ran
A tree service in Barry County recently featured by the FOX 17 Problem Solvers is accused of taking money and not doing the work. Now an 85-year-old veteran says he too is out hundreds of dollars. Russell Golden still works hard for his money and takes good care of it. “I can’t afford to lose money and other old people can’t either,” says Golden. In March, he noticed some of his oak trees beginning to rot, so he says he hired Darren Huffman of Darren’s Tree Service to do some trimming. Golden made a contract for the job that outlined its $900 cost. “I had him sign a contract, he was supposed to do it in a week. And he said he had to have half the money, so I wrote him out a check for $500. I never seen him since,” Golden explained. And Golden says the check did cash. FOX 17 has tried multiple times to get in touch with Darren, once again Monday night, we received his voicemail…
Atlanta may get a new and improved tree ordinance after all. The Atlanta City Council held a Tree Ordinance Work Session on June 25 to discuss a proposed draft ordinance prepared by consultants and released March 20. But it was an alternative draft tree ordinance presented by a citizens group that stole the show. Chet Tisdale, a retired environmental attorney who serves on the City of Atlanta’s Tree Conservation Commission, helped convene 22 citizens – professional arborists, developers, an ecologist, attorneys, members of watershed protection organizations, members of tree protection groups among others – who worked the alternative draft tree ordinance. The citizens version addresses many of the criticisms the public had of the draft tree ordinance proposed by the consultants, with some people questioning whether it had more loopholes than the tree ordinance Atlanta has had in place for the past 20 years. Tisdale said the citizens alternative is still a work in progress, and he welcomed the public to propose ways to make it “a tree protection ordinance that the city of Atlanta deserves…”
An arborist has accidentally amputated his leg while cutting down a tree in New South Wales. The 51-year-old man was working in Wilberforce, 61km northwest of Sydney, on Monday when a rope wrapped by his leg got caught in a nearby woodchipper. The machine pulled the rope taut, severing his leg beneath the knee. The force of the rope being yanked into the woodchipper sent the man’s detached leg ‘flying into the air’, the Careflight team told ABC News. The man suffered from significant blood loss due to the amputation and his colleagues provided first aid. ‘The moment the leg went flying through the air, the quick actions of others meant they were able to grab and preserve it,’ a CareFlight spokeswoman said. Careflight’s rapid response helicopter were called to the scene just before 11.30am. NSW Police officers who were first on scene had already tied a tourniquet around the man’s leg, significantly increasing his chances of survival after the incident…
At the heart of tensions that threaten to trigger a new war between Israel and Lebanon are lines of trees planted along their blurred border. The trees are growing next to Israel’s concrete border walls that tower over Lebanon. They won’t just make this place greener. The trees will eventually block Israeli spy cameras that peer across the line. That is something Israel won’t allow. Now the United Nations is trying to broker a deal to prevent this dispute from sparking another deadly conflict between the two sides. “The cutting of a branch here could trigger a war,” said Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which has more than 10,000 peacekeepers spread out across the south of the country. The tensions center not just on the trees but also who is planting them. Green Without Borders is an environmental group aligned with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed military and political force designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. It has run tree-planting projects with Hezbollah before and, with Lebanese military support and government backing, the group has also built a series of cinder block lookout towers that Israeli officials say are used by Hezbollah to plot attacks…
Kennebec, Maine, Journal, June 28, 2020: Knotty tree fungus strikes cherry, plum trees in Augusta
A nasty fungus has infected numerous cherry trees in the city, including 14 at a city park where officials plan to have them cut down and removed. The black knot fungus is slowly killing cherry trees at Monument Park, off Memorial Circle, clinging to the trees’ branches and leaving them barren and dying. Community Services Director Leif Dahlin said the city’s arborist, Rich Wurpel, has spent hundreds of hours over the past several years trying to battle back against the fungus, but it keeps coming back. This year, it has spread to the point trees will be cut down before they die on their own — an effort to prevent further spread of the fungus. “You can see where he’s clipped and clipped and clipped,” Dahlin said of Wurpel, noting he wipes his pruning clippers off between each cut to prevent spreading the fungus. “But this year it exploded and, tragically, those trees are done. They’re done. It’s time for them to go.” The fungus is also affecting cherry trees in Mill Park, Calumet Park and other places, which will also be cut down. Experts say the fungus can also harm plum trees. Dahlin briefed the Augusta City Council on the situation last week because people are sure to see trees being cut down at Monument Park, adjacent to Memorial Circle, according to City Manager William Bridgeo…
What’s going on with the trees in Beverly Hills? That’s what a lot of 90210 insiders have been asking for months after the Beverly Hills City Council voted in February to move forward with the removal of close to 1,200 trees at a cost of $2.1 million, citing fire safety in the wildfire-prone area. Phase 1 was due to begin March 20 in the Trousdale Estates area, but the removal process is taking a breather amid the pandemic while, at the same time, opposition is mounting. A rep for the city of Beverly Hills tells THR that the removal plan is in “pause mode right now” and no trees are currently being removed. When the work began — “as we often find,” the rep added — some residents indicated they were not aware of the plans, but due to the pandemic, in-person outreach was not possible. “So we are resetting,” with plans to hire a consultant to develop a wildfire assessment report. Once that is done, community meetings will be scheduled for the fall, and if approved, further tree trimming would begin later in the year. But local leaders should expect resistance. THR has learned that dissenters of the removal include Jeffrey Katzenberg. Calls to other residents known to disapprove of the plan were not returned. Grassroots efforts are underway to fight the removal, and THR obtained a letter signed by Nickie Miner, president of the Benedict Canyon Association, who writes that “healthy ‘green’ trees we now know act as a firewall for structures in case of wildfires. The owl population along with other wildlife habitat in our trees and hills are necessary to maintain ecological balance. Especially in this period of national emergency, while our community, the nation and the world is under siege by a virus that attacks the lungs, we want to ensure there is no impression that the City of Beverly Hills is attacking our oxygen producing trees…”
Atlanta, Georgia, WABE Radio, June 25, 2020: Atlanta Is Still Trying To Redo Its Tree Ordinance
The city of Atlanta is taking another whack at developing a new tree protection ordinance. The rule is meant to protect trees in the city, but there’s a lot of unhappiness with it. And replacing it has been a challenge.The old ordinance is about 20 years old, according to City Councilman Matt Westmoreland. For years, city officials have said they’ll work on an update in an effort to maintain the city’s tree canopy or even to expand it, with a goal of 50% tree cover. An analysis released a few years agofound that as of 2014, Atlanta was at about 47%, and losing trees as older, smaller houses were torn down and replaced with larger ones. “It does an inadequate job of protecting trees, which it’s intended to do,” Planning Commissioner Tim Keane said Thursday at a City Council work session. “Also the process within the tree ordinance is convoluted and unpredictable. So it’s a little bit of a kind of worst-case scenario.” Last year, work began on a rewrite of the ordinance as part of the city’s new urban ecology framework. But a meeting in November meant to update the public on the new ordinance ended up, as one City Council member referred to it, a “nightmare.” Attendees at that meeting were frustrated with the lack of progress on developing new rules to protect trees. Another tree meeting that was supposed to happen the following night was abruptly canceled…
Columbus, Ohio, The Ohio State University, June 23, 2020: Orange “Dust” from Callery Pears
Homeowners in southwest Ohio were surprised yesterday to awake to find sidewalks, cars, and streets beneath Callery pears (Pyrus calleryana) covered in a fine sprinkling of orange dust. The unusual event spawned rampant speculation on social media and captured the attention of the local news media. The source of the orange patina appears to be Gymnosporangium clavipes; the cedar-quince rust fungus. The “orange dust” is actually the spores of the fungus and the source are tube-like structures, called aecia, which are sprouting from the fruits and to a lesser extent, the stems of infected Callery pears. Fruit infections cause no harm to the overall health of infected trees. Although the stem infections may cause minor tip dieback, the damage is usually inconsequential to tree health. The rain of orange is generally considered to be an aesthetic issue; however, affected homeowners may have a different perspective. Plant pathologists developed the Disease Triangle to graphically illustrate the three conditions that must be present at the same time for a plant disease to develop. Viewed from a management perspective, the Triangle is helpful with showing that by removing any one of the three components, disease development can be prevented…
It started sometime in early June. Bob and Kathy Taylor noticed tiny caterpillars showing up everywhere. The creatures quickly multiplied outside their house in South Bristol — crawling on walls, railings and steps, swinging and falling from trees and underneath gutters — ferociously chomping on tree leaves. Forget sitting outside on the deck, where chewed up leaves and millions of caterpillar droppings rain down. Gypsy moths are raising havoc, and not just on the Taylor property on Mosher Road. The leaf-eating pests are showing up in other areas of South Bristol and elsewhere. There is a serious outbreak of gypsy moth caterpillars this year in the Bristol Mountain area and several other locations within Ontario County,” said Russell Welser Sr., resource educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County. Trees are being defoliated. This caterpillar in its later growth stage can eat up to a square foot of leaf surface in a single day…”
Futurity, June 24, 2020: Swaying trees could power new forest fire alarm
The remote forest fire detection and alarm system gets power from the movement of the trees in the wind, researchers report. The device, known as MC-TENG—short for multilayered cylindrical triboelectric nanogenerator—generates electrical power by harvesting energy from the sporadic movement of the tree branches from which it hangs. “As far as we know, this is the first demonstration of such a novel MC-TENG as a forest fire detection system,” says lead author Changyong Cao, who directs the Laboratory of Soft Machines and Electronics in Michigan State University’s School of Packaging. “The self-powered sensing system could continuously monitor the fire and environmental conditions without requiring maintenance after deployment,” he says. For Cao and his team, the tragic forest fires in recent years across the American West, Brazil, and Australia were driving forces behind this new technology. Cao believes that early and quick response to forest fires will make the task of extinguishing them easier, significantly reducing the damage and loss of property and life. Traditional forest fire detection methods include satellite monitoring, ground patrols, and watch towers, among others, which have high labor and financial costs in return for low efficiency. Current remote sensor technologies are becoming more common, but primarily rely on battery technology for power…
Trees can provide shade on a hot day, and beauty to the landscape, but they can also pose a threat to your life and property, especially during inclement weather. You should also double check your insurance policy to see what’s covered. “If you’re going to allow those trees to live on your property, just be aware of their condition,” said Hoover City Forester, Colin Connor. Connor said you should be diligent about inspecting the trees on your property. “Preventative maintenance is a better practice. Considering the risk that trees can pose to property, whether it be your home, an automobile, heaven forbid, your life, knowing those risks, it’s important to be aware of the trees not just accepting that they’re growing in your yard,” Connor explained. Connor recommends walking your property following storms looking for differences in your trees, like leans or parts of the tree that no longer have leaves…
Legal Cheek, June 24, 2020: Branching out: Could we give legal rights to trees?
In times gone by, membership of Greenpeace would have caused some to form stereotypical, new-age assumptions about you, whereas today joining Extinction Rebellion gives rise to no such stigma. Whether you’re a tree-hugging, sandal-wearing, all organic vegan or simply thinking about switching to a bamboo toothbrush, we’re all increasingly aware of the pejorative impact that humans are having on our planet. Not least politicians, who continuously fail to reach consensus on how the international community should manage various environmental problems. However, in amongst the environmental hullabaloo, in an odd Guardian article here, or a chance TED Talk there, there are some who think that there should be a paradigm shift in the way we think about the degradation of nature — they think that trees (and other natural objects) should have their own legal rights. “Don’t be silly,” I hear you cry. “Trees can’t have rights, they’re not even human!” But hold on. The notion that a natural object could be a rights holder is not as bizarre as it first seems. After all, companies, nation states and even ships have legal personality and they’re obviously not human, so it deserves serious consideration. The idea that trees can have legal rights (hereafter called “the Trees Thesis”) was originally posited by Christopher Stone in an article published in 1972 entitled ‘Should Trees Have Standing? — Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects’…
Greenbiz, June 24, 2020: Is destruction the inevitable fate of our forests?
The world lost 9.3 million acres of tropical primary forests last year — an area nearly the size of Switzerland constituting some of the most valuable ecosystems on the planet for climate stability and biodiversity conservation. According to the latest data on Global Forest Watch, the area of forest loss in 2019, both overall and in such forest-rich countries as Brazil, the DRC and Indonesia, was remarkably similar to the year before. Does this mean we’re stuck at this unacceptably high level of forest destruction, year after year, despite the many, varied efforts to stop it? Not necessarily. Deforestation could get dramatically worse or dramatically better, depending on the road that we choose. Remember that all of the reported 2019 forest loss happened before any of us had heard of COVID-19 and does not reflect any impacts of the pandemic. It’s important to consider the 2019 numbers on their own terms, in the new light of current health and economic crises, and in the context of decisions shaping the recovery…
The Las Conchas Fire of 2011 burned more than 150,000 acres of Bandelier National Monument and the Jemez Mountains. To help reforest the region, the Nature Conservancy teamed up with federal, state, university and tribal partners. In the fall of 2019, the team collected 350,000 ponderosa pine seeds – half of which will grow into seedlings and be replanted. It was the state’s biggest seed collection effort since the 1970s. But many more seeds are needed for reforestation, said Collin Haffey, conservation manager for the Nature Conservancy of New Mexico. “When you’re talking about multiple species of seed, piñon, and Douglas fir and aspen, those seeds are really hard to come by in any given year,” Haffey said. Ponderosa seedlings from Bandelier are now growing at the New Mexico State University John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center in Mora. The collected pine cones were first placed in a greenhouse. “That changes the temperature within the cone and allows them to open up,” said Owen Burney, the center’s director. “If you go in there on a pretty warm day, it sounds like a big giant bowl of Rice Krispies as the cones all slowly open up.” The crew places the pine cones in a tumbler, cleans the seeds that fall out and tests them for viability. Seeds can also be stored in a freezer for up to 50 years. The group will start planting the trees this fall and also plans to collect more seeds. The goal is to plant 100,000 trees in the Jemez Mountains over the next two years…
The state of Michigan is asking residents to be on the lookout for an invasive species that could damage or kill more than 70 different crops and plants in the state. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says the spotted lanternfly could be the next invasive species to threaten Michigan’s agriculture and natural resources. The lanternfly could negatively affect a wide variety of plants including grapes, apples, hops and hardwood trees. So far, the species has not been detected in Michigan, the DNR said in a June 23 news release. However, it is “spreading rapidly” across the country. It was first detected in the United States in 2014 in Pennsylvania. To date, infestations have been found in Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. “Prevention and early detection are vital to limiting the spread of spotted lanternfly,” said Robert Miller, invasive species prevention and response specialist for Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The spotted lanternfly damages trees, crops and plants by sucking sap and secreting large amounts of a sugar-rich, sticky liquid called honeydew. This honeydew and the resulting black, sooty mold can kill plants and foul surfaces. Additionally, the honeydew often attracts other pests, especially hornets, wasps and ants, affecting outdoor recreation and complicating crop harvests…
Hundreds of thousands of unused kegs of Guinness have been repurposed to fertilise Christmas trees during the coronavirus lockdown. The forestry project is one of several environmentally friendly disposal routes the famous Irish brewery employed as it brought back millions of litres of stout, beer and ale from closed pubs and bars. At the start of the lockdown in Ireland, Guinness reduced operations at its St James’ Gate brewery in Dublin to the minimal level required to keep its yeast stocks alive. It was the first time that had happened since the 1916 Easter Rising rebellion in the city. Now production has ramped up once again as pubs and bars across Ireland, the UK and beyond prepare to start welcoming customers back… Aidan Crowe, the director of operations at the brewery, said Guinness decided in the early days of lockdown to support its on-trade customers by retrieving the kegs that were set to be unused due to the closure of hospitality outlets. “It’s been a tough time in the brewery but it’s been a much tougher time if you’re trying to run on-trade outlets in this part of the world,” he said. “That’s why it was very, very important right from the start of the lockdown to support the on-trade as much as we could. That’s why we took the decision to bring back all of the beer from the on-trade. “Basically what we do is we take all the keg beer back and we decant it and we disperse the product through a number of environmentally sustainable routes.” Mr Crowe said the vast majority of the beer goes to willow and Christmas tree plantations, to be used as nutrients in those farms…
Last fall’s cold temperatures are affecting deciduous trees this summer. Leaves died while still on branches before falling off as a result of the weather, which set off a chain reaction being felt months later. “We had these sudden, deep cold temperatures that killed leaves and therefore robbing those trees of their nutrients for growth in the spring,” said Cheryl Moore-Gough, a Montana State Extension horticulture specialist. This spring and summer, lots of trees have either died or are on the brink of death. While they may survive, leaves didn’t bud the way they normally do. The trend is evident in Bozeman and statewide, Moore-Gough said. Moore-Gough recommends people don’t remove trees assumed to be dead until after the Fourth of July to give them ample time to start growing leaves again. As recently as this week, Moore-Gough has seen green ash trees — the type most affected by the early cold snap — around Bozeman starting to bud. “It’s not too late for those trees to recover,” she said. Homeowners can check their trees by seeing if branches are brittle. If they snap easily, the branch is likely dead, Moore-Gough said. Using a thumbnail or knife to scrape the surface of the branch can reveal a green or brown color underneath. If it’s green, the branch is alive and if it’s brown, it’s dead. The thumbnail test can also be used on young trees’ trunks…
The locally famous leaning tree that spawned generations of memories will come down, county officials said Monday. The Johnson County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved removing the tree that, for more than 150 years, stood at a 30-degree angle about 3 miles south of Franklin in the 3500 block of Airport Road. Two weeks ago, the three-member board tabled discussion of the tree after receiving conflicting analyses from master arborists who examined it. On Friday, the county received the results of another, more in-depth study that the two arborists—Michael G. Webster, of SavATree, and Lindsey Purcell, of Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources— collaborated on. The second study revealed that the tree is at “extreme risk” of falling within a year. The arborists found that a large dead limb in the canopy is particularly at risk, but recommended the entire tree be removed, as interior rot is also above acceptable levels. The 70-inch diameter tree has an average of five inches in diameter of sound interior wood on the east and west sides of the tree, according to the report. But a tree of this size should have 20 inches of sound wood to be deemed low risk for failure, the report said…
Phys.org, June 22, 2020: When planting trees threatens the forest
Campaigns to plant huge numbers of trees could backfire, according to a new study that is the first to rigorously analyze the potential effects of subsidies in such schemes. The analysis, published on June 22 in Nature Sustainability, reveals how efforts such as the global Trillion Trees campaign and a related initiative (H. R. 5859) under consideration by the U.S. Congress could lead to more biodiversity loss and little, if any, climate change upside. The researchers emphasize, however, that these efforts could have significant benefits if they include strong subsidy restrictions, such as prohibitions against replacing native forests with tree plantations. “If policies to incentivize tree plantations are poorly designed or poorly enforced, there is a high risk of not only wasting public money but also releasing more carbon and losing biodiversity,” said study co-author Eric Lambin, the George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. “That’s the exact opposite of what these policies are aiming for…”
Atlas Obscura, June 22, 2020: A Franken-Forest of Fruit Trees Is Growing on Governors Island
On Governors Island, just a five-minute ferry ride from Manhattan, art professor Sam Van Aken plots his fantasy orchard. He plans on opening a public park with 50 blossoming trees that bloom into a mosaic of pinks, reds, purples, and whites. Come summer and fall, after the flowers have faded, visitors will be able to leisurely pick among 200 rare varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, and apples. Van Aken is a master at grafting, an agricultural practice that involves transplanting one type of tree stem onto another, forming a sort of arboreal chimera. For his most well-known project, his “Tree of 40 Fruit,” Van Aken gathered rare varieties of stone fruit and grafted 40 different cultivars onto a single tree in Syracuse, New York. Now, he wants to open an entire orchard of these fantastical fruit trees. Van Aken hopes his Open Orchard will be both a breathtaking art installation and a living library that documents New York’s lost agricultural history. “I think it’s a great way to maintain diversity,” says Amit Dhingra, a professor of horticulture at Washington State University who works in rare-fruit conservation. On top of the novelty for the public, a repository of fruit genetics can help scientists like Dhingra learn more about disease resistance or hardiness in the face of climate change. “These types of projects should be planted wherever they can,” he says. “I’m envious that we don’t have one in my own town…”
Richmond, British Columbia, News, June 22, 2020: Nine trees getting axed in Richmond city centre
One Richmond resident isn’t happy about the loss of nine oak trees that line Lansdowne Road at No. 3 Road, which are being removed in conjunction with the redevelopment of the property. A sign appeared on the first tree late last week giving “48 hour notice” that the trees will be removed because they are in “poor condition” and the line of trees “conflict with linear park construction.” The date of removal is June 22 or later. Don Flintoff said he noticed the sign late last week and was puzzled that what appear to be healthy trees are going to be removed. The oak trees are located on Lansdowne next to what used to be the community police building and Richmond Centre for Disability. That lot and three adjacent ones to the north are being developed with an office tower and three residential towers with 365 units – 20 of which will be affordable housing units. “It’s an area of town that is going to be high-rise – we need these trees,” Flintoff said. A 10-metre wide linear park will be built where the trees are, and it is part of a pathway linking the Garden City Lands to the Oval. The developer will build the linear park, and then it will be transferred back to city ownership. The plan is for the developer to pay $11,700 to compensate for the trees, and double the number will be planted in the city…
Des Moines, Iowa, WOI-TV, June 21, 2020: Emerald ash borer creeps its way into Des Moines ash trees
The City of Des Moines is treating and removing Ash Trees following the discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) infestations. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says EAB’s are a “small, metallic green, invasive wood-boring beetle native to east Asia.” These critters attack and kill ash trees throughout their lives. Adult beetles can live on the outside of the trees and feed on leaves during the summer while their larvae feed on the living plant tissue and underneath the bark. DNR says EAB larvae that tunnel through the tree are “ultimately” what kills the trees, and humans are to blame for the spread of the beetles. EAB’s can kill a tree in two to four years. The entire state of Iowa is under federal firewood transport quarantine, according to the DNR. That means it’s strongly recommended that firewood only be obtained from within the county that it’s burned. So, how is the City of Des Moines treating the EAB problem? The Des Moines Emerald Ash Borer Management Program is responding to the infestations by treating or removing infected trees. The City says they have a plan to either treat or remove every ash tree in the next five years…
A century ago, Chicago was a leader in shading its neighborhoods with an urban forest. But as Chicago continues to lose trees, other cities have caught up and surpassed us. For a host of environmental and quality-of-life reasons, It’s time Chicago worked to regain its status as exceptional when it comes to tree-lined streets. Since 2010, due to disease and other factors, Chicago has lost an average of 10,000 more trees than it has planted every year. That’s 200 fewer trees in each of the city’s 50 wards on average each year. The city now has a tree canopy that covers just 19% of its land. The metropolitan area has a canopy of 15.5%. By comparison, New York has 21% coverage and Los Angeles has 25%. Restoring Chicago’s urban forest will be a big job, but the longer we wait, the more difficult the job becomes. New trees need many years to grow to maturity. Trees benefit cities and human health in many ways. They cool areas that otherwise would be heat islands. They filter the air, helping people with respiratory problems, and absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. They soak up stormwater that otherwise results in flooding. They create habitat for wildlife, including birds that fly through on semiannual migrations…
Cadillac, Michigan, News, June 21, 2020: Black dots on maple trees
Samples of maple leaves infected with tar spot have been recently reported by Michigan State University Diagnostic Services. Tar spot is a foliar disease of maple caused by two species of fungus in the genus Rhytisma, which results in tarry black lesions up to an inch in diameter on the leaves. Tar spot occurs frequently in Michigan, although the level of severity may vary substantially year to year. What does tar spot do to maple trees? Tar spot on maple is most commonly caused by either R. acerinum, which produces large spots between 0.5 and 1.5 inches, or R. punctatum, which produces pinpoint-sized lesions. While tar spot mostly reduces the aesthetics of a tree, severe fungal infections can result in premature defoliation. R. acerinum is much more common in Michigan than R. punctatum. Although the most noticeable symptoms are present in late summer, infection actually occurs in spring as leaves are developing…
The outcome of the fire season heavily depends on the weather during the spring months. This year’s wet and cool spring has delayed the onset of the fire season, which usually starts in June. But that doesn’t mean we will see low fire activity during the rest of the season. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the weather from July to September will likely be warmer and drier than average, which “suggests an above-normal fire season despite its slow start.” But what does this mean and how do experts reach these conclusions? “There’s no way to truly predict how many wildfires you’ll get,” during a season, said Jared Jablonski, fire information officer for the Bureau of Land Management Boise District. The fire forecast evaluates the potential “to have more fires … as well as the potential for those fires to behave more aggressively and grow very quickly…”
A California judge ordered Pacific Gas & Electric on Thursday to pay a $3.5 million fine for causing the Camp Fire, the blaze that killed scores of people and destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018. Judge Michael R. Deems of Butte County Superior Court read the sentence, which matched a plea agreement between the company and a local prosecutor, after hearing statements from survivors of the 84 people killed in the fire, many of whom said PG&E was getting away with a slap on the wrist. The judge seemed to echo that sentiment. “If these crimes were attributed to an actual human person rather than a corporation, the anticipated sentence based on the applicable statutes to which the defendant has pleaded guilty would be 90 years to be served in state prison,” Judge Deems said. “Nevertheless, the court’s sentencing options are limited. As a corporation, PG&E cannot be sentenced to prison. The only punishment that the court is authorized to impose in this situation is a fine.” PG&E pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of illegally causing the fire. An estimated $30 billion in liability from that and other fires forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection in January 2019. State regulators have said that the utility repeatedly failed to maintain a transmission line that broke from a nearly 100-year-old tower, igniting the Camp Fire. The company’s failure was all the more glaring because the line cut through a forested and mountainous area, and some of the company’s towers had been knocked down by strong winds well before that blaze…
Given the tremendous ability of forests to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, some governments are counting on planted forests as offsets for greenhouse gas emissions—a sort of climate investment. But as with any investment, it’s important to understand the risks. If a forest goes bust, researchers say, much of that stored carbon could go up in smoke. In a paper published in Science, University of Utah biologist William Anderegg and his colleagues say that forests can be best deployed in the fight against climate changewith a proper understanding of the risks to that forest that climate change itself imposes. “As long as this is done wisely and based on the best available science, that’s fantastic,” Anderegg says. “But there hasn’t been adequate attention to the risks of climate change to forests right now…” This paper, part of that roadmap, calls attention to the risks forests face from myriad consequences of rising global temperatures, including fire, drought, insect damage and human disturbance—a call to action, Anderegg says, to bridge the divide between the data and models produced by scientists and the actions taken by policymakers…
Scientists in Japan have found they can pollinate fruit trees using soap bubbles coated in pollen. A team of researchers from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, led by Eijiro Miyako, created a soapy solution that can be blended with up to 2,000 pollen grains per bubble and blown out of a plastic gun or dropped from above via drone. The team used the bubbles to pollinate pear trees in a small test orchard, and had a 95% success rate, about the same as manually pollinating the plants with a brush. ‘Some might dismiss this as something of a fantasy, but the soap bubble is effective for pollination,’ Miyako said in an interview with the BBC. ‘I was probably the only person on the planet to believe this when I started the “playful” work. Maybe I still am now.” The idea came to Miyako one day while he was playing with his young son, who was accidentally hit in the face by one of the soap bubbles they had been blowing. ‘There was no damage because soap bubbles are soft, light, and flexible,’ Miyako recalled…
In the high desert, Joshua tree symbolism is as ubiquitous as the plant itself. The Victor Valley’s two most-populous cities — Victorville and Hesperia — both feature Joshua trees in their official logos. The same can be said for Victor Valley College, the Hesperia Recreation and Park District, at least four area school districts and many local businesses. Joshua trees have sprung up in popular culture, as well. A U2 album bears the name, and the Las Vegas-based band The Killers have incorporated them into its merchandise. Writers like Tom Wolfe and John Steinbeck have attempted to describe their gangly attributes, and the National Park Service, which sees millions visit Joshua Tree National Park each year, has described them as “straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.” But not all is right in the world of Joshua trees…
They call themselves tree surgeons. But swinging from branch to branch and taking turns slicing through trails of dead wood at neck-craning heights, Adam Rendell and Sam Davis look more like urban avengers who have figured out how to vanquish the coronavirus lockdown and still get a paycheck. “It’s social distancing at its finest,” Davis says after an hour amid the treetops of St. Pancras Gardens, his workspace for the moment in one of London’s greenest boroughs. When Britain’s lockdown began on March 23, Davis, a 29-year-old former bartender, saw friends working in restaurants and in the film industry suddenly put on furlough. Rendell, a 27-year-old who walked away from an IT job three years ago, said co-workers at his former office endured pay cuts and were told to work from home. The pair consider themselves lucky to practice a trade that, by its very nature, keeps them safe from crowds and contagion…
Oregon State University researchers are conducting a unique study setting up real trees and then setting them on fire. “What we are doing is, we are measuring the total number of embers that are released when you burn a tree,” said David Blunck, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University. It’s fairly common knowledge when trees burn they give off embers. And those embers can quickly start other fires. Knowing how many embers a type of tree gives off, and just how far they travel, can be crucial when it comes to predicting the potential spread of a forest fire. The researchers say this information can also be used in models to predict where fires will spread. “You think about where people put resources, where you put houses, how you protect human lives, all those are tied in to being able to predict where they go,” said Blunck. It may also help homeowners decide what trees to plant around their homes. For example, the study found Ponderosa Pines do not produce a lot of hot embers. Junipers on the other hand give off a lot…
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Online, June 17, 2020: Animals rescued from spotted lanternfly bands
This spring, sticky bands around trees are catching much more than spotted lanternflies. The traps, wrapped around tree trunks, are catching birds, bats, squirrels and possums. Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Washington Boro receives at least two calls a day for help with a trapped animal. “This is serious,” says Tracie Young, Raven Ridge’s director and wildlife rehabilitator. “A lot of these animals are not surviving.” Placing a barrier like hardware cloth or chicken wire over the bands allows the lanternflies to be trapped yet prevents animals from being stuck. There’s also a new type of trap that does not use sticky tape. As spotted lanternflies hatch, now is the time to add traps to trees, stopping the spread of this invasive pest. Since the insect was first spotted in Pennsylvania in 2014, it has damaged grapevines, hops, fruit trees and more. Scraping egg masses is one way to kill the insect. Wrapping sticky bands around trees, especially tree of heaven, can catch nymphs as they walk up the tree. Raven Ridge started getting calls about animals caught in the traps in the spring. The wildlife center rehabilitates injured, orphaned and abandoned wildlife. “A lot of people are putting this tape up but they’re not thinking that this is baby season,” Young says. “This is when the baby wildlife is starting to explore their environment, working with their parents, learning to fly, going up a tree and crawling down…”
A study led by a U.S. Forest Service researcher suggests that a Philadelphia program to increase tree cover across the city would prevent hundreds of premature deaths citywide, particularly in its poorest neighborhoods. The city’s goal under its Greenworks program has been to boost tree canopy cover to 30% in each neighborhood by 2025. The new research suggests that increasing the canopy to that degree could result in around 400 fewer premature deaths annually, because of a variety of factors. Even a more modest increase, however, would allow more Philadelphians to live longer. Further, growing the canopy could have the most dramatic impact in poorer areas, which tend to have the lowest tree canopy. “To the best of our knowledge, our report is the first citywide health impact assessment of estimated effects of a tree canopy policy on premature mortality,” the authors wrote in an article published in April in Lancet Planetary Health…
Most of British Columbia’s old-growth forests of big trees live only on maps, and what’s left on the ground is fast disappearing, a team of independent scientists has found. A recent report revealed the amount of old-growth forest still standing in the province has been overestimated by more than 20% and most of the last of what’s left is at risk of being logged within the next 12 years. In the report, the scientists revealed most of the forest counted as old growth by the province is actually small alpine or boggy forest. It’s old — but the trees are not the giants most people think of when they are referring to old growth. Less than 1% of the forest left in the province is composed of the productive ground growing massive old trees, some more than 1,000 years old, including coastal temperate rainforests on Vancouver Island and a fast-vanishing inland old-growth temperate rainforest on the west slopes of the Rockies, unique in the world. While the authors agree with B.C.’s official tally that 23% of the forest in the province is old growth, “that is incredibly misleading,” said Rachel Holt, an ecologist based in Nelson, B.C., and an author of the report. “They are mixing in bog forests where the trees are no taller than me, and I am 5 feet tall, and they are mixing in high-elevation tiny trees. They are old and valuable but they are not what you, or I, or anyone else thinks of when they think of old growth…”
An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide. In the new study, published recently in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, sequenced the genomes of 22 species of ash tree (Fraxinus) from around the world and used this information to analyze how the different species are related to each other. Meanwhile, collaborators from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service in Ohio tested resistance of over 20 ash tree species to EAB by hatching eggs attached to the bark of trees, and following the fate of the beetle larvae. Resistant ash trees generally killed the larvae when they burrowed into their stems, but susceptible ones did not. The research team observed that several of the resistant species were more closely related to susceptible species than to other resistant species. This meant the UK-based genome scientists were able to find resistance genes, by looking for places within the DNA where the resistant species were similar, but showed differences from their susceptible relatives. Using this novel approach, the scientists revealed 53 candidate resistance genes, several of which are involved in making chemicals that are likely to be harmful to insects…
The first city-wide health impact assessment of the estimated effects of a tree canopy initiative on premature mortality in Philadelphia suggests that increased tree canopy could prevent between 271 and 400 premature deaths per year. The study by Michelle Kondo, a Philadelphia-based research social scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and her partners suggest that increased tree canopy or green space could decrease morbidity and mortality for urban populations—particularly in areas with lower socioeconomic status where existing tree canopies tend to be the lowest. The study, “Health impact assessment of Philadelphia’s 2025 tree canopy cover goals,” examined the potential impact of Greenworks Philadelphia, a plan to increase tree canopy to 30 percent across the city by 2025, on human mortality. The analysis is one of the first to estimate the number of preventable deaths based on physical activity, air pollution, noise, heat, and exposure to greenspaces using a tool developed by public health researchers in Spain and Switzerland called the Greenspace-Health Impact Assessment…
Chicago, Illinois, Tribune, June 16, 2020: Keep an eye on climbing vines to prevent damage to trees
Some gardeners like the look of ivy twining up a tree trunk. However, vines that twine too far can be bad news for the tree, according to Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “A few vine stems on a tree’s trunk are mostly harmless,” Yiesla said. They cling to the bark with fine, hairlike rootlets but don’t penetrate the wood. However, “if a vine grows up into the branches, it can crowd out the tree’s leaves,” she said. “The vine’s leaves may block the sunlight that the tree’s leaves need to manufacture food.” Eventually, a tangle of vines can weigh enough to break tree branches. A large vine also will compete with the tree. “The vine has its own root system, which is absorbing water and nutrients from the same soil as the tree’s roots,” she said. Over time, competing with a vigorous vine may weaken a tree, making it more susceptible to drought, pests and diseases…
Atlantic Coast Pipeline won the right to cut through the Appalachian Trail with a 7-2 Supreme Court reversal on Monday. Once completed, the 605-mile natural gas pipeline will span West Virginia to North Carolina, including one 16-mile stretch of the George Washington National Forest. Though the pipeline company obtained special-use permits to that end from the U.S. Forest Service, environmental groups that filed suit claimed that any work would require congressional approval because a tenth of the pipeline in the forest would run through the Appalachian Trail. The Fourth Circuit agreed to block construction on the basis that the National Park Service administers the Appalachian Trail, but the Supreme Court reversed Monday. Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said federal lands cannot be converted into the property of the National Park System merely because the Park Service obtained rights-of-way agreements for the length of the trail within national forests. “Easements are not land, they merely burden land that continues to be owned by another,” he wrote.“If analyzed as a right-of-way between two private land-owners, determining whether any land had been transferred would be simple,” the 18-page opinion continues. “If a rancher granted a neighbor an easement across his land for a horse trail, no one would think that the rancher had conveyed ownership over that land. … Likewise, when a company obtains a right-of-way to lay a segment of pipeline through a private owner’s land, no one would think that the company had obtained ownership over the land through which the pipeline passes…”
An invasive species of beetle discovered for the first time in South Carolina has state and federal officials conducting surveys in Charleston County to determine the extent of the insect’s spread. The Asian longhorned beetle was found by a homeowner in Hollywood, S.C., who contacted Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry (DPI) to report it. A DPI inspector collected the insect for identification and conducted a preliminary survey of the trees on the property. At least four maple trees appear to be infested and inspectors have captured live beetles. “We were very fortunate that the residents reported it when they did,” said Steven Long, assistant director of Clemson Regulatory Services who oversees DPI and invasive species. “We think it is confined just to this local area, but we are just getting started with our surveys.” Clemson’s Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) National Identification Services have confirmed the insect’s identity. The Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, is a wood-boring beetle that threatens a variety of hardwood trees, including maple, elm, ash, sycamore, poplar and willow. It is not a pest of the oak species that are more abundant in South Carolina. As the beetle bores into the tree it interrupts the flow of life-giving sap and weakens the tree, ultimately killing it. Infested trees also can become safety hazards, since branches can drop and trees can fall over, especially during storms…
Inspire More, June 15, 2020: 10 Trees That Couldn’t Resist Eating Their Neighbors
Have you ever said something like, “I’m so hungry I could eat a cow”? Sometimes we get so distracted by food that we feel like we could eat just about anything. The same can be said for trees! OK, trees don’t really eat things, but if you plant one in the wrong spot, its trunk will resort to growing around any barriers in its way. A famous example of this phenomenon is the Vashon Island Bicycle Tree. The bike is embedded in the wood about 7 feet above the ground. Many people speculate about how the old human-powered vehicle ended up there. For example, some say a soldier left it there before he went to war and never came back to retrieve it. Regardless of what happened, it looks like this tree tried to eat a whole bike, and it’s not the only one! Here are 10 unique trees that strayed from their usual diet of sunshine and water…
Home-Dzine, June 14, 2020: Beware of Trees Close to Swimming Pool
I have had problems with my swimming pool for over a year and finally got round to having this seen to this winter only to discover quite a serious problem. For the past year, our swimming pool has had a problem with air in the system. I have noticed quite a lot of air bubbles in the filter of the pump motor, a lot of bubbles coming from the outlet valve, and a lack of pressure when attaching the pool cleaner. Having checked all the seals and connections, nothing faulty could be found and I couldn’t quite decide what needs to be done next. It was becoming a problem to run the pool cleaner, due to the fact that as soon as it was connected, the pressure would drop so much that the creepy wouldn’t even clean the pool properly. After doing quite a bit of research and looking into all the possible problems, the only thing I could think of as the problem was a hole somewhere in the pipes…
The exceptionally gentle winter that was so kind to energy consumers and road budgets evidently had a well-cultivated dangerous side, sowing the seeds of a rough harvest for some of the region’s peach orchardists and berry farmers. After fast-forwarding the growing season and exposing precocious buds and blooms, one of the mildest wintry stretches on record was followed by an extraordinary sequence of frosts and freezes in mid-April and May. “Bam! It came out of nowhere,” said Pete Furey, executive director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau. “We’ve heard reports of whole farms losing their peaches in Gloucester County,” said Furey. The 100-year-old Wm. Schober Sons Orchards & Farm Market in Monroeville was among the victims. “We lost about 90% of our peaches,” said owner John Hurff Sr., whose great-grandfather founded the company…
As the summer progresses and temperature’s rise, proper watering is critical to keep your plants happy, as well as to prevent issues in the future. A general rule of thumb is to water your plants according to their needs; and their water needs are different from plant to plant as well as their age and the time of year. This can be a tricky thing to handle and many problems arise due to improper watering. In our arid climate, many plants are chronically underwatered rather than overwatered. Shade trees growing in a lawn are one of the most likely victims of drought stress since people think that they are getting enough water since the grass is green, so therefore the trees must be getting enough water as well. Many times this isn’t true. Most often homeowners water their lawns for short amounts of time on a daily basis, rather than giving the lawns and trees a deep soak of water on an intermittent schedule. When I refer to a deep soak, that means that you have moisture penetrate down at least two and possibly three feet into the soil. When the common mistake of often and light watering happens, the grass normally soaks up the majority of the water, and it never gets past 6 inches into the soil. Therefore shade trees become chronically drought stricken as most of their water absorbing roots are within the top 2 feet of soil. A good rule of thumb for established trees, (meaning they have been in the ground at least two to three years), is to give them a deep soaking every two weeks during the summer time. But there are exceptions to this…
Provo, Utah, Daily Herald, June 14, 2020: Garden Help Desk: How to fix a leaning tree
Question: Can I fix a leaning tree? I have a leaning tree in my yard, and I thought I might be able to pull it back straight now that we’ve had a lot of rain and the ground has been soaked so that it won’t lean further or fall over. Is there a good way to do this?
Answer: Your chances of successfully straightening a leaning tree depend on several factors: • Did the tree lean gradually as it grew? • Did the tree tip suddenly during wet and very windy weather? • How long has it been since you first noticed the changing angle of the tree? • How severe is the angle of the tree? • What is near the tree? Some trees grow at an angel, reaching away from shade and toward the sun. Trees like this are usually stable but will naturally and gradually grow in the direction of more light. Leave trees like this alone; you can’t pull or push a tree like this into a vertical position. Some trees lean slowly with the angle becoming more severe every year. These trees are a sign that something is wrong in the landscape. Is there a leaking sprinkler valve keeping the soil wet? Does the tree have a girdling root that is gradually pushing the tree in one direction? Have you been watering too frequently, reducing the stability and vigor of the root system? Trees like this aren’t good candidates for straightening. The damage to the tree and the root system would be severe and the tree isn’t likely to be a safe, stable tree even if you could manage to push or pull it straight, which is unlikely…
Western New York is known for its beautiful trees, but if those trees aren’t maintained properly, they can become damaged, which is why it’s critical to inspect them from trunk to leaves. “Trees provide so much value to us as humans, so it’s important that people care for them because they have so many qualities that enhance our lives,” says ISA Certified Arborist Tom Anderson. According to Anderson, winters in Western New York have been changing with increased wind. “It’s common for us to have windstorms with 70 miles per hour winds, so the most important thing from an arborist standpoint is the safety of our trees and our landscapes,” he says. Homeowners are advised to check their soil to make sure that nothing is heaving, inspect trunks for cracks and note any dead or hanging branches. “Trees are unpredictable, so if you have a tree concern, it’s important to have a certified arborist come out and inspect the property to make sure that you have safe trees, so that you can enjoy your landscape for the summer months,” he explains. Something else to look for is the Gypsy Moth population…
Seattle, Washington, Times, June 11, 2020: Tips for hiring the pros who will keep your trees healthy
Though they appear healthy most of the time, on occasion your trees might become shady characters, done in — and perhaps ultimately brought down — by disease, damage or both. To keep your trees healthy, or to get rid of dying ones, you may want professional advice, skill and labor. To help you find this help, nonprofit consumer group Puget Sound Consumers’ Checkbook and Checkbook.org has surveyed its members, “Consumer Reports” subscribers and other randomly selected consumers about their experiences with area tree care services. Until July 15, Checkbook is offering free access to its ratings of tree care services to readers of The Seattle via this link. You don’t have to be an expert to spot many potential tree problems. Examine your trees several times a year for the following: Discolored leaves and thinning in the tree’s crown; Roots pulled loose from the ground and fungal growth on the roots and main trunk; Dead and fallen branches more than two inches in diameter; Deep vertical cracks on opposite sides of the main trunk; Sawdust on the trunk from wood-boring insects; A trunk that noticeably leans in one direction and a branch canopy that is not generally balanced; Other unusual deformations and deposits on leaves, limbs or bark. Other reasons you might need tree work include eliminating damage to your house or utility wires from rubbing or falling limbs; letting light and breezes more readily reach your house or yard; and protecting foundations and drainage systems from invading roots…
Wetland areas are critical habitats, especially in northern regions of North America. Wetland classifications are based on several factors, including the presence of certain plant species and assemblages of species, of which trees play a significant role. Here we examined wetland species of birch (Betula) in North America, with a focus on Alaska, and the use of birche tree species in wetland delineation. We sampled over 200 trees from sites, including Alaska, Alberta, Minnesota, and New Hampshire. We used genetic data from over 3000 loci detected by restriction site associated DNA analysis. We used an indirect estimate of ploidy based on allelic ratios and we also examined population genetic structure. We find that inferred ploidy is strongly associated with genetic groupings. We find two main distinct groups; one found throughout most of Alaska, extending into Alberta. This group is probably attributable to Betula kenaica, Betula neoalaskana, or both. This group has a diploid genetic pattern although this could easily be a function of allopolyploidy…
Boise, Idaho, Post-Register, June 10, 2020: Line trimmers damage trees
Question: My neighbor said that I am damaging my trees by trimming the grass around them with a line trimmer. Is that true? What is my alternative?
Answer: One of the more popular uses of line trimmers is to trim grass and weeds growing around trees. An occasional use around a well-established tree probably does little damage. However, weekly use around trees, especially young ones, is devastating. Every time the line hits the bark of a tree, a little outer bark is removed. As fast as line trimmers rotate, that may be a hundred times in one trimming. After 10 or 20 trimmings, there may be little or no bark left near the soil line on young trees. The inner bark of a tree contains the tubes, which carry food manufactured by the leaves down to the roots. If some of these tubes are damaged, less food reaches the roots. With less food, root growth slows and fewer new roots are produced. Slowing root growth means the tree can support fewer leaves. This reduces the growth rate and can actually reduce tree size as leaves are shed to balance top growth with root capacity. Once all the conducting tubes are cut, no more food reaches the roots and they begin to die. A slow, painful death of the leaves and branches follows…
We get questions from time to time regarding how to handle or what to do with a damaged tree. “Should I cut it down? What can I do to save the tree?” I ran across a publication that our Texas Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) published. It was a publication called the “Tree Care Kit.” I hope the following information will help you assess a trees properly before writing off a damaged tree as a “goner.” Homeowners should evaluate their trees by asking the following questions: Other than the storm damage, is the tree basically healthy and vigorous? If the tree is basically healthy, is not creating a hazard, and did not suffer major structural damage, it will generally recover if first aid measures are applied immediately after the storm. Are major limbs broken? The larger a broken limb is, the harder it will be for the tree to recover from the damage. If most of the main branches are gone, the tree may have little chance of surviving. Has the leader (the main upward-trending branch on most trees) been lost? In species where a leader is important to upward growth or a desirable appearance, saving the tree may have to be a judgment call. The tree may live without its leader, but at best it would be a stunted or deformed version of the original. Is at least 50 percent of the tree’s crown (branches and leaves) still intact? This is a good rule of thumb on tree survivability. A tree with less than half of its branches remaining may not be able to produce enough foliage to nourish the tree through another season…
A forest’s ability to store carbon depends significantly on the bedrock beneath, according to Penn State researchers who studied forest productivity, composition and associated physical characteristics of rocks in the Appalachian ridge and Valley Region of Pennsylvania. The results have implications for forest management, researchers suggest, because forests growing on shale bedrock store 25% more live, aboveground carbon and grow faster, taking up about 55% more carbon each year than forests growing on sandstone bedrock. The findings demonstrate that forests underlain by shale in this region provide more ecosystem services such as carbon uptake and biodiversity, explained researcher Margot Kaye, associate professor of forest ecology in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Also, shale forests make up a smaller portion of the landscape and should be high-priority candidates for management or conservation. “As forests grow and respond to warming, shifts in precipitation and invasive species, managers will benefit from incorporating lithological influences and considerations on forest composition and productivity,” she said. “For example, conserving forests growing on shale with higher species diversity will likely lead to forests that are resilient to stressors and can grow more vigorously…”
Residents in one Long Island town are sprucing up their yards, but in the process are making life extremely difficult for municipal workers. Now, local government is trying to put a stop to it, CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan reported Monday. It’s an obstacle course for Brandon and Cooper Gribbin of Smithtown. “I’m lucky enough and my wife to be able to work from home, so it gave us more time to tend to the yard, do some different projects,” father Matt Gribbin said. The Gribbins will use their lumber for firewood, and the mulch for their gardens. All of it is stored on their lawn. But around the corner and down nearly every block here, it’s a different story.Families staying home due to COVID-19 are cutting trees and clearing heavy branches with abandon, or hiring tree-trimming companies, many of which are simply hauling the stumps into the street and leaving them for inundated town workers. Proper disposal costs can run hundreds to thousands of dollars. “They are actually indicating to the resident that they can save them money by throwing it out in the road instead of removing it. And, again, that is a code violation in Smithtown,” town Supervisor Edward Wehrheim said. McLogan attempted to speak to one family, but they did not want to explain the nearly 100-foot long street-side pile of logs cleared from their yard, that neighborhood children “scooter” by. “The taxpayer should not have to pay for that,” one resident said. “Nobody likes to pay taxes for somebody else’s mess,” another added. Smithtown is one of a few Long Island municipalities to offer leaves and brush curbside pickup. Already, that volume has increased 65% during the pandemic. Now, adding tree removal is turning out to be too overwhelming…
Mashable, June 10, 2020: Don’t know how to tell trees apart? There’s an app for that
“Do you think Frank recognizes us?” my 10-year-old asked one afternoon as we peered over the railing of a bridge along the greenway in our neighborhood. Frank, naturally, is the copperhead snake who lives around the stream bed below the bridge. From a very safe distance, we check in on him (or her) during our regular bike rides. When we first spotted Frank’s tan skin and reddish hourglass markings, we thought it might be a copperhead. But how to make sure? If you’ve ever tried to take a picture of a plant or animal and Google it to find out what it is, you’ll know how frustrating and unhelpful the experience can be, especially for a non-scientist. Instead, to confirm our neighborhood snake species, we submitted a photo to the iNaturalist app – a wildlife observation tool that uses image recognition technology in conjunction with a strong community of users to identify plants and animals in pictures that users share. The photos submitted to iNaturalist fuel citizen science projects around the world. Tapping into that collective bank of expertise, in addition to the app’s powerful algorithms, confirmed that our local serpent was indeed a copperhead. It was one gratifying observation of many. During these past months of COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns when our home became our focus, logging observations into iNaturalist has become a go-to activity for my daughter and me. If you’re trying help your kids learn to enjoy nature, some subtle gamification can go a long way…
Model Claudia Schiffer is at the centre of an extraordinary court probe over claims she and her film producer husband had two pines trees belonging to a multi-millionaire neighbour chopped down because they were blocking their view. Willi Weber, ex manager of legendary F1 racing driver Michael Schumacher, is reportedly suing the German beauty and British husband Matthew Vaughn after discovering the trees had been removed. He says a specialist hired by the couple trespassed on his land after ignoring a warning to leave the trees alone and took them away with him after using a chainsaw to chop them down, according to local reports. Respected island daily Diario de Mallorca said he and the couple’s staff gardener have already been quizzed by a judge heading an ongoing investigation and Claudia and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels producer Vaughn could now end up in front of a judge. Mr Weber, said to have lodged his complaint after the trees disappeared from his garden next to Ms Schiffer’s mansion in Camp de Mar in July last year, told a German newspaper earlier this year he had received an apology from her husband. Insisting the 30ft pines were “cut off behind his bedroom”, he claimed: “Matthew Vaughn apologised to me and said what had happened was an accident and they thought the trees were on their plot.” Mr Weber also told Bild am Sonntag he planned to build a high wall between his home and his neighbour’s and bill them for the cost after what happened, warning: “Otherwise I will plant so many trees that they can only smell the sea…”
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Chronicle-Herald, June 9, 2020: Amherst moves to protect remaining elm trees
There was a time when Amherst was home to numerous stately elm trees. Thanks to Dutch Elm Disease, all but a few are gone. One of those remaining trees was innoculated against the disease earlier this week. The tree, located in Christie Park on Albion Street, was injected with Dutch Trig, an organic vaccine, by arborist Rory Fraser of the Maritime Elm Protection Initiative Pilot Project, a Sackville, N.B.-based organization that is working to protect and save elm trees. The vaccine consists of spores from a strain of Verticillium fungus that activates the elm’s natural defence mechanisms against the disease that is spread by beetles that feed under the bark. It was injected through the bark near the base of the tree. Because the tree adds rings each year, the inoculation will become an annual springtime event. “This project will help to protect one of our last healthy, publicly owned elm trees,” Amherst’s horticulturalist Chelsea Baird said. Baird noted many of the town’s stately elms have been lost to Dutch Elm Disease, especially on Victoria Street East and the surrounding areas where the streetscape has been drastically altered as a result of the disease killing dozens of elm trees since it arrived in town in the 1980s. “Unfortunately, we cannot turn back time and save all the elms that were lost in the past due to Dutch Elm Disease,” she said. “What we can do is work towards being more proactive and be better at protecting our urban forest through initiatives like this one…
Resident disapproval over tree trimming in Oswego was discussed at last night’s Common Council meeting, Monday, June 8. Speaking on behalf of area constituents, Third Ward Councilor Kevin Hill led the discussion, noting residents’ dissatisfaction with tree trimming done along their properties. Contractors, hired by National Grid, are trimming trees around electrical wires in the City of Oswego for safety reasons. This process is done on a five-year rotation. Area constituents took photos to show the damage done by the contractors, revealing trees in unfavorable conditions. “At first glance, these trees appear to be severely damaged [and] heavily pruned in a way I can’t recall ever seeing anytime in the past,” Hill said. Hill spoke with National Grid Forestry Supervisor Scott Saladin, who said they used the same forestry specifications in all of their service areas. Hill argued during last night’s meeting that using the same standards along a highway is not appropriate in a city or suburban neighborhood. “It seems that they can take a lot more care when they’re doing things like trimming in neighborhoods, especially when it’s in historic neighborhoods with land-marked trees [and] trees that are decades old,” Hill said…
Generations of Johnson County residents have driven under the locally famous leaning tree, wondering how it doesn’t topple over, amazed that it has stood that way for so long. The leaning tree, which has stood at a 45-degree angle for roughly 200 years, is about 3 miles south of Franklin in the 3500 block of Airport Road. The historic sycamore tree has been leaning for as long as anyone in Johnson County can remember. Now, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners and Johnson County Highway Department are considering whether it needs to be removed due to safety concerns. The commissioners postponed making a decision about the tree at its meeting Monday after Luke Mastin, county highway director, told the board the report by a master arborist hired by the county is not yet finalized. The county closed Airport Road last week based on a preliminary report that said the tree had reached a state of decay in which it could fall at any time, Mastin said. Travelers, usually only those who live in the area or commute between Franklin and Camp Atterbury in southern Johnson County, drive or ride directly under the tree. The investigation began after a resident complained nearly two weeks ago that the tree looks to have rotted significantly. The road will remain closed until it is more clear how bad of shape it is in, he said…
Denver, Colorado, KDVR-TV, June 9, 2020: Local company helps homeowner remove large, unstable tree
This week’s storms are leaving many dangerously unstable trees leaning over homes, but at a cost of $600 or more, many homeowners aren’t able to pay for the immediate removal of them. Beverly Hicks contacted the Problem Solvers out of fear a tree on her neighbor’s property would collapse on the room where her granddaughter sleeps. “I don’t want to get a call that the tree fell on my house and took her life,” she said. The Problem Solvers reached out to Hector Deluna of United Tree Service for assistance. Deluna’s trucks rolled up within an hour, much to Hicks’ surprise. Deluna introduced himself, quickly assessed the tree as being extremely dangerous and told Hicks, “we will take care of that problem so you can sleep safely for not a dime. You don’t pay!” Overcome with emotion, Hicks thanked Deluna. “He has no clue, I’m so thankful!” she said. Deluna brought his son and partner Jesus to the location, who tells FOX31 he is proud of his father’s commitment to giving back to the community…
Greenbiz, June 8, 2020: In California, a push grows to turn dead trees into biomass energy
Jonathan Kusel owns three pickups and a 45-foot truck for hauling woodchip bins. He operates a woodchip yard and a 35-kilowatt biomass plant that burns dead trees, and he runs a crew marking trees for loggers working in national forests. Those are a lot of blue-collar credentials for a University of California, Berkeley Ph.D sociologist known for his documentation of how the decline of the timber industry affects rural communities. What drove Kusel into a side business — logging small and dead trees and burning them in biomass boilers — is fear of fire. In 2007, the 65,000-acre Moonlight Fire blew flaming embers onto his lawn near Taylorsville, California as he readied his family to evacuate. In September, the Walker Fire scorched 54,614 acres just up the valley from the offices of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, the nonprofit research organization Kusel founded in 1993. In that 12-year span, wildfires burned 690 square miles in the northern Sierra Nevada. Drought, a warming climate and bark-beetle infestations also have killed 147 million California trees since 2013, most of them along the Sierra spine running south from Kusel’s home base past Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park to Tehachapi Pass, 75 miles north of Los Angeles. Scientists say these trees are poised to burn in California’s next round of megafires, threatening the range with blazes so intense they will leave some places unable to establish new forests…
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is reminding the public about the risk of accidentally spreading invasive species while moving firewood. New infestations of invasive pests or diseases can be devastating and pose a serious threat to Michigan’s agriculture, forests and the environment. Harmful invasive species, some of which are invisible to the naked eye, can hide in or on firewood. While most cannot move far on their own, these pests and diseases can be transported undetected on travelers’ firewood, starting new infestations in locations hundreds of miles away. These invasive species threaten native tree species without natural defenses against these pests and diseases. Infestations also can destroy forests, lower property values and cost huge sums of money to control. “It is nearly impossible to detect diseases – like thousand cankers disease, which affects walnut trees, or oak wilt in oak trees – just by looking at the wood,” said Mike Philip, director of MDARD’s Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division. “Never assume wood appearing uninfested is safe to move.” Jason Fleming, chief of resource protection and promotion in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Division, said awareness of these tree pests and diseases and a commitment to not move firewood are especially important at Michigan’s state parks, where many trees and forested areas have been devastated. “As camping resumes this year, we urge all campers to look to purchase firewood at the state park campgrounds, rather than bring wood with you,” Fleming said. “Typically, the firewood sold at state parks is affordable, locally sourced or heat-treated to eliminate pests and diseases…”
Wahpeton, North Dakota, Daily News, June 8, 2020: Phenology – It’s all about timing
What’s the first tree to break bud in the spring? I used to think that it was American elm, with its small flowers, barely tinged with a hint of red. This year, though, I observed more locations and new tree species. Red elderberry and the gooseberries had leaves growing before other species. A few days later and the flowers began showing up. Willows and quaking aspens were first, a few days before American elm. The technical term for timing in nature is “phenology.” Two things stand out about phenology. First, it’s relative. Some species break bud before others, consistently from one year to the next. Second, variability still occurs each year: When exactly will the cherry blossoms bloom? When should sugar maple trees be tapped to collect the sap to make maple syrup? In some years, we have an early spring, while in other years, it’s delayed…
Davenport, Iowa, Quad City Times, June 7, 2020: Urban trees don’t live as long as they should
Many urban trees live only about 20% of their normal life expectancy because of external issues such as pests and disease, but most stress can be linked back to improper care and installation, Kelly Allsup, University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator, said. A recent United States Department of Agriculture paper analyzing tree life expectancy in urban areas found the typical street tree lived between 19 and 28 years. To compare, the ideal life span of a white oak is 600 years, and the average life span of a red maple can be between 75 to 150 years in Midwest wilds. Urban trees must withstand pollution, poor soils, limited legroom for roots, and pressure from insects and disease. What’s worse, most are planted incorrectly, and their health and cultural requirements – sunshine, water, soil, and climate – are not monitored, Allsup said. Some basic knowledge of tree stresses can help your urban tree live longer…
Could the end be near for a natural treasure, most likely hundreds of years old, in the Town of Stockbridge in Calumet County? That’s the question being asked following Tuesday night’s storms when that landmark was damaged. The towering cottonwood tree in Lakeside Cemetery in Stockbridge is a local landmark. “A lot of people come down here. A lot of people know of the big tree at the cemetery,” says Stockbridge Fire Chief Mike Funk. And now they’re coming to see what happened to the tree during Tuesday night’s storms. According to Chief Funk, “A local resident had stopped at the fire station and informed us that that tree down at the Lakeside Cemetery was on fire.” The branches and trunk tell the story of the lightning bolt that made its way through the tree Tuesday night, causing it to burn. “They did their best to try and put the fire out,” says Chief Funk, adding, “Unfortunately, because of the lightning strike, the fire had started burning up already into the tree.” Fire made the tree glow as it burned on the inside of the trunk and up its branches. The fire chief says the cottonwood is very hollow, more than he could have imagined, and despite putting a thousand gallons of water on it and in it, the flames couldn’t all be put out…
Akron, Ohio, MSN, June 7, 2020: Akron debates whether to trim tree nuisance policy
Akron is looking to prune an overgrown tree nuisance policy. With unanimous approval of City Council, Mayor Dan Horrigan updated the city’s “trees and shrubs” law in 2016 with the “objective of establishing more efficient regulations to promote a healthy and safe tree population.” The rule change, meant to help with overall tree health, effectively turned the city’s arborist, previously only concerned with public property, into a referee for all disputes of tree roots and dead-but-still-standing trees that drop leaves, limbs and fruit onto neighboring lawns and cars. The amended law unleashed a floodgate on nuisance complaints, expanding the arborist’s jurisdiction (and what people can complain about) from public property to all property, including trees and roots that straddle residential backyards and side lots. Neighborly grievances previously dismissed as private matters were now taken up by the city, per the new rules. “The change to the definition of what is and what is not a nuisance tree essentially made it so that anyone could make a complaint about any tree in the city, that it was a nuisance in some way shape or form,” James Hardy, director of Akron’s Department of Integrated Development, told City Council last week…
Davenport, Iowa, Quad City Times, June 7, 2020: Chestnut, elm, ash — trees we have lost
The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) has plagued native ash trees in Illinois and Iowa since 2006 and 2010, respectively. This pest was first introduced in 2002 around the Detroit area and rapidly spread across Michigan and Indiana to infect most of Iowa and Illinois today. “Sadly, the emerald ash borer will eventually wipe out our native ash species as we know them, leaving a major void in our urban forests and natural areas since ash is currently so prevalent,” Ryan Pankau, a horticulture educator with University of Illinois Extension, said. “The age-old phrase ‘history repeats itself’ certainly holds true with exotic pests and diseases in North America.” Two such past incidences have caused the virtual elimination of American elm and American chestnut trees across our continent. The impact of chestnut blight was extensive. The American chestnut’s native range spans more than 20 states in the eastern U.S., from Maine to Georgia, and accounted for about 50% of the eastern deciduous forest…
Q: My mandarin tree is dropping its tiny green fruits. Can you tell me why this is happening? The amount that is falling seems to be a lot more than normal.
A: It’s normal for all types of citrus trees to drop some immature fruit at this time of year. This self-thinning is nature’s way of making sure the tree does not become too overburdened with fruit. However, if your tree is dropping a lot of the immature fruit then it could be for one of several reasons. I have listed a few of the most common ones below. Changes in weather can stress your citrus tree and cause fruit to drop. We have experienced some extremes in the weather the past couple of weeks, with an almost 50-degree difference in temperatures from one day to the next. I’m not sure what variety of Mandarin you have, but the Satsuma Mandarins — while cold tolerant — are very sensitive to the heat and are more likely to drop immature fruit than other varieties when temperatures spike in May and June…
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, June 4, 2020: Tree Census and a Wealth of Public Data
As our country sets out on the monumental task of conducting the U.S. census, the USDA Forest Service is conducting a census of its own – the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA). Researchers conducting the FIA, also known as “America’s tree census,” measure trees, collect data and catalogue sample areas in research plots all over the U.S. According to FIA, currently, there are nearly 300 billion trees in the United States. But the program does more than just count trees. There are also several other measurements being gathered; a 580-page manual worth of measurements to be exact. “The data tells a story,” said Greg Reams, national program lead with the Forest Inventory and Analysis team. “Categories of data we collect include land use change into and out of forest land, soils work, carbon sequestration, and tracking wood that is on the ground, information which is critical for fire modelers to calculate wildfire risk ratings.” After locating the plot using aerial imagery, crews often hike for miles through difficult terrain just to get to the site. Once there, crew members measure the trees and catalogue damage from invasive species, fire and weather events. Crew members also measure dead trees, downed material and understory vegetation, which can act as wildlife habitat as well as fuel for wildfire…
DeVonta Brown didn’t think a simple trip to grab a cup of coffee before work would end in his assault. He was going through the drive-thru of a McDonald’s in McKinney on Monday when the driver of a truck drove the wrong way and cut him off. Brown walked up to the truck with his cell phone recording the exchange. The man inside could be heard saying the N-word multiple times.
“You could see it in his eyes. You could see the hate in his eyes,” Brown said. That driver, identified as Christopher Taylor, was later arrested on an assault charge, according to the McKinney Police Department. Taylor is accused of headbutting Brown and spitting on him, according to Brown. The video of the interaction was shared thousands of times on social media. Brown said what he experienced is nothing new to him. But, he said, it was the most blatant act of racism he has experienced. “Just trying to make it home to my wife is a challenge every day. [Enough] is enough,” Brown said. WFAA made several attempts to reach Taylor through Chris Taylor Tree Service by phone and text message but did not receive a response…
LeGrand, Oregon, Observer, June 4, 2020: Forest Service considers ending ban on logging larger trees
A rule change under review by the U.S. Forest Service could end a long-standing provision that prevents the harvest of trees greater than 21 inches in diameter on six national forests in Eastern Oregon and Washington. The limitation on harvesting trees of that size was put in place 25 years ago under a land-management plan amendment known as the Eastside Screens. At the time the Eastside Screens were established as a suite of temporary land management provisions designed to protect water resources and wildlife habitats. Land managers needed to take into account, or screen, the provisions before moving forward with management activities such as timber harvests. What’s under consideration is revising just one provision of the Eastside Screens — the limit on cutting trees larger than 21 inches in diameter, also known as the 21-inch rule. The 21-inch rule has come under scrutiny by the Forest Service because of overcrowded stands of trees that are now deemed a wildfire hazard. The proposal to remove the rule would give managers more flexibility when designing projects, especially landscape forest restoration treatments, said Stephen Baker, regional media officer for Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest region…
Of all the troubled trees in Chelsea, there’s one that’s taken root in Roseann Bongiovanni’s mind. “If I remember correctly, it was on Bellingham Hill,” Bongiovanni says. “They would plant this street tree, care for it, the city would go and water it, and then maybe a year later they would see that it died.” This happened over and over, says Bongiovanni, the executive director of GreenRoots, an environmental justice non-profit in Chelsea. “This tree would die no mater what the city did,” she recalls. “So after seeing a tree die in the same place multiple times, we started to think, ‘OK, what’s going on here?'” Bongiovanni suspected that gas leaks were playing a role, not just with that tree, but with many dead and dying trees across the city. And trees matter in Chelsea, a densely populated city where urban heat effects and air pollution can compromise the health of residents. “We’re a community that believes heavily in having more street trees,” Bongiovanni says. “There are so many different reasons why street trees are really important.” Street trees cool sidewalks, absorb pollution, and offset greenhouse gas emissions. “I can tell you what it feels like to walk down a tree-lined street in the summer and then walk down a street that had no trees,” says Madeleine Scammell, a Chelsea resident and professor of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health. “That’s the case here in Chelsea. A lot of the streets where there are just no trees, it is so much hotter. “Scammell says that many people have long suspected that natural gas leaks harm trees, but there’s been little proof…
Yale Environment 360, June 3, 2020: How Small Family Forests Can Help Meet the Climate Challenge
Tim Leiby had wrapped up a fun but fruitless early-morning turkey hunt and was enjoying an old John Wayne flick when I arrived at Willow Lodge near Blain, Pennsylvania. A few flurries drifted down on this unseasonably cold May morning. After a quick scan of antlers mounted on virtually every wall of the cozy hunting lodge, we headed out for a socially distanced stroll through what Leiby calls “our little piece of heaven.” This 95-acre woods in south-central Pennsylvania’s ridge-and-valley country is a hunting and hiking refuge co-owned by eight families. As much as he loves it, Leiby knows it could be even better. The forest is still recovering from heavy logging in the 1980s, and it’s full of invasive or unwanted plants — he points out striped maple, princess tree, and barberry — that do little for wildlife and keep desired hardwoods like oak and hickory from regenerating. “Barberry is a terrible invasive around here,” Leiby says. “It’s choking out the ground cover.” Small family-owned forests like this one make up 38 percent of U.S. forests — together more than 1.5 times the area of Texas, and more than any other ownership type. While most owners want to do right by their land, they rarely have access to the needed expertise or resources. That, however, may be changing. In April, the environmental nonprofits The Nature Conservancy (TNC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), and Vermont Land Trust announced two new programs, powered by a $10-million rocket boost from the tech giant Amazon, to funnel funds from carbon emitters to small landowners like Leiby eager to grow larger, healthier forests…
The Forest Service is proposing to remove the prohibition against logging trees larger than 21 inches that grow in national forests on the eastside of the Cascades in Oregon. The probation was put into place when ecological studies demonstrated the critical importance of large-diameter old-growth trees to overall forest ecosystem function. The Forest Service argues that it needs the flexibility to cut larger fir and other tree species competing with ponderosa pine to “restore” forest health. The agency suggests thinning the forests will enhance the resilience of the forest against the “ravages” of wildfire, bark beetles, and other sources of tree mortality. The so-called need for “restoration” to what ails the forest by chainsaws medicine reflects the agency’s Industrial Forestry Paradigm. By happy coincidence, such “restoration” happens to provide wood fiber to the timber industry, and typically at a loss to taxpayers. One might assume that green and fast-growing trees are more desirable than dead or slow-growing trees. What the agency doesn’t acknowledge due to its inherent Industrial Forestry bias is that healthy forest ecosystems require significant sources of tree mortality. The healthy forest that the Forest Service promotes is a degraded forest ecosystem…
Windsor, Ontario, Star, June 3, 2020: Thieves lift newly planted trees from senior’s yard
In a brazen act of thievery, four freshly planted trees, lovingly planted by her grandson a few weeks before, were dug up in the wee hours of the night from the front yard of a Windsor grandmother. Firefighter Adam Kunder wanted to do something nice for his 89-year-old grandma Shirley Horwitz for both Mother’s Day and her recent birthday. Horwitz has lived in her downtown Victoria Avenue home for approximately 50 years and the landscaping in her front yard had not been touched for about 30 years. So Kunder, who also owns a landscaping company, decided to redesign and re-plant the gardens in early May.“We tore everything out, I designed it and we installed all new plants, new stone,” Kunder said. “My grandma was so stoked about it.” But sometime overnight Saturday, thieves made off with two blue spruce globe standards and two limelight hydrangea standards, worth approximately $1,000. “I was actually at work, I was at the fire hall and my mom gave me a call and basically said that my grandmother came outside and looked to the left and looked to the right and a bunch of the trees were dug up,” Kunder said. “Basically now there’s just four big holes across her front lawn and landscaping bed…”
For his birthday last month, all my friend Elliot wanted was an apricot tree. Yep, just a tree, nothing else. That’s not really too remarkable, for someone to ask for one single, big, lasting thing. For myself, as I get “on in years” I find that there’s little that I want in terms of tangible presents. I’m at an age where health and financial security, along with family and friends, feel like the best gifts. With those in place, I don’t feel the need for much more—though I’ll never say no to something for the yard or garden! In Elliot’s case, though, it’s different. Because Elliot is nine years old. And I don’t know any other child who would ask for a fruit tree — and nothing else — for a birthday present. Happily, the family had already selected the tree just before the stay-at-home order was announced. The tree arrived about a month before the actual birthday. Elliot helped his dad dig a good, welcoming hole, install the 8-foot tree, tamp down the earth, lay a circle of stones, and then a circle of wire fencing to keep out the deer. The day I went to visit, the tree looked healthy and happy, and as if it had been growing there for a while. End of story? Not quite. In so many ways, this little boy has typical nine-year-old passions; he loves Legos and dragons, Minecraft and Star Wars. But there’s a thoughtful, wise, compassionate part of him, too; a part that gets expressed not only in the wish for an apricot tree, but also in the vision of starting his own non-profit organization to encourage people to plant more trees. The name he’s come up with describes the concept: “Plant Trees Everywhere…”
Each year, I approach hurricane season with a touch of dread — something that will stay with me until the end of November when the season is over. Predictions that hurricane activity will be above average this season don’t help a bit. Being well-prepared is the best tonic for reducing dread. From the perspective of landscape preparation, when hurricane season arrives trees are always on my mind. You can’t deny the benefits that trees bring to New Orleans. They add beauty, increase property values, benefit us psychologically, clean the air, provide wildlife habitat and shade our homes and outdoor living areas in the summer. Our city would be a different and much less agreeable place without them. When hurricanes threaten, however, the less desirable aspects of trees around our homes must be considered. Trees blowing over in the high winds of hurricanes can be extremely destructive. Now is the time to walk around your yard and look over your shade trees to assess their condition. Pay special attention to older, larger trees that are close enough to your house to hit it should they fall. Of course, any trees that are dead or in very poor condition should be removed as soon as possible. Do not delay dealing with this. Dead or dying trees pose a major hazard during the high winds of hurricanes. Even trees with relatively healthy-looking canopies can have issues. Look for trees that show large cavities or significant decay in their trunks. Sometimes the rot is not obvious…
Twenty-four large, mature trees along Grand Street near National Avenue that provided white blooms each year are gone. Missouri State University, which removed the trees from the parking lot fence row on Grand — between National and Dollison Avenue — says it was acting in the best interest of the campus and surrounding neighborhoods. “We were really happy to get them out,” said Jason Rhea, MSU’s assistant director of facility management grounds services. Rhea said the Callery pear trees were likely planted after the underpass that connects that parking lots and the south side of campus was built in the 1980s. At the time, the ornamental tree popular in urban landscapes was thought to be sterile. A variant of the Bradford pear, the Callery pear trees hybridized with other pear species, which resulted in a fast-growing tree now considered invasive along fence lines and the forests in Missouri. “They are becoming a real issue,” he said. “They are really quick growing and they are brittle.” The Springfield campus of MSU has 2,035 trees representing 115 species and employs three certified arborists. They are involved in deciding what to plant and where…
The world lost tree cover the size of a soccer field every six seconds in 2019, totaling nearly 30 million acres, with a third of that loss coming from the mature rainforest, a new study released Tuesday said. The mature rainforest is needed for biodiversity and carbon storage, the Global Forest Watch said. Last year’s forest loss was 2.8 percent higher than in 2018, the study said.”At least 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions are associated with 2019 primary forest loss, equivalent to the annual emissions of 400 million cars,” Global Forest Watch said in a statement. “Though the rate of primary forest loss was lower in 2019 than record years of 2016 and 2017, it was still the third-highest since the turn of the century.” The study said Brazil accounted for more than one-third of the humid tropical primary forest loss globally. It said the loss in 2019 was the third highest in the past 13 years. “Naturally occurring fires in the Brazilian Amazon and other tropical rainforests are very rare,” the report said. “Often, fires signal previous deforestation. Farmers and ranchers commonly set fire to recently deforested land to clear branches and stumps. Fire also plays a role in agricultural cycles, so land that had been cleared of forest in years past may be burned again to prepare for re-planting or to clear weeds from pastures…”
Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is said to be one of the hidden gems of Walton County. Bill Potter is a neighbor, who not only lives right next to the park but is also a regular volunteer. Potter said he had a tense interaction with the people cutting down the trees this weekend. “Frankly, I was flabbergasted,” said Potter. Potter received a call from his neighbor Saturday afternoon, about something strange happening in Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County. “I thought he was going to call the ranger but he charged on down there.” When Potter got there, he says he saw his neighbors cutting down trees in the state park. “I have a feeling you don’t work for topsail,” said Potter in the video. Potter says he tried to keep them around until law enforcement arrived… But they got away. His neighbor, Garret Barry posted the video on Facebook, hoping someone would recognize them. According to Jeff Talbert, who is familiar with topsail hill, it is illegal to tamper with wildlife or nature in a state park…
Tropical rainforests disappeared at a rate of one football pitch every six seconds last year, researchers said on Tuesday, urging countries to include forest protection in post-pandemic plans. The loss in 2019 of 3.8 million hectares (9.3 million acres) of tropical primary forest – which means intact areas of old-growth trees – was the third biggest decline since the turn of the century, according to data from Global Forest Watch (GFW). “Primary forests are the areas we are the most concerned about – they have the biggest implications for carbon and biodiversity,” said Mikaela Weisse, a project manager at the GFW forest monitoring service, run by the World Resources Institute. “The fact that we are losing them so rapidly is really concerning,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Loss of primary forest, which hit a record high in 2016 and 2017, was 2.8% higher in 2019 than the year before. Agricultural expansion, wildfires, logging, mining and population growth all contribute to deforestation, according to GFW researchers. Cutting down forests has major implications for global goals to curb climate change, as trees absorb about a third of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions produced worldwide…
A tree trimmer has died after an incident at a Phoenix home Monday morning. Phoenix fire officials say they received a tree rescue call near 28th Street and Campbell Avenue around 9 a.m., but that call turned into a body recovery. The trimmer is believed to have made contact with electrical lines, electrocuting himself while working on a backyard palm tree. Fire officials say the victim was not showing signs of life or responding when fire officials arrived. Power company workers headed to the scene to secure the electrical lines in order for crews to recover the man’s body…
The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) has seen a disturbing increase in the number of patients orphaned as a result of tree-trimming practices across Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. During spring and summer, wild animals are actively nesting. Many nesting animals, especially those that nest in tree cavities such as woodpeckers and squirrels, are in serious danger of losing their nests and their lives to tree trimming. The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) recommends that tree-trimming be saved for months ending in the letter “R” to avoid nesting season. If trimming a tree is absolutely necessary, ask your arborist to learn whether they know the signs of active nesting, how to look for nests, and the legal consequences for knocking down or destroying nests…
London, UK, The Times, June 1, 2020: Millionaire Chris Kiley accused of felling protected trees
A millionaire businessman has been accused of cutting down protected trees at his seafront home and turning the grounds into a private racetrack. Chris Kiley, 66, who owns a chain of supermarkets, lives in a nature reserve in south Wales. Neighbours have lodged complaints about work and noise coming from the £2.5 million home overlooking Caswell Bay on the Gower peninsula, the first area in Britain to be designated an area of outstanding natural beauty. Residents claimed that trees were being cut down illegally on a protected site and that Mr Kiley and his friends were using the grounds as a “racing track” for off-road bikes…
All over Charleston, citizens are suddenly being jolted by the sounds of chainsaws cutting the trees in front of their house. There are big, burly men with big trucks butchering the trees, and if homeowners challenge them, they often are rudely dismissed and told that Dominion Energy has an agreement with the city to allow the cutting. The outraged citizens then call their City Council member who says, yes, there is such an agreement and there’s nothing that can be done. This is exactly what happened to us — but we refused to accept that nothing could be done. We went to work and discovered a lot of “fake facts.” We researched the “real facts” and started StopDominion.com to develop and push for real solutions. In short: A lot can be done, and the city is the only entity that can do it. And it won’t happen unless citizens make it happen. Fake Fact No. 1: Dominion has convinced many people, including some city officials, that it is a simple choice: pretty trees or reliable electricity. Real Fact: This is a false choice and simply not true. Many cities all over the country have developed commonsense policies to have both…
Watch out for these insects! Invasive shot hole borers (ISHB) represent two related species of beetles (polyphagous and Kuroshio) in the genus Euwallacea. Both spread fusarium dieback, a disease that restricts the flow of water and nutrients in the tree, resulting in dead branches, dropped limbs, and even death. Over 60 species of native and non-native ornamental trees and avocados in Southern California are susceptible the ISHB/fusarium dieback complex.Examples of known hosts of the ISHB/fusarium dieback complex include: Box Elder (Acer negundo), Avocado (Persea americana), English Oak (Quercus robur), Valley Oak (Quercus lobata), California coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), Big leaf maple (Acer macrophyhllum) silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) Liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua), Coral tree (Erythrina coralladendron), California sycamore (Platanus racemose), Blue Palo Verde (Cercidium floridum), Purple orchid tree (Bauhinia variegate), Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus); and many species of Acacia.The beetles are native to Southeast Asia and were likely introduced into California in shipped goods, wood products, or packaging. While tiny (about the size of a sesame seed), they are prolific, tunneling into host trees and living and reproducing in galleries while feasting on the disease-causing fungus they spread from tree to tree…
A cheeky little boy managed to get stuck inside a tree with only his head and arm sticking out a tiny hole at the top – before a kind-hearted ‘hero’ rescued him. Finley Ibrahim, four, was exploring the woods in Eastham Country Park, Merseyside, with two of his brothers when he slithered into a hole in a tree trunk and couldn’t get back out. His mum Lindsey Ibrahim was called over to the tree by Finley’s older brother Riley, seven, but her bad back meant she couldn’t pull her son out of the bizarre predicament he’d managed to get into. Since her husband Terry Ibrahim, 40, was working from home around 10 minutes drive away, Lindsey was forced to seek help from a man who was at the park with his family. After around 15 minutes of being jammed in the stump, Finley was pulled out of the top of the trunk by the dad who came over and climbed the tree ‘like spiderman’…
One thing you have to admire about trees, is that they are pretty upfront about their intentions. No beating around the bush for a tree. Once a tree sprouts out of the ground, it means to grow as tall as it can, gather as much of the available resources as it can, and look out for No. 1, with no regard whatsoever for any other plants. Frankly, as far as competing plants goes, and this includes other trees, the plant world is extremely competitive, and is all about who can kill whom first. When you are looking at an untended tree growing somewhere, what you are seeing is the survivor of an ongoing, never-ending, battle for supremacy. Growing plants look placid enough, but they are always struggling for their very survival, to out-compete their neighbors. Because of how the competition for, and sequestration of, resources works in the plant world, successful trees of any real size have two big effects on their environment. First, over time, a sizable tree is going to gather a lot of resources, in one spot. You and I may look at a tree and see a lot of wood and foliage, and be aware that there also exists a large root system to support it, but a lot of other things look at that same picture and see food, and survival, or propagation. The only thing between everything that would like to feed on what trees have gathered, and the tree, is whatever the tree can do to defend itself…
A ficus tree bordering Washington Square Park in San Francisco shed a roughly 12-foot-long limb Wednesday evening, the second tree in as many days to drop a branch near the North Beach park in as many days. No one was injured as a result of the 2-inch-diameter limb dropping off, but the event is jarring in light of the fallen branch that injured five people, including a young child, at the park on Tuesday. There were no major injuries reported as a result of that incident, though the child was taken to a hospital as a precaution, evaluated and released. The ficus that dropped the limb Wednesday was one of seven trees along Columbus Avenue that the Public Works Department had planned to cut down and replace last year. They were deemed to be too risky to leave standing. Public Works is responsible for San Francisco’s roughly 125,000 street trees. The Recreation and Park Department oversees the 131,000 trees dotting the city’s thousands of acres of parks — it was a park tree that dropped its limb Tuesday. Four years ago, a 100-pound limb fell on Emma Zhou’s head while she was watching her two children play in Washington Square Park, paralyzing her from the waist down. In 2018, the city agreed to pay $14.5 million to settle her legal claims…
US News and World Report, May 28, 2020: Regulators Approve PG&E Bankruptcy Plan Despite Safety Fears
California power regulators on Thursday unanimously approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s $58 billion plan for getting out of a bankruptcy caused by a series of deadly wildfires, despite ongoing worries about the utility’s ability to safely operate its crumbling electrical grid. The vote by the Public Utilities Commission came just a few hours after a federal judge ripped the company for continuing to engage in reckless behavior that he believes is endangering even more lives. U.S. District Judge William Alsup blasted PG&E for “flim flamming” him about its newfound commitment to safety in previous hearings. He also raised worries that state power regulators haven’t done enough to prevent “a recalcitrant criminal” from causing more death and destruction as the risk of wildfires rises with the summer temperatures. “If there ever was a corporation that deserved to go to prison, it is PG&E,” Alsup said. After enduring Alsup’s scorn, PG&E cleared a key hurdle to end its nearly year-and-half bankruptcy with the PUC’s approval of a complex plan resolving more than $50 billion in claimed losses after the company was blamed for igniting a series of catastrophic wildfires in 2017 and 2018. The Northern California fires killed more than 100 people and destroyed more than 27,000 homes and other buildings…
Phys.org, May 28, 2020: Global environmental changes leading to shorter, younger trees
Ongoing environmental changes are transforming forests worldwide, resulting in shorter and younger trees with broad impacts on global ecosystems, scientists say. In a global study published in the May 29 issue of the journal Science, researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that rising temperatures and carbon dioxide have been altering the world’s forests through increased stress and carbon dioxide fertilization and through increasing the frequency and severity of disturbances such as wildfire, drought, wind damage and other natural enemies. Combined with forest harvest, the Earth has witnessed a dramatic decrease in the age and stature of forests. “This trend is likely to continue with climate warming,” said Nate McDowell, a PNNL Earth scientist and the study’s lead author. “A future planet with fewer large, old forests will be very different than what we have grown accustomed to. Older forests often host much higher biodiversity than young forests and they store more carbon than young forests.” Carbon storage and rich biodiversity are both keys to mitigate climate change. The study concluded, “Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world,” determined that forests have already been altered by humans and will mostly likely continue to be altered in the foreseeable future, resulting in a continued reduction of old-growth forests globally…
A contractor for a landscaping company was electrocuted by a power line Thursday while working on trees in Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood, according to fire authorities. Fire and utility crews responded around 10:45 a.m. to the 1300 block of Marian Way for reports of a tree fire, according to a tweet by the Sacramento Fire Department. There was no fire upon arrival, but a man, in approximately his mid 40s, was found in a tree about 50 feet off the ground with apparent injuries caused by a nearby power line, Fire Department spokesman Capt. Keith Wade said. The injuries appear to be caused by high-powered electricity, and the man was unresponsive, Wade said. Wade said the man was pronounced dead at the scene…
The tree that shed a limb that injured five people at Washington Square Park Tuesday was a mature sycamore that had received a “good” bill of health following its last inspection in June 2017, officials with San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department said Wednesday. None of the five people sustained serious injuries, although one, a juvenile, was taken to the hospital as a precaution, evaluated and released. But the episode has raised the memory of another, tragic accident at Washington Square four years earlier, when Emma Zhou was paralyzed from the waist down after she was struck on the head by a 100-pound branch that cracked off a pine tree while she was watching her two young children in the park’s playground. Two years later, the city paid $14.5 million to settle legal claims with Zhou…
New York City, WNBC-TV, May 27, 2020: 50-Foot Tree Falls on 4 People in Riverside Park
A massive, 50-foot tree fell onto four people who were enjoying a warm Wednesday out by the Hudson, sending at least three of them to the hospital. Witnesses described seeing the tree in Riverside Park falling in slow-motion before making a thunderous noise when it made contact with the ground near 92nd Street around 6 p.m. “It sounded like a gunshot. It was very scary,” a witness told NBC New York. One woman who was sitting on a bench was pinned right in between two large branches but the tree missed her by inches, another witness said.”I spoke to her and I said, ‘this is the luckiest day of your life,'” said the witness. After paramedics arrived at the scene, they were seen putting at least two patients on stretchers before transporting them to St. Lukes Hospital. Another woman was able to walk as she was treated for her injuries. The extent of their injuries is unclear. What caused the tree to fall is also unknown. The unfortunate incident was reminiscent of a similar scene in Central Park that occurred three years ago. A 75-foot oak tree there fell on a woman who was with her three young children. Witnesses also rushed to the scene then to help her out…
The Lafayette City Council reluctantly agreed to grant a permit for a PG&E plan to remove 141 trees along two well-traveled roads — because the city has no legal authority to regulate the utility’s project. During the Tuesday remote meeting, city officials — and residents who submitted email letters criticizing PG&E — pointed out several concerns about the plan to uproot trees, many of them oak trees, along St. Mary’s and Moraga roads. “It really comes down to PG&E,” Mayor Mike Anderson said. “It’s their responsibility, and their reputation and credibility on the line that requires them to do a good job of informing the public.” Pacific Gas & Electric will begin a gas pipeline project in the area June 1 with the road closures, and the electric lines and tree removal begins June 14 with a different crew. The projects will be going on from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays through Aug. 14. PG&E utility will host a community webinar on the pipeline and tree-removal projects from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday at https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/live-event/adpsfgcv. PG&E said it needs to remove the trees, clear branches and trim vegetation because Lafayette is located in one of the East Bay’s high-risk wildfire zones. The utility is also combining the tree removal with a separate project to replace part of a gas pipeline along St. Mary’s Road to increase capacity. The utility was given a permit for that project earlier…
BBC, May 27, 2020: The tree that changed the world map
Unfurling in a carpet of green where the Andes and Amazon basin meet in south-western Peru, Manú National Park is one of the most biodiverse corners of the planet: a lush, 1.5-million hectare Unesco-inscribed nature reserve wrapped in mist, covered in a chaos of vines and largely untouched by humans. But if you hack your way through the rainforest’s dense jungle, cross its rushing rivers and avoid the jaguars and pumas, you may see one of the few remaining specimens of the endangered cinchona officinalis tree. To the untrained eye, the thin, 15m-tall tree may blend into the thicketed maze. But the flowering plant, which is native to the Andean foothills, has inspired many myths and shaped human history for centuries. “This may not be a well-known tree,” said Nataly Canales, who grew up in the Peruvian Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. “Yet, a compound extracted from this plant has saved millions of lives in human history.” Today, Canales is a biologist at the National Museum of Denmark who is tracing the genetic history of cinchona. As she explained, it was the bark of this rare tree that gave the world quinine, the world’s first anti-malarial drug. And while the discovery of quinine was welcomed by the world with both excitement and suspicion hundreds of years ago, in recent weeks, this tree’s medical derivatives have been at the centre of another heated global debate. Synthetic versions of quinine – such as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine – have been touted and largely disputed as possible..
San Francisco police and fire units responded Tuesday evening after a large tree limb fell in North Beach’s Washington Square Park, causing minor injuries to five people. San Francisco police confirmed that a large tree limb fell in the park and that branches from the limb struck a group of people. The good news was that the injuries appeared to be minor, police said. Police later said that one juvenile were transported to the hospital as a precautionary measures and four other people were treated and released at the scene for non-life threatening injuries. A section of the park was cordoned off by police tape where the limb came down. Emergency responders were seen with a stretcher at the scene. A witness who was shaken up by the incident said “it was a big explosion” that sent debris and splinters flying. “Everybody just ran over and picked up the tree branch and asked if there was anybody underneath,” the woman told KPIX 5…
An Antioch man told his neighbors he was “going to kill them for being illegal,” then fired gunshots in their direction as they ran for cover, according to a police report. Metro officers responded Sunday evening to a report of gunshots fired at a duplex on Richards Road off Una Antioch Pike. An arrest affidavit states Felix Hernandez, who had been staying at the duplex, returned home to find his neighbors standing in the grass. The paperwork alleges the 40-year-old yelled at the neighbors to get off the lawn, then walked away and returned a short time later with a gun pointed at them. After stating he was going to kill them, police said Hernandez fired two gunshots. While the neighbors were not hit, officers revealed they were injured while running for cover. Both victims were transported to TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center for treatment of undisclosed injuries. Hernandez was arrested and booked into the Metro jail Tuesday morning on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon…
Crews are once again removing dead trees and planting new trees along the Shoreway in Cleveland. 19 News has been reporting on the story extensively, dating back to 2017, when the trees were first planted as part of the Lakefront West project, transitioning the Shoreway into a Boulevard. In 2018, one year after the initial planting, many of the trees died. One year later, in 2019, the new trees were also dead. “In mid-May work started in the median to remove dead trees, improve tree planting conditions, plant 51 condition-tolerant trees, plant 100 trees outside of the median, and ornamental grasses that are more suitable for the environmental conditions present,” said ODOT spokesperson Amanda McFarland. Davey Tree has been hired as a consultant to oversee the planting of the trees. Soil and root samples were taken to better understand why the trees weren’t growing. “Conditions in certain areas along the Shoreway weren’t conducive to trees and landscaping,” said MacFarland…
If you stop at a fruit stand in Washington or Oregon this year, you might notice fewer cherries than normal, and the ones you do find may not be as sweet. Why? A virus that has commonly plagued cherry harvests in California and Canada is wreaking havoc on the Northwest’s cherry trees, forcing growers to chop down infected trees, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. “Little cherry disease” hasn’t reared its ugly head in Washington since the 1950s, when acres of trees were cleared out in orchards around the state, according to Washington State University. The virus makes cherries smaller and more bitter because it reduces the sugar content of the fruit, WSU says. Since the disease can spread like wildfire from tree to tree in an orchard, trees that become infected with the disease have to be chopped down, according to the Associated Press. Symptoms vary between the types of cherry trees; Lambert and Bing, which are highly susceptible to the virus, look smaller with lighter colors, while Van and Sam might reach normal size, but the flavor is still affected, WSU says. “They’re small and pale, but they’re either bland or bitter,” Tianna DuPoint of WSU Extension in Wenatchee, Washington, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “So they won’t hurt you if you eat them, but they’re not marketable…”
There are few news tips as frequent, as emotional and, sadly, as predictable as a neighborhood upset over work to trim trees from power lines. So it’s hardly surprising that after Dominion Energy’s contractors geared up to work south of Broad Street in downtown Charleston, there was a fresh backlash from residents. Befitting the large, influential neighborhood, residents formed a group called “Stop Dominion” and asked City Hall to rewrite its recent agreement with Dominion to minimize trimming and ensure it’s done in a more sensitive way. Protecting our trees and the beauty they add to the Lowcountry is important. But those who want to push back at the tree trimming status quo should aim higher than the city’s oversight of tree trimming. They should set their sights on the arm of state government that regulates utilities as well as on the city and utility officials who ultimately work together to decide how many power lines are placed underground. Simply put, city leaders feel there are limits on how far they can go in regulating the cutting. Yes, the city did strike an agreement with Dominion in which the city receives notice of tree trimming work on grand trees, but that work still is subject to trimming standards the utility feels it needs to minimize the chance its lines will be damaged by a downed tree limb during a major storm. “If we were to impose standards, they (Dominion officials) would challenge,” Charleston attorney Chip McQueeney says. “Ultimately, what a judge is going to hear is tree protection versus electricity protection, and we’re going to lose that every time…”
Phys.org, May 25, 2020, Scientists find genes to save ash trees from deadly beetle
An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide. In the new study, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, sequenced the genomes of 22 species of ash tree (Fraxinus) from around the world and used this information to analyze how the different species are related to each other. Meanwhile, collaborators from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service in Ohio tested resistance of over 20 ash tree species to EAB by hatching eggs attached to the bark of trees, and following the fate of the beetle larvae. Resistant ash trees generally killed the larvae when they burrowed into their stems, but susceptible ones did not. The research team observed that several of the resistant species were more closely related to susceptible species than to other resistant species. This meant the UK-based genome scientists were able to find resistance genes, by looking for places within the DNA where the resistant species were similar, but showed differences from their susceptible relatives…
There comes a moment, during the drive from Salem to the Valley of the Giants trailhead, when even the most mature adults transform into 6-year-old children. Are we there yet? No, seriously. Are. We. There. Yet? Although just 33 miles from Salem as the crow flies, the route to this hidden grove requires navigating a labyrinth of rough and unmarked logging roads deep into the Coast Range. Time seems to melt away on winding, car-sick-inducing curves that pass the ghost town of Valsetz and follow the Siletz River on a drive that totals about two hours and 15 minutes. But then you arrive. All the journey’s frustration vanishes into the breeze on a 1.6 mile trail below titanic Douglas firs and hemlocks twisting into the sky like gothic pillars, standing 250 feet above an emerald forest showcasing some of the largest and oldest trees in Oregon. In a landscape defined by logging, the Valley of the Giants is a 51-acre island of old-growth protected by the Bureau of Land Management as an Outstanding Natural Area. “It’s like a pocket of Coast Range forest that time forgot,” said Trish Hogervorst, an officer for the BLM’s Salem District. “There’s a long and bumpy ride to get there, but people really love it. It’s a real hidden jewel…”
Q: There is an area on the trunk of my queen palm that has me concerned. The outer layer of bark has peeled away, and it looks like the trunk is rotten in that spot. The top of the palm looks fine, and it has been sending out new fronds. But the area looks terrible, and I was wondering if there was something I should do to help the palm. — Cynthia Simms
A: The queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) is a graceful, fast-growing and popular palm for New Orleans landscapes. Unfortunately, it is also the least cold-tolerant of the commonly planted palms. Queen palms can be badly damaged or killed by temperatures of 20 degrees or lower. Temperatures reached those lows back in February 2018. The fronds (leaves) of all the queen palms turned brown after the freeze. Some of them sprouted out in the spring, but many were killed. Of those queen palms that survived and recovered, some sustained cold damage to the trunks. This damage was not immediately apparent, however. As time goes by, you may see patches of the outer trunk peel away revealing decaying tissue, just as you describe on your palm. There is nothing you can or should do about this old cold damage. The palm may live for years, and you do not have to consider removal as long as the foliage of the palms stays green and healthy. Monitor the decayed area. If decay continues to eat into the trunk, it can eventually weaken the trunk to the point it may break. If the decay becomes extensive, have the tree evaluated by a licensed arborist and decide if removal is necessary…
Sacramento, California, Sacramento Magazine, May 21, 2020: New Life for Old Trees
The Sacramento Tree Foundation has come up with a novel way to manage wood waste from the urban forest. Through a program called Urban Wood Rescue, dead trees that normally would be chipped into mulch or sent to a landfill to decompose are turned into slabs of quality kiln-dried wood prized by artisans and do-it-yourselfers. “Trees inevitably die; that’s just a fact of the urban forest or any forest,” says Stephanie Robinson, communications and engagement manager for the organization. “But that really gorgeous, useable wood has a lot of environmental benefits if we retain it.” That’s because living trees capture carbon in their wood. “When we leave that wood in whole form, it locks down the carbon as long as that wood remains in whole form. If we chip it or burn it or let it decompose in the landfill, eventually all of that carbon is released back into the atmosphere,” Robinson explains. A grant from Cal Fire enabled the foundation to launch the wood rescue program. It all starts when a tree is removed and the donated log is delivered to the Urban Wood Rescue lumberyard, where it’s milled and dried in a vacuum kiln. “Once slabs are dry, we list them on our website and then sell them to the public. All of those proceeds go back to the tree foundation to further advance tree plantings and our programs,” says Robinson…
Food, toilet paper and cleaning supplies aren’t the only items people have been craving during Ohio’s stay-at-home period. Local garden centers are reporting “record-breaking” sales during the coronavirus pandemic. The North Dayton Garden Center, at 1309 Brandt Pike, is having a “banner year,” said owner and co-founder Pete Kossoudji. “I’ve been hearing from customers who are enlarging their garden plots, some are even doubling them,” Kossoudji said. “Which makes me happy that they’re buying more, I’m grateful, but I am also fearful for my customers, for my friends and for my family. This is a scary time.” Marybeth Taggart, advertising manager for Grandma’s Gardens near Waynesville, said the garden center had a record-setting Mother’s Day sale. The average amount spent per purchase has increased this spring, too, according to Taggart. “With so many stuck at home, people are upgrading their gardens and landscapes,” Taggart said. “Growers are actually having a tough time keeping up with the demand…”
Saskatoon residents say they’re shocked CP Rail recently cut down an estimated 2,000 trees in their neighbourhood. They say CP owes them an explanation, but refused to talk to them before, during or after the operation. “This looks terrible. CP is being a bad neighbour,” said Melanie Vanderlinde, vice-president of the North Park Richmond Heights Community Association. CP recently removed nearly every tree from an embankment along 33rd Street, the residents say. Beginning near the South Saskatchewan Riverbank, the seven-metre-wide cut runs west for roughly one kilometre. A member of SOS Trees Coalition — a Saskatoon group focused on urban forest preservation — conducted a rough a count of the stumps. It estimates between 2,000 and 2,500 trees, most of them apparently healthy Manitoba maples, were felled. An estimated 2,000 trees to the left of this bike path along Saskatoon’s 33rd Street have now been removed by CP Rail, angering residents and tree advocates. (Submitted by Richard Kerbes) The affected embankment runs between the CP railway tracks and a bike path. The embankment is CP property, and the City of Saskatoon has no power to stop tree removal on private property, an official confirmed. CP officials declined a CBC News interview request, but emailed a statement saying CP conducts a “comprehensive annual vegetation management program across its rail network” and that safety “is integral to CP’s long-term success and the foundation of everything we do…“
An Oldham County man was killed Wednesday afternoon after a tree fell on him while he was working with a crew to remove it from a property, police say. Benjamin Oliver, 33, of Crestwood, was pronounced dead just after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at a property in the 6600 block of Kentucky Highway 329, where he had been struck by a falling tree, according to an Oldham County Police news release. Police learned that the homeowner had hired Crestwood Cutters to remove a large tree from the property. Oliver, who was employed by the tree removal service, had cut a wedge into the front of the tree while preparing to remove its base, according to his coworkers. As Oliver prepared to move to the rear of the tree to finish cutting it, the tree snapped and fell, trapping Oliver beneath it, according to police…
A 69-acre forest running along the Northway near Ushers Road is once again the scene of anti-development sentiment. The owners, Boni Builders, want to harvest timber from 60 acres of a forest that runs along Wood Dale Drive. But residents say the move, which has yet to be approved by the town, is a precursor to what they believe is Boni’s true motivation – a housing development — something the developer has attempted there in recent years. “It’s a terrible idea,” said Jim Ruhl, who is leading the neighborhood opposition to the timber harvest. “There is a history of trying to develop it and refusals by the planning board… We are trying to nip it in the bud. The whole strategy is to start early.” Ruhl wrote in a memo to the town that the removal of 1,250 trees, which is the estimate from harvester Stillwater Forestry Services, would impact the character of the neighborhood. “The trees have provided residents a valuable Northway noise buffer,” the Ruhl memo stated. “Harvesting… will negatively affect its effectiveness and consequently the quiet, residential character of the Wood Dale neighborhood…”
In an effort to maintain the character of its family-friendly neighborhoods with a network of tree-lined streets, the Village of Romeoville announced the Parkway Tree Replacement Program on Tuesday, May 19. This program is intended to assist residents who wish to have trees planted in the parkway in front of their homes where the trees do not currently exist or where the trees are in poor condition. It does not apply to commercial or common areas in the subdivision. The village will offer a cost-share program to residents who wish to have trees planted, and contribute $75 towards the purchase of each tree. Residents may choose from a variety of approved trees. Trees must be purchased from village’s designated landscaper. Trees can be placed within the parkway. If a tree cannot be planted in the parkway due to the village requirements, the village will review a location within the front yard…
He tried his best, but there was nothing more councillor John Fry could do to save poplar trees slated for removal in Jacques Park. A report on the trees was presented to Bathurst Regional Council’s meeting on Wednesday, with a recommendation from the director of Engineering Services to remove the trees from the Hawthornden Creek riparian zone in Jacques Park. Cr Fry immediately put forward an alternate motion, which was for the poplar trees to remain in place within the park until they become a public safety risk. He said that, based on his own observations and discussions with other environmental groups, the majority of the poplars weren’t a biosecurity risk and presented only minimal risk to stream health. A second part to his motion was that any future removal is done in consultation with the community. Cr Fry said that rehabilitation of Jacques Park has been occurring for more than two decades with the help of community members, who have been planting trees and driving works in the park. “I think the community needs to be recognised as having a significant stake in this and doing an incredible amount of work, and a lot of non-government groups… they’ve been driving this and I think they should be considered when we make big management decisions on this park,” he said…
New York City, The New York Times, May 21, 2020: What About the Plants?
Like many of his friends, Jake Foster considered leaving his Brooklyn apartment and retreating to his parents’ home in Dallas to escape the endless drumbeat of coronavirus. But first he had to devise a plan for his 60 house plants. He thought about rigging up a drip watering system, but it was beyond his engineering skills. “I sketched out a few ideas in my mind, but nothing that wouldn’t end up flooding my apartment and killing all my plants,” said Mr. Foster, 33, a software engineer. “So I ended up staying here.” As the weeks have passed, Mr. Foster has unexpectedly become a good Samaritan to plants left behind by fleeing New Yorkers. Riding his bike around the city, he’s picked up more than a dozen plants discarded on street curbs or left outside apartment buildings. “The intent wasn’t that I was leaving to find plants, but the more I started doing it, the more plants became available to me,” he said. “There’s an unwritten law that once you start looking for something, you find it everywhere.” While some departing residents have left plants on streets, flora of all shapes and sizes have also been abandoned in now-empty apartments, office buildings and commercial spaces. Friends and neighbors who have remained in the city have been called upon to care for deserted plants, and watering services have stepped in to care for greenery left in workplaces…
Natural gas leaks from underground pipelines are killing trees in densely populated urban environments, a new study suggests, adding to concerns over such leaks fueling climate change and explosion hazards. The study, which took place in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a low-income immigrant community near Boston, also highlights the many interrelated environmental challenges in a city that faces high levels of air pollution, soaring summer temperatures and is now beset by one of the highest coronavirus infection rates in the nation. Dead or dying trees were 30 times more likely to have been exposed to methane in the soil surrounding their roots than healthy trees, according to the study published last month in the journal Environmental Pollution. “I was pretty blown away by that result,” said Madeleine Scammell, an environmental health professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health who co-authored the study. “If these trees were humans, we would be talking about what to do to stop this immediately…”
MLive.com, May 19, 2020: Michigan’s standing dead trees could nearly wrap around the Earth
If all the standing dead trees in Michigan were laid side-by-side in a 4-foot tall pile, they would nearly wrap around the Earth – and they could be a valuable resource to enhance the state’s economy. The volume of standing dead trees in the state amounts to about 2.2 billion cubic feet, which is the equivalent of 28.7 million cords, according to Michigan State University Extension. 28.7 million cords would be roughly 22,000 miles long if lined up, side-by-side – and that is nearly the circumference of the Earth at the equator. A cord is a measure of wood that occupies 128 cubic feet when “racked and well-stowed” in a 4-foot tall pile. The state’s volume of standing dead trees has built up over time. MSUE estimates the annual tree mortality rate to be about six million cords. By comparison, Michigan’s annual harvest is about five million cords…
Jonathan Kusel owns three pickups and a 45-foot truck for hauling woodchip bins. He operates a woodchip yard and a 35-kilowatt biomass plant that burns dead trees, and he runs a crew marking trees for loggers working in national forests. Those are a lot of blue-collar credentials for a University of California, Berkeley PhD sociologist known for his documentation of how the decline of the timber industry affects rural communities. What drove Kusel into a side business — logging small and dead trees and burning them in biomass boilers — is fear of fire. In 2007, the 65,000-acre Moonlight Fire blew flaming embers onto his lawn near Taylorsville, California as he readied his family to evacuate. Last September, the Walker Fire scorched 54,614 acres just up the valley from the offices of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, the nonprofit research organization Kusel founded in 1993. In that 12-year span, wildfires burned 690 square miles in the northern Sierra Nevada. Drought, a warming climate, and bark-beetle infestations have also killed 147 million California trees since 2013, most of them along the Sierra spine running south from Kusel’s home base past Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park to Tehachapi Pass, 75 miles north of Los Angeles. Scientists say these trees are poised to burn in California’s next round of megafires, threatening the range with blazes so intense they will leave some places unable to establish new forests…
Apple trees grown from pips, seeds, can grow to heights of 25 to 35 feet. Trees this large, called standards, need room for their roots and branches. If they are planted too close the roots collide and naturally inhibit growth. Overlapping branches prevent sunlight from ripening the fruit. In both cases, the trees are vying for the resources needed to produce a healthy crops. One-hundred nine apple trees spaced 20 feet apart would fill an acre and would be capable of producing 20- to 30,000 apples. That is a lot of apple sauce, or cider, or table fruit. Take your pick.The various apple, pear, apricot, nectarine and peach trees here are cast about various areas here. The decision as to where to plant them has evolved over 15 years and I made some serious mistakes. The first attempt at growing fruit was driven by a lack of properly ripened Asian pears at the local markets. The fruit grown in South America, and maybe California, and is shipped in bushel boxes sleeved in styrofoam. In my opinion, they are as tasty as the sleeves they are shipped in. So, I decided to grow my own from mail order whips from Miller Brothers in western New York. Five out of six whips failed. So did Miller Brothers. Failure led to the question, “Why?” The answer is, placement is at the top of the list. As it turns out, the chosen area was the worst location I could have chosen. The trees were planted below a stonewall at a low point in the yard where cold air falls off a slope and sits…
Ron Jeremy’s wood can’t stay erect, the city Parks Department told The Post on Sunday. The porn actor, who’s nearly 70, had been fighting to save a tree outside his former childhood home in Bayside, Queens — tweeting out a plea for help Saturday. “This tree was planted by my dad the day I was born,” Jeremy wrote, adding, HELP RON JEREMY SAVE HIS WOOD,” and, “Please make this trend.” But a Parks source told The Post that the tree will be getting the ax — because it is in bad condition and poses a danger to passers-by. The Norway maple, which is about 2 feet in diameter, was examined by the department’s foresters May 1, and they “found the tree to be in poor condition,” the source said. “Less than half of the tree’s canopy remains, and the few branches left are likely to fall,” the source said. There is no set timeline yet for the tree’s removal only “because some of the branches are close to power lines, [and] Con-Edison will provide clearance prior to tree removal…”
Norma Clark is trying to sell her home and she was hoping some added curb appeal would entice buyers, but she never expected her newly planted trees would attract criminals. “You’re like, Something is wrong here.’ I saw holes, holes in the ground and it just broke my heart,” said Clark. Clark said she was getting ready to mow her lawn the next day when she realized the trees were missing. Her brother had just helped plant them the day before. “I cried, it was just… it was just disheartening. I’m sorry, you know, because you work so hard on something and you try so hard and some people just don’t get it,” said Clark. The eight small pine trees were located along her fence in front of the home and on the side, now only the holes are left. She wonders if someone who was driving by or walking in the area saw her planting the trees and decided to come back that night. Clark is trying not to feel deflated but the past couple of years have been tough. She is trying to sell her home to help pay for her daughter’s medical bills after battling leukemia. “So with trying to get through that and medical expenses, that’s why we put the house on the market, so we could take a deep breath and relax a little bit,” said Clark. Neighbors are outraged by the crime and they’ve been writing messages of support on Next-door…
Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sun, May 17, 2020: Matchmaker: Picking the right tree or shrub for your area
Question: After I bought a “Sea Green” juniper I noticed the tag said “Hardy to 20°F.” Well, I live at almost 7,000 feet in Torrance County. When I looked online it said my zone is 6. I think maybe the tag is wrong. Do you agree?
Answer: I’m not familiar with the “Sea Green” juniper, so I did a quick search and confirmed that the recommended planting zones for that shrub are USDA Hardiness Zones 4–9. I also double checked the USDA Hardiness Zones for your county, which tend to be in Zones 6–7. You can find the USDA Hardiness Zone for your location at https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/. As described on that website, the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is “the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location.” The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree Fahrenheit zones. For example, USDA Hardiness Zone 6 has average annual extreme minimum temperatures from minus-10 degrees to 0 degrees, and Zone 7 is slightly warmer with average annual extreme minimums from 0 degrees to 10 degrees. Since the plant you bought is recorded as being cold hardy to a safe minimum of Zone 4, with average extreme cold temps down to minus-30 degrees, there’s a really good chance it will survive winters in your general area. The average extreme low temperatures vary based on which years the data averages came from. For the 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, the zone assignments are based on data from 1976 through 2005. Because average temperatures are going up with climate change, we can expect the assigned zones for different regions to change too, but not as uniformly as you might think. It’s not that simple. Even as average temperatures rise, we’re still expected to get cold snaps and polar vortices…
Nearly 7.7 million American workers younger than 30 are now unemployed and three million dropped out of the labor force in the past month. Combined that’s nearly one in three young workers, by far the highest rate since the country started tracking unemployment by age in 1948. Nearly 40 percent worked in the devastated retail and food service sectors. And as the most recently hired, young workers are typically the first let go and often the last rehired, especially those of color. As our country’s leaders consider a range of solutions to address this crisis, there’s one fix that will put millions of young Americans directly to work: a 21st-century version of the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt created the C.C.C., he was facing, as we are today, the possibility of a lost generation of young people. The conservation-minded president’s idea was to hire young unemployed men for projects in forestry, soil conservation and recreation…
Eight years ago Tom Ogren, a horticulturist, was in Sacramento, California, when he noticed that the ground around the State Capitol building was covered in thick yellow pollen. Scanning the trees along the street with his binoculars, he saw the trees were all deodar cedars (Cedrus deodara) and all cultivated males. Naturally, the deodar is monoecious, having both male and female cones growing on the same tree. But cultivation has produced wholly male trees – plants favoured by planners since they have no seeds or pods to drop but only pollen. This was the case at this Sacramento site, Ogren said. Growers’ breeding of purely male diodar trees had created, said Ogren, “something that doesn’t even exist in nature.” Ogren said he had seen similar pollen-coated cityscapes in Christchurch, New Zealand, London, UK, and all over Canada…
US News and World Report, May 17, 2020: Tennessee Trees Have Toppled. Will Residents Replant?
Another beloved landmark tree fell this month when powerful storms snapped a 200-year-old Shumard oak at a Nashville middle school. It’s one of thousands of trees claimed by winds and tornadoes across Middle Tennessee this spring. Now,
several groups are mobilizing to “re-leaf” the region. But they’re finding that it’s not just the disruption of the pandemic that’s complicating efforts, but also the hesitations of a community that fears the destructive threat of falling trees. Just ask Brad Price, whose home on Holly Street in East Nashville took a direct hit. The tornado took off its roof. A downed electric transformer left a crater in his front yard. And in every direction, trees wreaked havoc on their way down — dragging down power poles, crushing cars and homes and rupturing front yards with their uprooted trunks. “Well, there’s just no more trees, which is really hurtful,” Price said during the cleanup three days later. Yet at the same time, he found an unsettling silver lining. The loss of all those trees, from his hilly vantage point, revealed a view of the downtown Nashville skyline from his front porch. And from that first week of recovery, Price says the skyline sticks with him, silhouetted against glowing orange and pink sunsets…
New York City, The New York Times, May 18, 2020: America’s Killer Lawns
One day last fall, deep in the middle of a devastating drought, I was walking the dog when a van bearing the logo of a mosquito-control company blew past me and parked in front of a neighbor’s house. The whole vehicle stank of chemicals, even going 40 miles an hour. The man who emerged from the truck donned a massive backpack carrying a tank full of insecticide and proceeded to spray every bush and plant in the yard. Then he got in his truck, drove two doors down, and sprayed that yard, too, before continuing his route all around the block. Here’s the most heartbreaking thing about the whole episode: He was spraying for mosquitoes that didn’t even exist: Last year’s extreme drought ended mosquito-breeding season long before the first freeze. Nevertheless, the mosquito vans arrived every three weeks, right on schedule, drenching the yards with poison for no reason but the schedule itself. And spraying for mosquitoes isn’t the half of it, as any walk through the lawn-care department of a big-box store will attest. People want the outdoors to work like an extension of their homes — fashionable, tidy, predictable. Above all, comfortable. So weedy yards filled with tiny wildflowers get bulldozed end to end and replaced with sod cared for by homeowners spraying from a bottle marked “backyard bug control” or by lawn services that leave behind tiny signs warning, “Lawn care application; keep off the grass…”
Fruit growers are assessing the damage on their orchards after temperatures plunged below freezing in south-central and southwest Michigan, threatening tender blooms on apple, peach and other fruit trees. Last weekend’s morning freeze was the worst of its type since one that hit the area in May 2002, according to the Lansing State Journal. Cold, dry air blowing in from Canada dropped temperatures into the low- to mid-20s for nearly nine hours, according to the Lansing State Journal. “We won’t realize the extent of the damage until maybe next week,” said Audrey Sebolt, a horticultural specialist with the Michigan Farm Bureau. “Statewide, we won’t fully know until June, when the fruit is set.” Mark Longstroth, a fruit educator at Michigan State University, said fruits that bloom early were probably hurt the most. “Some apple varieties were pretty severely affected, some others not so bad,” he said. “The grapes came through it surprisingly well, and we’ve been real surprised how little damage blueberries suffered from the freeze…”
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is trying to unwind a federal judge’s order that directs the company to revamp the way it inspects its heavy-duty power lines and trims trees that could damage electrical equipment and cause more catastrophic wildfires. In a court filing late Wednesday, PG&E attorneys asked U.S. District Judge William Alsup to reconsider his April order imposing a series of additional conditions as part of the company’s five-year-probation sentence arising from the deadly 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion. The company said Alsup failed to give PG&E an opportunity to raise objections at a hearing, based his order on “a series of factual errors” and interfered with the role of state regulators. The conditions are also “substantively unreasonable because they are not reasonably necessary to accomplish the purposes of sentencing,” a filing from the company said…
Trees were cut down without legal permission at a St. Augustine movie theater. It apparently happened just days before the Epic Theater turned its parking lot into a drive-in theater Monday. “I was disappointed that the trees were cut down,” St. Johns County Commissioner Henry Dean said. In the theater’s parking lot, the tops of at least four live oak trees and a crepe myrtle were hacked off. Now, only their trunks stick up out of the ground. Saturday, a concerned resident reported the incident to the county offices. Two days later, the company started showing movies on the white part of its exterior wall, turning the same parking lot into a drive-in theater. “I would guess the Epic Theater owners felt it was probably necessary to remove the trees, I’m guessing really, in order to provide adequate viewing space for the cars they anticipate at the drive-in movie,” Dean said. He said the theater chopped down the trees without a permit. First Coast News reached out to Epic Theatre in several ways for comment. We have not heard back. Danny Lippi, an arborist, told First Coast News when you take off the top of the tree, it removes the leaves… and those leaves help make food for the tree. Also, that inner part of the trunk that is exposed now can decay. So even if these trees get big, Lippi said, they could be “hazardous” and weakened…
A California Coastal Commission investigation has concluded Long Beach violated a state law last week by having a contractor trim palm trees on the peninsula when there were multiple active great blue heron nests there. The city has violated tree-trimming regulations multiple times over the past three years, a letter from enforcement officer Jordan Sanchez to Long Beach said. That has prompted a series of proposed penalties, including requiring the city to plant more trees, create a new tree-trimming plan with more oversight, and pay fines, — with the money going to local environmental groups. The fines for violating the California Coastal Act can run from $500 to $30,000. On Wednesday, May 6, a private tree-trimming crew worked on 86 Mexican fan palm trees in the Ocean Boulevard median. Several of the trees had active nests, including at least one fledgling heron died. “We’re still uncovering details, but it was clearly a mistake,” Public Works Director Craig Beck said last week. The company “was trimming the tall palms around 65th Place, and a neighbor called and said there was a bird on the ground.” The city responded, Beck added, and told the tree trimmers to leave. The city investigation continues, Beck said this week, adding that a complete report will likely not be ready by Friday — which the Coastal Commission demanded in its letter…
Paducah, Kentucky, Sun, May 15, 2020: Tree trimming and pruning
Do not trust a stranger with a chainsaw in his hand. Recently, a friend’s neighbor asked if her tree trimmer could cut a few branches off my friend’s tree. The specific branches were agreed upon, but later my friend discovered more than twice the number were removed. The trimmer’s response was that the neighbor was paying him; the friend told him it was her tree and to stop. The once beautifully shaped tree is no longer an asset to the landscape and will need to be shaped at her expense. She has lost the value of the tree to the house. Well-designed landscaping is valued at 6-10% of the value of a home depending on location and a number of other factors including age, type of tree, etc. In addition, the branches were not cut according to accepted tree-trimming practices. Do not saw against the tree but to the outside of the “collar” which joins the branch and trunk. The collar contains special cells that form a protective scab over the cut. Without that collar, the tree will not form protection from insects and disease. Branches should not be cut parallel to the ground, but at an angle that allows water to run off rather than sitting on the cut. If the branch is torn in cutting or by a storm, cut back into solid wood. A dead branch should be cut into live wood, not just to live, as the branch will continue to die back. All trees have better times of the year to have their limbs removed than others. Generally, it is best to have the damage corrected as soon as possible…
It was a dangerous night for apple trees. The wind was barely stirring at Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards. The temperature had fallen below 30 degrees. And as the frost set in, the LaFayette orchard’s tender blossoms — which will eventually turn into apples — were at risk of dying before they even got a chance to bloom. So the farm’s crew headed into the cold, dark orchard just after midnight to set up smudge pots and turn on wind machines to raise the temperatures just enough to protect the buds from the potentially deadly freeze. “We can trick mother nature by about 2 degrees, and that’s all it takes,” said Peter Fleckenstein, a partner at Beak and Skiff and general manager of the orchard’s fresh fruit and juice operation The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for Central New York, warning that temperatures could drop as low as 27 degrees across the region. That’s a dangerous number for near-blossoming apple trees, Fleckenstein said: Temperatures below 27 degrees can kill buds, endangering CNY’s favorite fruit. “One night can ruin the whole season,” he said…
The gauntlet has been thrown down between Brooklyn Mayor Katie Gallagher and Parma Heights Mayor Michael P. Byrne regarding Census 2020. Both city leaders mean business, which is why the former challenged the latter to see which community can hit a 75 percent response rate. The winner receives what’s being called the “Census Tree.” At last check, Parma Heights was winning, with a 71.7 percent response rate vs. Brooklyn’s 70.6 response rate. “Parma Heights is a partner and a neighboring community. We share a lot of services together,” Gallagher said. “Being the same population size, same type of demographic, it’s just a friendly challenge to try to incentivize our residents and teach them the importance of filling out the census and how it helps the community as far as resources down the line,” she said… Regarding the location of the “Census Tree” if their respective communities win, Gallagher said it’ll be planted somewhere for the public to enjoy, while Byrne said it’ll be in a prominent spot…
Verona, New Jersey, myveronanj.com, May 13, 2020: Cutting A Tree? Get A Permit
If your outdoor projects during the pandemic include cutting down a tree, you’ll need to get a permit first–or face a fine and other costs. Township officials have issued five violations in recent days for cutting down trees without a permit, and the new rules enacted by the Town Council last year mean a minimum fine of $200 per violation. Homeowners also face the prospect of having to plant new trees to replace those taken down. Last October, in a 3-2 vote, the Council approved the first significant revisions to Verona’s municipal code on trees in more than 50 years. To preserve the environmental benefits that come with trees, the ordinance made it unlawful to remove or trim more than 30% of any healthy mature tree without a permit. Any homeowner who needs to remove more than two healthy mature trees within a calendar year must get the approval of the Planning Board. The permit fee for two trees was set at $50, but the measure specified that no permit was needed if a tree had been found to be dead, diseased or a hazard. The tree ordinance requires homeowners to plant native trees as replacements or pay $400 into a replacement fund controlled by the town. Councilman Ted Giblin and Councilwoman Christine McGrath, who is the Town Council’s liaison to the Verona Environmental Commission, voted against the ordinance…
Newburyport, Massachusetts, News, May 13, 2020: Two candidates vie for Newbury tree warden
Incumbent Tree Warden Tim Lamprey will receive a challenge in the town election from Bernie Field, a lifelong Byfield resident. The election is June 16 with early and absentee voting happening now. Polling hours have yet to be set. Voters will fill 14 municipal seats on the annual ballot. The deadline to register to vote is June 5. The annual Town Meeting is June 9 at 7 p.m. at Newbury Elementary School. The deadline to register to vote is May 20. The town clerk’s office is encouraging mail-in voting and has sent ballots to registered voters. Anyone who is registered to vote but did not receive a ballot can access one at the election/town meeting link at http://www.townofnewbury.org. The candidates for tree warden were asked to comment on why they are the best person to fill this position…
From a deadly fungus that showed its face in 1904 on an American chestnut in the Bronx to a nematode recently found to kill American beeches in Ohio, forests in the United States have faced more than 100 years’ worth of attacks from introduced pests and pathogens. But how much of a chunk are these invaders actually taking out of the woods? A new study suggests the impact is severe, accounting for one-quarter of all tree deaths in eastern U.S. forests over the past 3 decades. That death toll is likely far higher than the mortality caused by introduced species from the 1940s to the 1980s, and also “currently much bigger than any known effect of climate change,” says Kristina Anderson-Teixeira, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute who led the research. Scientists have documented at least 450 foreign insects and pathogens that have found their way to North America and feed on trees. Most do little damage, but more than a dozen have proved extraordinarily destructive, wiping out tree species—or even whole genera—as functioning members of forest ecosystems…
An ordinance to protect mature trees from developers’ bulldozers may have gone too far, leaders in one Ramsey County suburb decided this week. After months of discussion, the Roseville City Council has throttled back a rule that required property owners to either replant new trees to replace all mature trees cut down during development or pay fees that climb as high as 10% of the property value. The tree ordinance stirred controversy last summer when two heavily wooded residential lots under development were initially each charged more than $10,000 for tree replacement. “It was an unusual situation where they had to take down so many big trees and the lots weren’t big enough to put them back,” said Janice Gundlach, Roseville community development director. The City Council agreed Monday to cap the fees in the tree preservation and restoration ordinance at 5% of the property value for single-family lots. Larger development projects must still pay up to 10% of property value for downed trees, or replace them…
Hannibal, Missouri, The Whig, May 13, 2020: Hannibal targets invasive pear tree one at a time
Members of the Hannibal Tree Board know their work never ends since there are always trees to plant, prune, mulch or water. But moving up on the board’s priority list is setting aside time to educate the public about the invasive Bradford pear tree. “That might be an idea for a future project we could tackle,” said Tree Board President Kristy Trevathan during the board’s May 6 meeting at city hall. Trevathan proposed scheduling a public workshop during which a Bradford pear that is currently growing on public property could be brought down. Trevathan said it wasn’t all that long ago that the local tree board was recommending the Bradford pear as a tree to plant in urban spaces because of its tolerance of poor soil and pollution. “Everybody thought they were a wonderful tree,” Trevathan said, adding that she had recently come across some old Missouri Department of Conservation literature that also promoted the tree, which is native to China. “Now it is said they are an invasive tree and to remove them.” The MDC considers the Bradford pear invasive in part because it multiplies quickly and crowds out Missouri native plants. “The bush honeysuckle and the Bradford pear really do multiply,” Trevathan said. The Bradford pear in the spring features very dense clusters of white flowers that cover the tree before its leaves form. The tree, which reaches heights of 30 to 40 feet when it matures, has some negative traits such as a short lifespan (about 20 years) and a weak branch structure that ultimately leads to it breaking apart…
More trees, please. That has been the attitude of Philadelphia’s annual TreePhilly program for years and even amongst a global pandemic, the city’s flourishing green initiative is continuing its mission. Philadelphia Parks and Recreation announced it will once again offer Philadelphia residents a chance to receive a free tree at two no-contact pickup events. There will also be a door-to-door delivery service available for high-risk residents as well. Registration is open through Sunday, May 17. The pickup events will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24, at various locations throughout Philly. Trees will be delivered from May 25-29 and are available while supplies last. “Now more than ever, Philadelphians need trees in their communities,” said Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell in a statement. “We are thrilled to be able to offer Philadelphia residents a safe opportunity to make a difference this spring, literally right in their own backyard…”
Reuters, May 11, 2020: False claim: Photo shows trees cut down to enable 5G technology
Social media users have shared a photograph of a residential street lined with stumps, falsely claiming trees were cut down to make way for 5G technology. On February 4, 2019, the photo was shared on Facebook with the caption: “5G can’t pass through tree leaves so they chopped them all down.” A screenshot of this post has since been shared by a different social media user on April 2, 2020. A publication for 5G planning by the British government states that some objects, including trees and hedges, can interfere with 5G signals. However, the trees in the photograph were not cut down because of 5G, but because they were old and potentially dangerous. On February 6, 2019, the photo was published in an article by Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad (here). Hannelore Smitz, the journalist who wrote the article, told Reuters that he obtained the photograph from a resident who was worried about why the trees had been felled. The article explains that trees along the Baron Descampslaan road in the Belgium city of Leuven were cut down so they could be replaced. According to the report, Belgian politician Carl Devlies said the trees were being replaced because “some were sick, others were crooked, and some were showing signs of aging…”
Relief Web, May 11, 2020: Harnessing tech to employ last-mile tree planters in a COVID-19 world
The year 2020 started with such optimism and hope for nature-based solutions and environmental sustainability. Environmental, social and governance investments were high on the agenda at Davos; the World Economic Forum launched the 1 Trillion Trees campaign, backed by Salesforce; BlackRock’s CEO sent an open letter to industry leaders about the future of the planet and the tough but necessary choices ahead for investment; and calls for action from young people were gathering momentum. The message was clear: if we don’t do something fast, our future does not look good. Then, a few short weeks into the new decade, COVID-19 literally shut giant swaths of the world down. Planes stopped flying, factories closed, businesses had to adapt, and people stayed indoors. Many world leaders showed us that in times of crisis they can act fast. Now what? Post COVID-19 recovery plans are a priority: the current loss of income and slowed economic growth are being compared by some to the Great Depression of the 1930s—and this time the situation may be affecting millions more people. The climate, biodiversity and COVID-19-induced poverty crises require creative and innovative solutions…
[Editor’s note: Although the content of this story is blocked, being for subscribers only, and being as how we at treeandneighborlawblog.com really don’t have much use for a subscription to the Greenville News, fine paper though it is, we can only show you the photo, a delicious piece of irony that pretty much speaks for itself].
UPI, May 11, 2020: Giant Asian gypsy moth threatens trees in Washington
After a warning about the bee-killing Asian giant hornet, Washington state is bracing for invasion of another supersize invasive insect. This one, the Hokkaido gypsy moth, can destroy trees. Gov. Jay Inslee issued an emergency proclamation last week, warning that the moths have been discovered in parts of Snohomish County, which is northeast of Seattle. “This imminent danger of infestation seriously endangers the agricultural and horticultural industries of the state of Washington and seriously threatens the economic well-being and quality of life of state residents,” Inslee said in a statement. Hokkaido gypsy moths never have been observed before in the United States. They are exotic pests that can do “widespread damage” when hundreds of voracious caterpillars hatch, Karla Salp, a spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Agriculture, told UPI…
Midland, Texas, Reporter-Telegram, May 10, 2020: ‘Specimen Tree’ to be focal point of downtown park
Centennial Park officials planted what they expect will be the “focal point” of the $18 million downtown project. Last week, a crane helped plant a live oak tree – or the “specimen tree” on top of the mesa in the park, located next to the Bush Convention Center. “Once the park opens, Centennial Park hopes the tree will serve as a gathering place for all Midlanders!” according to the city’s public information Facebook page. The specimen tree has a 17-inch diameter and was trucked in from Austin. In February, park officials said they expect a June 17 completion date. Centennial Park is located in the heart of downtown Midland, in the space previously occupied by Centennial Plaza and the Midland County Courthouse. The 4-acre park, according to the city, is centered around the lawn and performance pavilion, with tree-lined promenades running along its perimeter. An interactive water feature functions as a splash pad by day and a fountain by night. Additional features include a dog park, concessions kiosk, grove seating, and a nature-style playground…
Cadillac, Michigan, News, May 11, 2020: Learning about signature tree species
Forest types are largely defined by the dominant tree species within the canopy of a stand. However, understory regeneration often varies, sometimes suggesting long-term forest type changes. Over decades, forests undergo somewhat predictable changes. Foresters call this “forest succession.‘ One of the best indicators of where a forest stand might be headed is from examining the regeneration. Without major disturbance, there’s a pretty good chance the seedlings of today will become the dominant forest type of the future. Different forest types have various track records in their ability to reproduce themselves over time. Northern hardwoods can sustain themselves for centuries. Signature species, such as sugar maple, beech, and basswood, are capable of growing in the shade and will take advantage of small canopy gaps as old trees gradually die. On the other end of the spectrum, paper birch and red pine stands have very low percentages of their own seedlings in the understory. These are sun-loving tree species. Without disturbance, other forest types will replace these forest types. Paper birch stands are likely to become balsam fir or northern hardwoods. Red pine stands will trend more towards red maple, black cherry, and different species of oak. Similarly, aspen stands tend to be replaced by red maple or balsam fir. Aspen is particularly popular with most game species and a growing number of birds with declining populations…
Cosmo Magazine, May 11, 2020: Tree diversity not just in rainforests
Rainforests get the headlines, but other forests also are home to thousands of unique and important tree species, new research reveals. An international team studied DNA data from more than 10,000 forest and savanna sites across the Americas and discovered that nearly 30% of tree evolutionary diversity is only to be found in temperate and tropical dry forests. The comparable figure for tropical rainforests is 26%. “Our findings show that temperate forests and dry forests have unique evolutionary history that merits far greater conservation attention,” says Toby Pennington, from the University of Exeter, UK. “Protecting rain forests is obviously vital for many reasons, but we shouldn’t ignore the unique tree biodiversity of temperate and dry forests.” The study found that temperate forests hold unique genetic lines of trees including members of the oak and elm families. Unique lineages in dry forests – such as the Caatinga of Brazil and the Chiquitania of Bolivia – include members of the pea and cacti families. By examining the evolutionary structure of tree communities, the researchers – from the UK, the US, Chile and Brazil – tried to discover the main factors that prevent species expanding into new areas and environments…
Here in North Texas, enormous trees are far from common — especially compared with other parts of the country. Many of the tallest trees are on the West Coast, benefiting from the weather and soil there. In fact, the world’s tallest, at 380 feet, is in California. Here in the Dallas area, you’re not going to find anything remotely close to that. After a friend in Vancouver, Canada, asked about the height of North Texas trees, reader Ken Lee turned to Curious Texas with his own observation and question: “Why are the trees in North Texas so short? Trees in a lot of other areas of Texas can get very tall, but there are so few here.” There are several answers to Lee’s question. Steve Houser, a consulting arborist with Arborlogical boils the factors down to genetics, environmental conditions and history. The trees that are native to North Texas are naturally shorter. For example, the Texas red oak, which is native to North Texas, grows to about 40 feet while the Shumard red oak, native to East Texas, grows to more than 100 feet. Most trees cannot grow taller than 150 to 160 feet because the tree must be able to defy gravity to transport water from the roots to the top. “It is a simple matter of physics that the vascular system of a tree cannot carry or transport water much higher than 160 feet,” Houser said. “The redwoods and giant sequoias have the ability to capture and utilize water from the air and rainfall or fog, which allows them to grow much taller than other tree species…”
After recent news about sightings of so-called murder hornets in Washington state, authorities are now warning of a possible infestation of another non-native pest species. Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee issued an emergency proclamation Tuesday, stating an “imminent danger of an infestation” of non-native pests, the Asian gypsy moths and the Asian-European hybrid gypsy moths in Snohomish County. “(T)his imminent danger of infestation seriously endangers the agricultural and horticultural industries of the state of Washington and seriously threatens the economic well-being and quality of life of state residents,” the proclamation stated. Although they are quite similar to the European gypsy moths that can be found in northeastern United States, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), Asian gypsy moths pose greater threats since infestations spread faster and more widely. Further, female European gypsy moths cannot fly whereas Asian gypsy moth females, which can lay hundreds of eggs, can fly for up to 20 miles. Asian gypsy moths are “aggressive” defoliators that can feed on over 500 species of host trees. In the U.S., Washington state has had more Asian gypsy moth introductions than any other state. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Asian gypsy moth poses a serious threat to the country’s landscape and natural resources if they become established in the country…
Science, May 7, 2020: Tree planting is not a simple solution
A plethora of articles suggest that tree planting can overcome a host of environmental problems, including climate change, water shortages, and the sixth mass extinction. Business leaders and politicians have jumped on the tree-planting bandwagon, and numerous nonprofit organizations and governments worldwide have started initiatives to plant billions or even trillions of trees for a host of social, ecological, and aesthetic reasons. Well-planned tree-planting projects are an important component of global efforts to improve ecological and human well-being. But tree planting becomes problematic when it is promoted as a simple, silver bullet solution and overshadows other actions that have greater potential for addressing the drivers of specific environmental problems, such as taking bold and rapid steps to reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. These ambitious tree-planting efforts (examples in supplementary table S1) are mostly well intentioned and have numerous potential benefits, such as conserving biodiversity, improving water quality, providing shade in urban areas, and sequestering carbon Nonetheless, the widespread obsession over planting trees can lead to negative consequences, which depend strongly on both how and where trees are planted (see the table)…
Detroit, Michigan, News, May 7, 2020: Bradford pear trees are becoming invasive
It’s the first week in May and in most towns and subdivisions in our part of the state, everywhere you look you see a profusion of white flowers blooming on lollipop-shaped Bradford pear trees. When landscapers and homeowners first started planting them several decades ago, they were kind of exotic and caught your eye. Unfortunately, it’s all you see nowadays. Unimaginative landscape architects and designers incorporate them into their landscape designs without even giving it a second thought. I guess you can’t blame them for doing that since no one complains about it. Instead, people actually prefer the familiar plants. Lazy landscape design will soon be the least of our worries as these alien trees start to escape cultivation and crowd out our beloved native Michigan trees and shrubs. Bradford pears are a cultivated variety of wild pears native to China and neighboring countries. When first introduced, it was thought they were unable to produce viable seeds and would therefore not cause any problems. But something happened along the way and now they’ve found a way to reproduce…
Springfield, Missouri KYTV, May 7, 2020: Tree service company responds to On Your Side Investigation
We have an update to an On Your Side Investigation. You might recall on Tuesday we told you about neighbors outside Rogersville who say they were ripped off by same tree service company at the same time. In mid-April, combined, they paid Joseph Jones with Joseph’s Tree Service more than $10,000 and the jobs are not done. Jones claims it was all a big misunderstanding. He says he normally documents jobs, but he didn’t this time. “When I was over there I didn’t have nothing on me at that time because I was across the street working. I had no paperwork or anything on me,” he said. At each property, homeowners say he didn’t pickup limbs, left a mess and he never returned their calls. He says he was instructed to leave wood for camping at one home. Those homeowners say he was supposed to do a lot more than that. Jones says he didn’t know there was a problem until On Your Side called him. “If I got a phone call from them, I must have been in the middle of something. I had something going on and I forgot. Yes, I should have cleaned it up and I didn’t at first but I do apologize for that,” he said. His business cards read licensed and insured, but as On Your Side discovered, he’s not. “I was in the middle of getting that done and with the COVID-19 thing happened. I tried to contact them and they said I couldn’t get that done until everything opened back up,” he said. On Your Side emailed city officials. They say the office is fully staffed and they’ve been processing and issuing licenses daily. Jones also doesn’t have an International Society of Arboriculture certification. His business card reads he’s a certified arborist. “What happened was I’ve paid those to get made. Those ended up getting made with that on there. I didn’t put that on there,” he said…
CNN, April 27, 2020: Planting trees could help this city prevent 400 premature deaths
Many cities around the world are planting trees as a way to fight climate change. But they might also reduce our risks of dying early. Scientists say these trees, and other ways to green urban areas, could be just as beneficial to our mental and physical health and reduce the risk of premature death. New research has put a number on just how many premature deaths could be prevented in one US city if it were to increase tree cover from 20% to 30% within five years. Philadelphia, America’s fifth-largest city, could help as many as 403 adults a year live longer if it meets its existing target, according to a study published Monday in the journal Lancet Planetary Health. The city’s efforts could also yield a nearly $4 billion estimated annual economic benefit. The authors said there’s no reason that other cities, particularly ones in climates similar to Philadelphia, shouldn’t benefit to the same extent. “Although every city has its own characteristics, this study provides an example for all the cities in the world: Many lives can be saved by increasing trees and greening urban environments, even at modest levels,” said Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, the study coordinator and director of the environment and health initiative at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). “What’s more, green spaces increase biodiversity and reduce the impact of climate change, making our cities more sustainable and more livable…”
One of the more contentious sources of renewable energy is biomass – burning wood pellets instead of coal or natural gas to generate heat or electricity. The controversy could grow in B.C, as wood pellet producers appear to be resorting to using more live whole trees to produce wood pellets for export, as opposed to just wood waste. Two B.C. wood pellet producers – Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. (TSX:PL) and Pacific BioEnergy – are being singled out by Stand.earth in a new report that suggests that the companies are now using what appears to be live, whole trees. “Wood pellets are obviously the worst and lowest use of our last primary forests in the interior,” said Michelle Connolly, director of Conservation North, which has documented the use of whole trees at B.C. pellet plants. “The B.C. government assured us that green trees would not be used in pellet plants, and clearly that’s not true… The BC government has sold wood pellet exports as an opportunity to make use of waste, such as sawdust and slash piles,” the Stand.earth report states. “Using photos and satellite imagery of both of British Columbia’s biggest pellet companies, Pacific BioEnergy and Pinnacle Renewable Energy, this investigation reveals with absolute certainty that wood pellets are being made from whole trees in British Columbia…”
Phys.org, April 28, 2020: UAE wages war on tiny scourge threatening date palms
Said Al-Ajani looks proudly over his lush date plantation, which recently survived a plague of red weevils—a destructive insect wreaking havoc across the Middle East and North Africa. “For 24 years, we cultivated our land normally. Then, we had to start spraying five to six times a year against the weevil,” said the 60-year-old Emirati, wearing traditional robes with a red and white checkered keffiyeh. In Wiqan, located in the United Arab Emirates but nestled against the border with Oman, he settles down on a carpet rolled out on the ground in the midst of his six-hectare plantation, to share lunch with his relatives and neighbors. Fittingly, the meal served under the spreading palm fronds will end with succulent dates to accompany the coffee. In the Arab world—and particularly during the holy month of Ramadan—the date is more than a fruit, it is a symbol of prosperity and hospitality, and it has played an important role in the development of nations carved out of these hot and arid regions…
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gazette, April 27, 2020: Count your blessings, and count your valuable trees
I’ve heard so many people talk about how fortunate they are to live in an area where we can get outside for a dose of sunshine and fresh air. Naturally trees are a big part of our walks or our views from inside apartments or homes. Some trees stand out more than others, and they are usually large, mature trees that provide shade, food and home for squirrels, habitat for birds and pollinators, and for us humans, often an emotional connection. “I’ll chain myself to that tree before I let it be cut down,” commented a neighborhood resident when a beloved street tree was threatened. Her attachment comes from the simple act of walking past it and observing its beauty and all the critters who call it home. Understandably, after tornadoes or hurricanes, trees are often mentioned early in the recovery process as a point of great loss. It is tough to social distance and not gather in large groups. We’ve all had to get creative with celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, replacing group plantings with webinars and tree hugging social media campaigns. Some households will be planting in their backyards or other special spots. We are all planning to invest in more trees and nearby nature. Regardless of economics, every neighborhood deserves beautiful trees lining the streets and nearby nature in parks and public spaces…
Long-awaited changes to Louisville’s tree policies for private property, intended to boost the city’s tree canopy and cut back on losses, were approved Thursday by Louisville Metro Council after months of discussion. Council members said the legislation represented a “good balance” between the need to preserve trees and improve the city’s so-called urban heat island, while promoting the growth Jefferson County wants to see. “This is not perfect, but I think it’s a substantial improvement over our existing ordinances,” said Councilman Bill Hollander, D-9th District, one of the lead sponsors. “For years now, we have known of our shrinking tree canopy and the heat island that is associated with it, and the very, very adverse health issues that are associated with the urban heat island.” Louisville’s tree canopy is estimated by researchers to provide roughly $330 million in benefits each year by collecting stormwater, creating cost-saving shade and mitigating ozone pollution, in addition to providing health benefits like reduced rates of asthma…
The loss of so many of our ash trees lately brings home the message why it’s so important that we don’t overplant the same few species.The emerald ash borer has wiped out millions of ash trees in parks, streets, and yards in 35 U.S. states in the last dozen years, bringing to mind the 1950s catastrophe when America lost a huge part of its tree canopy when Dutch elm disease killed the many elms that were a dominant street tree then. Diversity is the best way to limit losses when a new threat comes along. Most of the time, a bug or disease attacks only a particular species or family. When we plant many different kinds of trees and plants, we hedge our vulnerability. Illinois’ Morton Arboretum, one of the nation’s leading tree display and research sites, advises that when planning a new tree, look around the neighborhood and purposely don’t plant what everyone else has. The good news is that we have a lot of excellent, under-used trees to pick from that are likely to do well in Pennsylvania’s soils and climate. Just because a species isn’t often used doesn’t mean it’s no good…
After severe storms swept through parts of Chesterfield County Friday, many homeowners with more time on their hands amidst the COVID-19 pandemic are taking care of duties usually left to professionals, but Tree removal companies are urging people not to take on more than they can handle especially when it comes to power tools like chainsaws. “90 percent of chainsaw injuries occur to the hands and to the legs less than 10 percent occur to the head and neck although they are far more lethal,” said Timothy Nunnally. “You have to keep in mind that when you’re cutting wood that’s on the ground it is dynamic, so as you’re cutting it the weight distribution of that limb or that log is changing, so it’s moving as you’re cutting it so it’s not hard to get your saw stuck, and you can break the equipment trying to free it.” Nunnally owns and operate Nunnally’s Tree Service Inc. in Chesterfield he says it’s very easy for people not used to operating chainsaws to harms themselves cutting a fallen tree or make a fallen tree more hazardous when trying to remove it. He says that kickback can occur from a chainsaw when the centrifugal force of the saw violently forces the bar upwards towards your head and neck. “Particularly with uprooted trees, people will try to cut the tree up from the top back towards the root-ball and sometimes the tree can actually stand back up and create a brand new hazard that wasn’t present when they started,” Nunnally said. “If you know what to do you start at the root ball end to cut the root-ball free however that is very dangerous, so the best case scenario is just call a professional to help you out…”
Forbes, April 26, 2020: Using Trees To Build A Better World
I worked in Hawaii for five years for a man who owned plantation forests. Inevitably, I ran into people who complained when it was time to harvest these forests. They simply didn’t distinguish between tree farming and clear-cutting of old growth forests. To them, cutting down trees was bad. Period. I thought of this last week when I watched Michael Moore’s new documentary Planet of the Humans. The film has some environmentalists agitated because they charge that there is a lot of misinformation in the film. As an aside, I agree that there are a lot of things wrong with the film, but the fact that Gasland’s writer and director Josh Fox is trying to get the film banned because — in his own words — it is “riddled with falsehoods and misinformation”, is textbook irony. As fellow Forbes contributor Michael Shellenberger correctly notes, Gasland itself is riddled with falsehoods and misinformation. But I digress. Planet of the Humans is extremely critical of using biomass like trees to produce power. They treat the idea of burning trees for power as an environmental abomination. Certainly, the burning of trees can be bad, but one can’t treat that as a universal truth. You wouldn’t make a blanket statement that all drugs are bad, just because some people abuse drugs…
CNN, April 24, 2020: What is Arbor Day? The meaning behind the tree holiday
Today is National Arbor Day, which people celebrate by planting elms, oaks, pines and basically any type of tree they can get their hands on. Here’s a brief look at how this day of tree appreciation came to be. The Latin word for tree is arbor. True to its name, Arbor Day celebrates the preservation and planting of trees. Nebraska was the first state in the US to observe it as a formal holiday in 1872. However, the Arbor Day Foundation says “tree planting festivals are as old as civilization.” In 1872, Julius Sterling Morton, a newspaper editor and former US secretary of agriculture, submitted a resolution to Nebraska’s State Board of Agriculture to set aside one day dedicated to planting trees. After the board passed the resolution, more than one million trees were planted on the first official celebration of the day on April 10, 1872. In 1885, Nebraska moved the holiday to April 22 in honor of Morton’s birthday. The event eventually spread to all 50 states and other countries, including Australia, Brazil and Canada. In 1972, former President Richard Nixon declared National Arbor Day to be celebrated on the last Friday in April. However, some states have designated different dates to ensure the trees are planted at the best time for growth. “The planting of trees is an action that yields a long-range benefit on generations to come,” Nixon, who created the Environmental Protection Agency, wrote in his proclamation. “Arbor Day uniquely symbolizes the truth that the earth belongs to every generation, not just ours…”
For one, brief moment in the spring of 2019, all eyes turned to the Nashville riverfront. This was before the stages went up, before the stars and the crowds and the music and the party. The day the cherry trees came down, Nashville watched. Almost overnight, conversations about the NFL Draft, an enormous shindig that took over both sides of the Cumberland downtown from Lower Broadway to Nissan Stadium, turned to the fate of a row of unassuming cherry blossom trees. More than 20 of the trees in Riverfront Park would need to be removed and mulched to make space for temporary structures related to the draft. The news caused an uproar, drawing protesters to city hall and a petition signed by thousands. Then-Mayor David Briley eventually informed the NFL and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. that they would have to remove the trees intact and replant them elsewhere in the city. Randall Lantz, who works for the city’s parks and recreation department in landscaping and horticulture, became “the cherry blossom guy,” he said, trusted by the community to take care of the decorative trees. And he did. In the end, plans were adjusted so only 10 trees need to be moved, and each survived its first year, Lantz said. But the spring of 2020 has brought its own challenges for Nashville’s trees — cherry or otherwise…
BBC, April 23, 2020: Volcanic time-bomb threatens nearby trees
A reduced ability to absorb essential nutrients from the soil and lower rates of turning sunshine into sugar hampered the trees’ growth. A team of researchers also found that toxins released by eruptions continued to limit the trees’ growth. The findings appear in the journal Dendrochronologia. The team said that the widespread impact of volcanic eruptions on trees had been well documented, such as the “year without a summer” in 1816, following the massive Tambora eruption in Indonesia in the previous year, which was deemed to be the biggest volcanic eruption in human history. However, they added, there was little known about the effect eruptions had on surviving trees near to volcanoes. Certain things had been observed, such as damage to the tree’s branches, dust covering the foliage reducing the trees ability to photosynthesize and grow. But few studies had been carried out and meaningful data collated. The team of Spanish and Mexican scientists decided to assess the effects of eruptions on a volcano in central Mexico, which had become active again at the turn of the millennium…
In a week that features both Earth Day and Arbor Day, the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District is launching a program aimed at ending poor mulching and planting practices. “Let the Flare See the Air” will enlist members of the public in identifying tree care blunders. The flare is the area of the tree where roots begin to emerge from the trunk. Amy Roskilly, conservation education and communications manager for the district, says she hopes to have “extra eyes out there telling me where these improperly planted trees are.” After spotting tree care issues, volunteers need only complete a simple Google form with observations and a location. If an address cannot be determined, a nearby intersection or property description will suffice. In addition, photos of the struggling trees can be sent to aroskilly@cuyahogaswcd.org. The district page also features an informative video and images, as well as links to websites with descriptions of proper planting and mulching techniques and methods for remedying existing problems. The identities of volunteers will not be provided to property owners. “We don’t want to out anybody,” notes Roskilly…
Trees provide many benefits, but during Georgia storms, they can fall and create a dangerous situation. With more storms expected this week, it’s crucial for residents to keep an eye out for falling trees. The following guide will help you keep your trees from falling (when possible) and know what to do if it does happen. Trees can fall during storms for a variety of reasons, including: Winds can uproot a tree, with the tree trunk acting as a lever. This is a greater problem for tall trees, because the force that’s applied to the roots and trunk is greater as the tree’s height increases, according to Scientific American. This can also happen if a tree was previously in a more forested area, protected by other trees that have since been cut down (to create a new housing lot, for example). When the ground becomes saturated from large amounts of rain, trees can topple more easily. The more wet the ground is, the less wind it will take to make it fall. During an ice storm, the weight of ice can increase the weight of branches by 30 times. Lightning strikes can cause a tree to fall or weaken it so it’s more vulnerable in future storms…
A report by The Tree Next Door states the city of Atlanta has misappropriated $3.3 million from the tree trust fund over a 10-year period. The Tree Next Door is an organization that aims to protect Atlanta’s tree canopy by advocating for a strong tree ordinance and educating the community about their rights and responsibilities under the law, according to its website. The report, released April 20, also states the tree trust fund earned interest that was diverted to another citywide fund consisting of several other trust funds, a total of $500,000 just in the past five years. It also states there was no oversight or accountability into the management of the tree trust fund. According to the report, between 2009 and 2019, more than $3.3 million went to salaries and benefits for employees the tree trust fund is not supposed to cover with $2.4 million misappropriated by the department of city planning and $900,000 by the department of parks and recreation. “As outlined in the Atlanta tree protection ordinance, most of these funds are intended for planting trees and buying forested land,” the report stated. “Some exceptions exist, such as expenses of the tree conservation commission and specific salaries in both the arborist division and the parks department…”
Provo, Utah, Daily Herald, April 22, 2020: Improve fruit tree production
Due to the early and hard freeze last October, many leaves on trees did not have a chance to evacuate the sugars, nutrients, from their leaves and send it to their trunks to store for this spring. That is why many leaves did not change colors and continued to hang on the tree all winter. As a result, all those fruit trees will be short the amount of nutrients needed for this year’s leaves and buds, which means tree leaves and buds will be small and in some cases will not produce any fruit. To compensate, Mann suggests spraying with a fruit foliar as soon as leaves appear. Foliar should be sprayed at least twice about 10 days a part ensuring the spray is applied to the underside of the leaves. The top of the leaves is mostly for protection of the leaf and the underside is where the nutrients will enter the leaves increasing the size of the leaf and buds, providing a larger surface for photosynthesis to bring nutrients from the roots. Although it is advised to fertilize at least three times a year, the foliar spray is about nine-10 times more effective than fertilizing around the base of the tree and should be done this year. One of the common problems Mann discovered in Sanpete County is that many of the fruit trees are hardly ever fertilized which results in small fruit and can also cause fruit to prematurely drop to the ground for lack of nutrients. For that reason, good fruit requires yearly fertilization. It is a common practice among most orchardists to fertilize at least three times per year…
Phys.org, April 22, 2020: A tree-mendous study: Biomass from forest restoration
The United States is made up of more than 2 billion acres of land—nearly 750 million of which represent forest lands. These woodlands—thick with fragrant trees and foliage—are havens for campers and wildlife. But for many years, land management and wildfire suppression practices have resulted in more trees than occur under natural conditions. These thick masses of trees, while creating a peaceful environment, serve as fuel for devastating wildfires caused by sources such as lightning strikes and human carelessness. To reduce wildfire risk, organizations that oversee the nation’s forests, such as the U.S. Forest Service, conduct forest restoration activities such as selective timber harvesting and thinning. In a handful of states in the western U.S. alone, forest restoration activities have the potential to produce 0.6 to 2.1 billion dry tons of biomass in the form of residues and small-diameter trees that can be converted to heat sources for homes and businesses or biofuels that power cars, trucks, and airplanes. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to help organizations evaluate how to easily and quickly prioritize restoration efforts, which are often affected on a wide scale by air quality standards and limited budgets…
For B.C.’s tree-planting industry, COVID-19’s arrival came at the worst of times. This year was to be the industry’s great leap forward, the biggest season on record with more than 300 million seedlings slated to be planted. But while the industry managed to get the provincial government to declare “reforestation” an essential service, it may not be enough to prevent many of those seedlings from becoming one of the biggest compost piles in history. At the industry’s urging, in late March B.C.’s chief forester Diane Nicholls delayed the start of the planting season in the interior of the province until early May. The industry, rural communities, First Nations and the province must now decide if it is even possible or desirable to put 5,000 planters on the ground in the Interior where three-quarters of all trees are scheduled for planting. First Nations communities in particular cannot afford to have the virus show up. Many are isolated without access to adequate health care, have crowded housing conditions, and have elders who may be their community’s only Indigenous language speakers…
National Interest, April 22, 2020: Cities of the Future Will Need A Lot of Trees
The 21st century is the urban century. It has been forecast that urban areas across the world will have expanded by more than 2.5 billion people by 2050. The scale and speed of urbanisation has created significant environmental and health problems for urban dwellers. These problems are often made worse by a lack of contact with the natural world. With research group the Tree Urbanistas, I have been considering and debating how to solve these problems. By 2119, it is only through re-establishing contact with the natural world, particularly trees, that cities will be able to function, be viable and able to support their populations. The creation of urban forests will make cities worth living in, able to function and support their populations: Treetopias. This re-design will include the planting of many more urban trees and other vegetation – and making use of new, more creative methods. Although we didn’t fully realise it at the time, the 1986 Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, a building that incorporated 200 trees in its design, was the start of more creative urban forestry thinking…
Galveston, Texas, Daily News, April 21, 2020: Tree shade can cause problems with lawn growth
I commonly hear from gardeners who complain that grass won’t grow under a tree no matter what they do. When I mention that the shade created by the tree is the likely problem, the standard response is that grass always grew there before. What they likely do not realize is that as trees grow, shade created by a tree increases from year to year. Here’s a basic lesson in horticulture: shade trees grow up to do exactly what they were planted to do — create shade. Eventually, areas where grass had always grown well before will no longer receive sufficient sunlight for lawn grass to grow. Bare areas occur under and around trees because conditions eventually become too shady for grass to thrive there. Eventually, even an area where grass has always grown well before will no longer get enough sun. If you are trying to deal with this sort of situation, here are some things you can do. The amount of sunlight reaching the turf can be increased by selectively pruning trees in your landscape. The lower branches and some of the inner branches may be pruned to allow more light to reach the lawn below. Keep in mind that raising and thinning the canopy on older, mature trees is often done best by a professional arborist who can determine which branches should be removed without adversely affecting the tree…
Two West Monroe men are facing charges after they allegedly burglarized a house after removing storm debris. According to arrest reports, a police officer was dispatched to the 200 block of Riverbend on the burglary call. A neighbor said he saw two white men driving a black Ford truck enter the home and exit with TVs. They then left at a high rate of speed. The witness recognized the men as two people who were at the home the day before cutting trees. The landlord for the property told West Monroe Police officers he paid John Hummel, age 28, and Roy Knight, age 49, to clean up the home and board it up for the resident. The victim later contacted the WMPD and said she was missing multiple TVs, gaming consoles and jewelry…
About 40 protesters — one sitting in a tree — gathered Monday morning outside Maurie Jacobs Park in opposition to planned apartment construction on the south end of River Road, just north of the park along the Willamette River. For years, people living in that neighborhood have opposed the construction by Seattle-based Evergreen Housing Development Group of a 94-unit, three-story apartment complex being called the Lombard Apartments project. The market-rate apartments, neighbors believe, will bring too much traffic to the neighborhood and ruin a usable, tree-populated green space in the city. The protests coalesced around the overnight arrival of a tree sitter in a maple on the edge of the 3.5-acre site who called himself “Scrimshaw” and said he was there for the same reason as others gathered around the tree Monday. Evergreen Housing Development Group called Eugene police when they learned the protesters were on its property, according to Andrew Brand, the company’s executive director of real estate. Eugene police asked “Scrimshaw” to leave but the tree-sitter refused, said spokesperson Melinda McLaughlin. If Evergreen Housing Development Group submits a trespass letter of consent, Eugene police will be authorized to remove him from the property…
Atlanta tree advocates say the city spent $3.4 million in the last decade on salaries that should have been spent on planting trees and buying forested land. The figure comes from a report put together for The Tree Next Door, an Atlanta advocacy group, and it draws on legal and accounting experts and data obtained from the city via open record requests. The group commissioned the report because they say the public figures on the city’s tree trust fund have long been unclear. Money goes into the fund from developers and residents who cut down trees. And except for some allowed overhead on things like salaries and education, the cash should come out on seedlings and forested land. Tree spending has come up at the public meetings that have been going on about rewriting the city’s tree ordinance — and possibly hiking the price of cutting down Atlanta trees. “And the questions came not only from activists, but also from developers,” said Stephanie Coffin, a founder of The Tree Next Door. The city’s tree trust fund comes to about $14 million. The city can spend up to $445,000 of that on salaries in the departments of planning and parks per year, according to The Tree Next Door’s reading of city ordinance. But they say they’ve found more like $800,000 on salary spending in recent years and varying amounts before that…
The City of Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division is going to be going around town spraying spruce trees in order to prevent ips Beetle infestation. They said Cheyenne has experienced an ips beetle epidemic for the past few years. According to the urban forestry division, spruce trees are the second most common trees in Cheyenne, behind cottonwood. Ips beetles’ spreads into two generations. The first generation mature through the winter under the bark, then they emerge and fly and re-infest beetles in the spring. Then they mature throughout the summer and fly again in July or August. The urban forestry division wants to spray the stem in the larger branches before they fly, so that when the beetles hit a new tree, the insecticide will kill them. Here’s some tips on preventing beetle infestation: 1) Identify that you have a spruce tree. Most evergreens with a pure middle shape along with small sharp needles and 2-4-inch cones, are spruce trees. 2) Consider having an arborist spray the tree for you. If one owns a large spruce tree, the forestry division recommends hiring a licensed arborist to spray the tree. “Spraying a large spruce tree is very difficult work,” City forester, Mark Ellison said. “They have to get the spray the top of the tree because the beetle typically attacks the top first, then works its way down…”
Atlanta, Georgia, WSB-TV, April 20, 2020: The reason why trees fall may not be what you think
We’re now entering the peak of severe weather season in Georgia. We’ve already seen a breakout of severe storms earlier this month, and there are sure to be more later this spring. One of the biggest impacts of severe storms always seems to be downed trees. There’s always a concern about wind, but rain and soil also play big parts in why trees fall. We learned there are three factors that cause them to fall: The first is people: Construction can weaken tree roots. Once that happens, it’s easier for high wind to blow down a tree. Second is Georgia’s soil: Georgia red clay gets especially slimy in the rain. Again, it doesn’t take much to bring down a tree, in those conditions. Third is drought. When the ground gets especially dry, trees get weak. Add the occasional heavy rain and a strong gust of wind, and a tree can easily fall. It’s a good idea to have your trees checked by an arborist and budget for tree care every three to five years…
Eden Yaklin remembers the day she noticed the trees at Heritage Mark had been poisoned. The property manager was taking a routine walk around the office building about two years ago when she smelled something strange near the trees. After investigating more closely, she knew something was wrong: Aside from the smell, the trees had an unusual number of brown leaves and there were circles of dead grass around the trunks. “And when I picked up a handful of soil to smell it, it almost knocked me out,” she said. Seven decades-old live oak trees had been poisoned, and despite efforts to save them, four of the trees died. Though it’s been more than two years, the building’s management doesn’t want the public to forget what happened, Yaklin said. After the incident, Victoria Crime Stoppers got involved, and the building’s owner, Donald Elder, offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever is responsible. Because the culprit has never been found, that offer still stands, Yaklin said. “I find it extremely odd that no one ever came forward,” she said. “We’re still hoping someone will…”
Those with oak trees, particularly red oaks, should be wary of oak wilt spores carried by flying beetles, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said.From April 15 to July 15, oak trees are at high risk for oak wilt, a serious fungal disease that can weaken white oaks and kill red oak trees within a few weeks of infection. “The guidelines against pruning oak trees during this period are a way to help prevent the spread of the disease,” said James Wieferich, forest health specialist in the DNR’s Forest Resources Division. “Unfortunately, many people learn not to prune or otherwise wound trees from mid-April to mid-July only after they lose their oaks to oak wilt.” Once a tree is infected, the fungus can also move to neighboring red oaks through root grafts. Oaks within about 100 feet of each other, depending on the size of the trees, have connected root systems, the DNR said. Left untreated, oak wilt will continue to move from tree to tree, killing more red oaks. As more trees die, more fungal spores are produced, which allows the beetle to carry infection to new locations…
The female variety of Russian poplar trees has turned out to be the surprise victim of Covid-19 in Kashmir. Over the past 15 days, thousands of poplar trees, also known as Russian poplar, have been axed in the Valley over fears that the pollen generated by them can act as a carrier of coronavirus. As fears over the Covid-19 pandemic mounted in Kashmir Valley, the government ordered the axing of poplar trees. The government order on the subject, issued April 2, stated, “A meeting held under the chairmanship of Pandurang K Pole, IAS, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir on April 2, 2020, to discuss the pollen-related infections in the wake of already spread of Covid-19 [sic] to work out the strategy and measures to get rid of this menace before the onset of flowering season Female Russian Poplar trees 42,000 trees need to be felled down in order to get rid of the menace of the pollen-bearing by this specie.” According to press statements issued by the Department of Information and Public Relations, deputy commissioners of various districts in the Valley ordered the axing of poplars. The fear of coronavirus runs so deep that over the past two weeks, Kashmiris employed labourers to cut down trees worth lakhs of rupees. Kashmir is home to about 20 million poplar trees. In 2015, the poplars were axed in large numbers over fears that their pollen causes respiratory ailments. Botanists in the region have repeatedly stated that the poplar trees do not trigger respiratory ailments and that it is wrong to link them to the transmission of Covid-19. The indiscriminate felling that started about a fortnight ago stopped after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court stayed the government order to cut the female poplar trees. The High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee to examine the matter within four days. The court has directed that the panel must include experts on trees, medicine, respiratory diseases and other subjects relevant to the issue…
Iowa Learning Farms will host a webinar Wednesday, April 22 at noon about the importance of including trees in Iowa’s water quality conversation. Billy Beck, assistant professor and extension forestry specialist at Iowa State University, will discuss the benefits that trees, forests and forestry provide for both water quality and on-farm income, as well as resources and techniques landowners may utilize to achieve successful on-the-ground projects. “Trees represent powerful resources that are often underutilized and undervalued by agricultural landowners,” said Beck, whose research and extension programming focuses on the impacts that trees, woodlands and forests have on water quality and quantity in the Midwest. This webinar will also present results from the recent “Forests and Water Quality Summit”—including a vision for the role of forestry in Iowa’s water quality efforts. To participate, shortly before noon on April 22, click the following URL or type it into your browser: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/364284172. Or, go to https://iastate.zoom.us/join and enter meeting ID: 364 284 172. Or, join from a dial-in phone line by dialing: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 876 9923; meeting ID: 364 284 172. The webinar will also be recorded and archived on the ILF website, so that it can be watched at any time. Archived webinars are available…
The coronavirus has shut down most of Humboldt County, as it has the rest of the state, but some traditions of northwest California endure: Loggers keep felling redwoods, and eco-activists keep putting their bodies on the limbs to stop them. Thirty miles north of Eureka, in a coastal forest just east of Highway 101, a generation-old battle between tree sitters and loggers enters a new chapter, even after local sawmills have closed. Just off the highway in the town of Trinidad sits an old logging trail on property now owned by the Green Diamond Resource Co., a forest products firm. From the trailhead, after a 20-minute hike through the dark, lush forest, one encounters a 13.5-acre clearing where hundreds of felled redwoods, firs and pine trees litter the ground. Tree stumps, broken branches, and a few sun-blotched, withered ferns poke through the debris. It’s here, at the eastern edge of the clearing, that a group of young, masked activists are engaged in a different form of social distancing. They are taking turns sleeping in the upper reaches of a giant redwood tree. They are environmental activists working with an organization known as the Redwood Forest Defenders. And they are trying to stop Green Diamond from felling any more trees on this roughly 18-acre tract…
While Huanglongbing (HLB) — a deadly citrus tree disease — has yet to be detected in San Diego, the proximity to nearby detections in Orange County and parts of Mexico means citrus trees in San Diego are at risk. It is now more important than ever for San Diegans to stay vigilant and inspect citrus trees for HLB if we want to preserve backyard and commercial citrus in the county. HLB is a bacterial disease that affects the vascular system of citrus trees and plants. While not harmful to humans, the disease slowly kills citrus trees. A small insect called the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) can spread the bacteria that causes HLB as it feeds on citrus tree leaves. Once a tree is infected, there is no cure. The tree will begin to produce rancid-tasting fruit and eventually die, while putting neighboring trees at risk of the disease as it can be spread from tree to tree by ACP. HLB affects all types and varieties of citrus trees, and even some non-citrus host plants like curry…
A two-decade-long dry spell that has parched much of the western United States is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in the region in more than 1,200 years, a new study found. And about half of this historic drought can be blamed on man-made global warming, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science. Scientists looked at a nine-state area from Oregon and Wyoming down through California and New Mexico, plus a sliver of southwestern Montana and parts of northern Mexico. They used thousands of tree rings to compare a drought that started in 2000 and is still going — despite a wet 2019 — to four past megadroughts since the year 800. With soil moisture as the key measurement, they found only one other drought that was as big and was likely slightly bigger. That one started in 1575, just 10 years after St. Augustine, the first European city in the United States, was founded, and that drought ended before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620. What’s happening now is “a drought bigger than what modern society has seen,” said study lead author A. Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University. Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist who wasn’t part of the study, called the research important because it provides evidence “that human-caused climate change transformed what might have otherwise been a moderate long-term drought into a severe event comparable to the ‘megadroughts’ of centuries past.” What’s happening is that a natural but moderate drought is being worsened by temperatures that are 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 degrees Celsius) hotter than the past and that suck moisture out of the ground, Williams said. It’s much like how clothes and plants dry faster in the warmth of indoors than they do outside, he said…
Hubs of culture, politics and finance, the cities many of us call home can, at times, be hard to live in. The challenges of an urban environment often include overcrowding, a high cost of living and air pollution. The latter is a serious issue that can affect us all: according to the World Health Organization, it’s estimated that air pollution kills 7 million people each year, with 9 out of 10 people breathing air which contains “high levels of pollutants.” One solution to help tackle the problem of air pollution could be increasing the number of trees and green spaces within urban areas, according to experts. As well as being aesthetically pleasing – the sight of branches covered in blossom can lift even the gloomiest of moods — trees can offer a range of benefits. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, for instance, has stated that one tree can absorb as much as 150 kilograms of carbon dioxide annually. It has also described “large urban trees” as being “excellent filters for urban pollutants and fine particulates.” A number of cities are now making concerted efforts to improve green spaces and boost the number of trees on their streets and in parks…
In the next few months, James Truman will be planting over 400 new citrus trees on his farm in Surprise. Many of the trees on his farm are puny things. As he strides among them to check for signs of stress, the 6-foot-3 farmer towers over each tree, each one a skinny bundle of branches and leaves supported by stakes in the ground. It will take several years before they mature into fruit-bearing trees and 20 years for them to reach full fruit production. “You lose a lot every time you lose a tree so if you have a disease come in and stun a bunch of trees in your operation …. it could be quite devastating,” Truman said. Truman is worried about the risk of one disease in particular: citrus greening disease. It’s fast-spreading, hard to detect, and lethal for trees. “Once you have it,” Truman said, “you’re screwed.” The disease has already decimated citrus groves in the other major citrus-producing states of Florida, California and Texas. According to John Caravetta, the associate director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture, the disease has also spread to Mexico. “We’re surrounded,” he said…
Phys.org, April 15, 2020: Mahogany tree family dates back to last hurrah of the dinosaurs
You might own something made from mahogany like furniture, paneling or a musical instrument. Mahogany is a commercially important wood, valued for its hardness and beauty. The United States is the world’s top importer of the tropical timber from leading producers like Peru and Brazil. Unfortunately, mahogany is harvested illegally a lot of the time. For science, mahogany is important, too—the fossil presence of the mahogany family is a telltale of where tropical forests once stood. Until recently, paleobotanists had only found evidence the mahogany family extended back to the Paleocene (about 60 million years ago). Now, a new paper written by University of Kansas researcher Brian Atkinson in the American Journal of Botany shows the mahogany family goes back millions of years more, to the last hurrah of the dinosaurs, the Cretaceous. “For understanding when many of the different branches of the tree of life evolved, we’re primarily dependent on the fossil record,” said Atkinson, an assistant professor of ecology & evolutionary biology and curator in the Biodiversity Institute’s Division of Paleobotany. “In this case, Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is an ecologically and economically important group of trees. A lot of researchers have used this group as a study system to better understand the evolution of tropical rainforests. This work is the first definitive evidence that the tropically important trees were around during the Cretaceous period, when we first start to see the modernization of ecosystems and modern groups of plants…”
Atlanta, Georgia, WSB-TV, April 15, 2020: Here’s how you can protect your home from falling trees
Trees make the metro Atlanta area beautiful, but when it comes to storms, our trees put many of our homes and businesses at risk of damage when they fall. Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Eboni Deon learned how you can protect your home. “We have a lot more chance of tree failure when they’re fully leafed-out than when they’re not because of the wind mast,” Bryant said. “Why does the ship sail? Because the wind catches the sail.” Bryant said any tree has the potential to fail depending on the strength of the wind. “It is so important to have your trees checked out by an arborist, especially if you live around mature hardwoods,” Bryant said. The heavier the tree, the more damage it will do. “The further away it is from your house, the more momentum the canopy can build as it comes down and do more damage,” Bryant said. There are usually indications a tree could come down. If it has been partially uprooted, there will be evidence…
Phys.org, April 15, 2020: Ash dieback is less severe in isolated ash trees
New research published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Ecology finds that ash dieback is far less severe in the isolated conditions ash is often found in, such as forests with low ash density or in open canopies like hedges, suggesting the long term impact of the disease on Europe’s ash trees will be more limited than previously thought. The research looked at a 22km2 area in North-eastern France, where ash dieback was first observed in 2010. Although the environment had little impact on the initial spread of the disease, the researchers found that after ten years, the disease remained mild in many places. “We found that the disease had spread to virtually all ash present in the studied landscape within two years. Nevertheless, in many areas ash trees remained relatively healthy” said lead author of the study Dr. Benoit Marçais, French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE). “The view that only the most resistant part of the ash population, just a few percent of the individuals, will survive the ash dieback pandemic is wrong. We see that in many environments not favourable to ash dieback, the proportion of ash that remain heathy is closer to 80-95% than to 5%, although the disease may be locally very severe.” added Dr. Marçais…
City code prohibits anyone from trimming or removing city-owned trees without a permit. It provides for fines of up to $2,000 per occurrence, and requires offenders to also spend the assessed value of the trees on tree restoration. The lack of enforcement came to light following public outcry over the city’s response to the Gatti tree topping. The brothers said they topped the city trees, as well as some of their own, to improve safety and visibility on their property, at Liberty and Commercial streets NE, where they have hosted a huge Christmas light display for decades. Tree topping, also called heading or tipping, is the removal of a majority of a tree’s branches. Experts say trees should never be topped, which removes most of the branches. Richard Gatti said he knew he should have obtained a permit, but believed he was saving the city money by doing the work himself. The city fined the Gattis $3,000, and ordered them to restore the trees, most likely by planting saplings…
Houston, Texas, Chronicle, April 14, 2020: Urban tree planting grants now available in Tennessee
Tennessee’s forestry division is now accepting proposals for urban tree planting projects. Local governments, private non-profit organizations, and educational institutions have until June 1 to apply for urban tree planting funds under the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program, a Division of Forestry news release said Tuesday. The program encourages local governments to increase and improve city tree populations. Officials say the program offers cost sharing for tree planting on public property, rights-of-way, and private non-profit land. Program funds cover half the cost of trees and shipping, contracted planting, mulch and other materials, the news release said. Urban forestry funds can also be used for tree planting on private property, but only in areas within a 35-foot (11-meter) zone extending outward from the edge of a river, stream, or creek bank, officials said…
A team of retirees who scour the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct — the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project. The Vietnam veteran and former FBI agent who make up the nonprofit recently learned of their tally from last fall’s apple sleuthing from expert botanists at the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, where all the apples are sent for study and identification. The apples positively identified as previously “lost” were among hundreds of fruits collected in October and November from 140-year-old orchards tucked into small canyons or hidden in forests that have since grown up around them in rural Idaho and Washington state. “It was just one heck of a season,” said EJ Brandt, who hunts for the apples along with fellow amateur botanist David Benscoter. “It was almost unbelievable. If we had found one apple or two apples a year in the past, we thought were were doing good. But we were getting one after another after another. I don’t know how we’re going to keep up with that.” Each fall, Brandt and Benscoter spend countless hours and log hundreds of miles searching for ancient — and often dying — apple trees across the Pacific Northwest by truck, all-terrain vehicle and on foot. They collect hundreds of apples from long-abandoned orchards that they find using old maps, county fair records, newspaper clippings and nursery sales ledgers that can tell them which homesteader bought what apple tree and when the purchase happened…
Ailanthus Altissima, more commonly known as a tree of heaven, is technically an invasive species. As many of us know, it also happens to be the preferred home of another invasive species, the spotted lanternfly. Recently, someone brought to my attention blue blazes painted on several ailanthus trees on a property where they hunt. This piqued my curiosity. In my hiker mindset, blue blazes mean a spring or overlook, but in this case, clearly, it meant something else. I contacted Evan Corondi from the Berks County Conservation District for some answers. As it turns out, in the ongoing battle to stop the spread of the spotted lanternfly, the conservation district, along with the USDA, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the Penn State Extension, have combined efforts to deliver a one-two punch by controlling the bugs and the tree. The control program uses federal funds earmarked for conservation districts to perform such work. The conservation district decided to use the money to aid private landowners by controlling the favored host tree of the spotted lanternfly…
The Joshua tree — the Southwest’s weird, beloved, iconic plant — took a big step toward heightened legal protection with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s recommendation to list it under the state’s Endangered Species Act going public Monday. The decision applies to the western Joshua tree — one of two similar species — and comes in response to a petition that the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group, filed in October. Two months before that request was received, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a similar action under the federal act. “We’re delighted that the department followed the science and the law and recommended that the species advance one step closer to protection,” said Brendan Cummings, who authored the petition in his role as the center’s conservation director. Next, the listing process moves on to the state’s Fish and Game Commission, which is a board appointed by the governor. The commission often follows recommendations given to it by the department and will vote on the matter in June…
With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pushing multiple nations to undergo lockdown, ‘social distancing’ has become the need of the hour. In such sad times, the Icelandic Forestry Service is asking people to hug trees and plants while maintaining social distance from humans, as reported in Iceland Review. The incident took place at the Hallormsstaður National Forest in East Iceland, where forest rangers are busy cleaning up snow on the roads so that locals can go and hug trees. “When you hug [a tree], you feel it first in your toes, then up your legs and into your chest and eventually up into your head. It is a wonderful feeling of relaxation,” the report quoted forest ranger Þór Þorfinnsson as saying. However, this request comes with a warning to be careful about hugging the same tree. Þorfinnsson urges the locales to walk in the forest and hug different trees rather than holding the first tree they encounter. The forest ranger suggests that hugging a tree for five minutes is enough to start your day on a happy mode. “Five minutes is really good, if you can give yourself five minutes of your day to hug [a tree], that’s definitely enough,” he added…
From a distance it looks like a big bush, but this is actually a clump of trees – and America’s smallest national forest, according to the locals. ‘Adak National Forest’ comprises just 33 trees and you’ll find it – if you are a particularly hardy traveller and don’t mind a bracing gust or two – on the remote Alaskan island of Adak, part of the volcanic Aleutian archipelago. And when we say remote, we mean it – the Google Streetview car has not made it out there. The origins of the bizarre ‘forest’ can be traced back to the Second World War – and the National Forest declaration began as joke, but the title has stuck (though it’s not officially recognised). The first trees at this location were planted on the orders of Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr, who wanted to cheer up his contingent of around 6,000 troops. They were guarding the Alaskan islands against the Japanese and their morale was taking a battering in the brutal conditions – think wind, mud, rain, fog and freezing temperatures. It was decided that some Christmas trees, in particular, would boost spirits, so in 1943 a formal programme of festive pine tree planting began and continued through to 1945, according to Atlas Obscura…
FarmingUK, April 13, 2020: Tree planting could lead to land use and habitat loss, report warns
The Natural Capital Committee (NCC) has published a report on using nature-based interventions to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In particular, the potential for forestry and woodland to absorb carbon has led to a commitment to increase tree planting in England. The Committee on Climate Change recommends a yearly planting rate of 30,000 ha worth of woodland, around 90–120 million trees per year. But while the NCC says trees can deliver habitats for wildlife, recreation and flood storage, they need to be planted in the ‘right place for the right reason’. Increased planting ‘without careful planning’ could lead to the loss of habitats and land uses, including grasslands, heathlands and peatlands, the report said…
Forbes, April 9, 2020: How A Trillion More Trees Could Combat Climate Change
Last month I discussed the announcement by Jeff Bezos, founder, president and CEO of Amazon AMZN — that he would commit $10 billion toward fighting climate change. The money would be used to establish the Bezos Earth Fund, which would “fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world.” As I discussed previously, there are two big targets in this fight: Reducing ongoing CO2 emissions, and removing CO2 that is already in the atmosphere. I mentioned the potential for trees as an efficient way of removing atmospheric CO2. Vegetation takes atmospheric CO2 and converts it through photosynthesis into biomass. But it’s a slow process, and it doesn’t permanently sequester the CO2. Eventually most of the biomass once again becomes CO2. I was subsequently contacted by multiple people who wanted to share more information about the potential to use trees for atmospheric carbon sequestration. Today I want to share some thoughts with one of these people. I plan to share more thoughts on this next week. Planting enough trees to make an impact would have to be an extensive effort, but there are already ambitious efforts underway, such as the Trillion Tree Campaign. A massive campaign of tree planting could remove CO2 from the atmosphere and at least bind it up for decades. It’s not a permanent solution, but it buys time. For context, at 200 trees per acre, this would require an estimated 7.8 million square miles, more than double the size of the continental U.S. at 3.1 million square miles. This becomes a challenge considering the competing uses for land around the world…
Though it’s time for spring yard cleanup, forest health specialists are asking homeowners to avoid pruning or wounding oak trees to prevent oak wilt disease. The spring weather encourages sap-feeding beetles to transmit a fungus that causes oak wilt, said University of Minnesota Extension Specialist Matt Russell. Pruning oak trees attracts the insects to the trees. All oak trees are susceptible, but red oak species like northern red oaks and pin oaks are more vulnerable and can show immediate symptoms, such as rapid wilting of leaves, according to Russell. “Oak wilt is commonly seen in the Twin Cities metro and southeastern Minnesota,” Russell said. “But we’re especially concerned with the disease spreading north and west into Minnesota’s healthy oak forests.” Move any firewood from oaks that may have died from oak wilt to other locations, Russell said. Even if trees have been cut down for firewood, the fungus can survive underneath the bark for several months…
Grand Haven, Michigan, Tribune, April 11, 2020: C3 to launch tree-planting drive
C3 is launching another Earth Day tree planting initiative this year. This year’s recipient is the city of Grand Haven. Last year, the inclusive spiritual community’s Earth Day effort brought 47 new trees to the village of Spring Lake with a donation of $3,180. “The intent is to capture useful carbon from the atmosphere and to reforest and beautify our area by accepting donations from caring individuals for every jet flight they took last year, or plan to take in 2020,” said Ryan Cotton, C3 Earth Day volunteer. The 2020 tree planting program, called “Plant-up and Fly Right,” will officially launch at 10 a.m. Sunday during Kent Dobson’s virtual teachings on the C3 Facebook page. Cotton said the intent is to reforest our communities after recent ash borer devastation, to remove carbon and climate impacts produced by jet planes, and to overall enhance the area’s quality of life. “West Michigan residents can be environmental all year long,” Cotton said. “Yet, just one flight can negate all our environment efforts due to the added carbon in the atmosphere from flying. The remedy is to plant a tree that uses this carbon for the next 15 years, while beautifying where we live at the same time…”
Tampa, Florida, WTSP-TV, April 10, 2020: Stressed out? Go sit under a tree
Studies show that trees make us happy. Walking by, siting by one or even looking at a tree feels good. Whether in a hospital, a front yard or a park, they help calm us down. A major study in the UK followed 10,000 Brits—for 17 years—as they moved around the country. The greener the neighborhood, the happier the people reported they were, no matter how much they made, whether they were married, how healthy they were, or how nice their home was. This comes on top of recent research that says green exercise, or working out outside, is also a significant boost to happiness. Simply getting outside—and moving—for as little as five minutes at a time improved both mood and self-esteem. But trees do even more than that. They can also make you smarter. Marc Berman runs the Environmental Neuroscience Lab, which is interested in how the physical environment affects the brain and behavior. One of his studies sent volunteers on a 50-minute nature walk or a 50-minute city walk. Those who took the nature walk performed about 20 percent better than their counterparts on tests of memory and attention. They also tended to be in a better mood. Trees can you heal you too. In 1984, a researcher named Roger Ulrich noticed something very tree-related among patients recovering from gallbladder surgery in Pennsylvania. Those who had been given rooms overlooking trees were being discharged almost a day sooner, on average, than those in identical rooms that faced a wall…
It’s a patriotic thank you for health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak in Connecticut — a 50-foot American flag, a 38-ton crane and a homemade “THANK YOU” sign mounted on the back of a pickup truck. “The major point here, I love to be able to get this message out in a positive way and let these medical providers know that we appreciate what they’re doing,” Kyle DeLucia, the founder and CEO of K&J Tree Service, told Fox News. “To show our appreciation, it’s so simple, two words on a sign. It’s so impactful.” Maybe not so simple: Raising the 100-foot-tall crane required coordination with both the hospitals and local police, DeLucia said. And there has to be a crane available, which he said he has because the tree service business is slow, but not completely shut down, amid the outbreak. Within the United States, there have been at least 432,596 confirmed cases of the virus and 15,774 deaths as of Thursday afternoon – placing an enormous toll on medical workers battling it on the front lines in hospitals around the country and in Connecticut…
Phys.org, April 9, 2020: Long-living tropical trees play outsized role in carbon storage
A group of trees that grow fast, live long lives and reproduce slowly account for the bulk of the biomass—and carbon storage—in some tropical rainforests, a team of scientists says in a paper published this week in the journal Science. The finding that these trees, called long-lived pioneers, play a much larger role in carbon storage than previously thought may have implications in efforts to preserve forests as a strategy to fight climate change. “People have been arguing about whether these long-lived pioneers contribute much to carbonstorage over the long term,” said Caroline Farrior, an assistant professor of integrative biology at The University of Texas at Austin and a primary investigator on the study. “We were surprised to find that they do.” It is unclear the extent to which tropical rain forests can help soak up excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere produced by burning fossil fuels. Nonetheless, the new study provides insights about the role of different species of trees in carbon storage. Using more than 30 years’ worth of data collected from a tropical rainforest in Panama, the team has uncovered some key traits of trees that, when integrated into computer models related to climate change, will improve the models’ accuracy. With the team’s improved model, the scientists plan to begin answering questions about what drives forest composition over time and what factors affect carbon storage…
Chico, California, Enterprise-Record, April 9, 2020: Tree removal management contract canceled
The state has canceled a contract to manage the removal of hazardous burned trees in the Camp Fire footprint, further delaying a project that’s already been delayed for months. Cal Recycle, the state agency tasked with overseeing tree and debris removal after the Camp Fire, has canceled the $67.5 million contract it intended to award to Tetra Tech, Inc. to manage the removal of hazard trees from private property near public infrastructure. It was supposed to be the first of several state contracts in the project to remove thousands of burned trees that officials and residents said put rebuilding efforts at risk. The work was delayed, though, as local officials struggled to sign up property owners who had dispersed across the country. Cal Recycle first advertised the contract in November, with a planned start date in January. The contract was never finalized. Contracts for the actual tree removal have not yet been posted, either. Chris McSwain, a spokesman for Cal Recycle, said the decision to cancel the contract and start over was because of “operational efficiency and program management to ensure the most effective tree removal service for Camp Fire survivors”…
Tree removal is dangerous and really should be completed by professionals. Homeowners who attempt felling a tree on their own may be injured by the tree, faulty equipment, or falling/flying debris. Some of the common dangers of tree removal include: 1. Decaying wood in a dead (or dying) tree often rots from the inside out, making it difficult to detect and unstable. If you think your tree is rotting, hire a professional to remove it before it falls and causes injury or property damage. 2. Improper equipment use when cutting trees causes unnecessary risk. Tree specialists are trained to use safety equipment and professional tools like chainsaws, ropes and cranes. 3. Gravity can be your worst enemy if you’re not proficient in tree removal. Once a tree starts falling, you have little to no control over it. A professional tree contractor will know how and where to fell it with skilled cuts and/or ropes…
Farm and Dairy, April 9, 2020: Don’t top trees, you’re basically killing them
Topping a tree is an all-too-common practice among homeowners, particularly when their trees become too tall and pose a possible threat to the house or overhead power lines. Some have the trees topped because they believe, or are led to believe, that topping is a good pruning practice. Some situations obviously require the removal of large limbs for the sake of safety. But topping is a drastic step that ultimately endangers the tree’s life. Removing such a great quantity of growth in one shot throws off the roots-to-shoots balance that the tree has gradually developed all those years. The much-reduced leaf surface will not be able to manufacture sufficient food reserves to feed the large root system. As roots starve, the rest of the tree will suffer from insufficient moisture and nutrients. Another drawback to topping for many tree species is the stimulation of numerous, upright branches that grow straight up. These shoots are typically very soft, weak growth that breaks easily and is more susceptible to attack by diseases and insects…
With people stuck at home and worried about their future, there is no better time to remind ourselves of the wonders of spring. The change of season is all around us with many facets of backyard biology, perhaps even things your kids might want to learn. In today’s Science of Spring, Tom Spears looks at nature’s timetable for greening up. Trees often look as though early spring is passing them by as they stand, grey and leafless, while lawns turn green and early flowers bloom. In fact, the tree is busy during this season, especially the deciduous trees that dropped their leaves in the fall. But all their work in April is under cover. Like a car that spent all winter in a snowbank, the tree has a big job coming back to life. Sally Aitken, a researcher and associate dean of forestry at the University of British Columbia, leads us through it. “The thing about being a tree is you’re stuck there all winter in the cold,” she said. “You’ve got a big stem and you’re very exposed to the cold,” unlike little perennial plants that die back above ground and shelter underground. Some of these even have ready-to-use food in bulbs…
Fine Homebuilding, April 8, 2020: Salvaging Trees for Lumber
Back in the late 1970s, my wife and I purchased 25 acres of forested mountain land in Virginia with the intention of homesteading. In the ensuing years, careers developed, the kids grew up, and the homestead never happened—but we kept the land anyway. Call me a tree-hugger, but there was something satisfying about keeping that little piece of Creation wild. Meanwhile, the forest kept on growing. We cut firewood as needed, but had no real desire to harvest timber. The situation changed recently, however, due to a freak storm and an insect blight. The storm knocked down a number of mature hardwoods and the blight, caused by the emerald ash borer, is gradually wiping out an entire species. We had to decide to either salvage the trees or let them rot in the woods. of invasive species, such as the ash borer—a wood-boring beetle… As a builder and woodworker, my instinct was of course to salvage the wood from our doomed trees. That turned out to be more challenging than I realized it would be. There are four distinct issues that need to be addressed in order to convert trees to lumber: logging, milling, drying, and storage…
New Zealand, Newshub, April 4, 2020: Coronavirus: Growers fear millions of fruit will rot on trees
One Hawke’s Bay grower fears 12 million of his apples will rot on the trees because the lockdown has slowed production. The apple and kiwifruit industries are facing growing uncertainty as the COVID-19 crisis shuts down supply chains around the world. Apple trees are overflowing at this time of the year. But for Yummy Fruit manager Paul Paynter it’s a picking season like he’s never seen before. “This is really unique,” he told Newshub. That’s because the nationwide lockdown has come right in the middle of the apple harvest. Usually bustling packhouses are slowing down due to social distancing rules. “[It’s] pretty traumatic, very hard on the staff,” Paynter says. “In an already difficult time of the year they’re already tired and stretched and it’s a whole other level of complexity and pressure but that’s just the game, we’ve got to suck it up…”
Though having a lot of greenery indoors may not significantly remove pollutants from the air of your home (though the plants do look nice), green infrastructure does have a large impact. Some outdoor vegetation does directly remove pollutants from the air, but even on the scale of an entire city, this effect is pretty negligible. Instead, what greenery can do in a specific area or on a specific street, though, is form a physical barrier between traffic emissions and pedestrians walking around, which does protect from the health effects of air pollution. It’s not that just having trees somewhere in a city helps to make the air less polluted; it’s more about having the right kinds of trees in the right places. Trees that are part of these green barriers do directly capture some pollutants. They also divert and dilute plumes of polluted air, even affecting wind flow depending on how porous or dense the green infrastructure is. In a paper recently published in Climate and Atmospheric Science, two experts from the Global Center for Air Research (GCARE) analyzed scientific literature on what aspects of green infrastructure influence ambient air quality, and put together information about 12 influential traits for 61 tree species to help urban planners and landscape architects pick which trees to plant to be the best barrier against pollutants…
No one doubts that trees can help suck carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere and help tackle climate change. However, a new report from the Government’s independent advisors, the Natural Capital Committee (NCC), shows that unless the massive expansion of tree planting promised in the run up to the last UK general election is planned with an eye to its wider effects, it could cause problems for the environment, or even result in increased greenhouse gas emissions globally. The report lists a number of ways in which unregulated planting could increase global warming. Boggy peatland soils lock up vast quantities of carbon, but planting trees here can dry these soils out, leading them to emit far more greenhouse gas than will ever be captured by those trees. There is also uncertainty regarding the extent to which planting trees on some types of farmland might cause the UK to increase its imports of meat from countries which farm beef by cutting down rainforests, thereby releasing huge quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. These problems might well arise if tree planting subsidies simply focus on the cheapest land available, such as wetlands or upland farming areas…
Little Rock, Arkansas, Democrat-Gazette, April 7, 2020: Springtime jelly straight from the tree
A highlight of our white bass fishing trip came at the end when Becky Roark surprised us with a jar of her home-made redbud jelly. Redbud trees are pretty to look at, for sure. Their flowers are the main ingredient in Roark’s redbud jelly. We were tickled that she gave Alan Bland and me each a jar to take home. First thing I did after cleaning fish was to pop a slice of wheat bread into the toaster. A little butter and a slather of Roark’s jelly had the toast ready to try. Redbud jelly was all new to me. I’d never heard of such a thing. Friends and neighbors, it is delicious. It’s even better that Roark, of Fayetteville, is happy to share her recipe for redbud jelly with us here today. Here’s the recipe she sent, along with some notes: We usually gather flowers from one or two branches of several trees so we don’t take too much from any one redbud, since they are pollinators for bees. Eastern redbud is an Ozark native and a great replacement for those pesky Bradford pear trees. This springtime jelly recipe will be a family favorite for years to come! We’ve added strawberries to a batch and made strawberry redbud jelly. Yum! You can add lavender, vanilla, and other ingredients, too. We also messed up a batch (didn’t set right) but it turned into some amazing pancake syrup, ha…
Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline took social distancing to new heights, when tree sitters blocked the path of the project in Montgomery County, but they aren’t isolated from concern about COVID-19. The tree sitters established their blockade a year and a half ago, and they are still there. We checked in with them recently to see if they have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and they provided a video. They say they remain committed to stopping construction of the controversial project. “As I’m sure you all well know, it is so hard to watch the coronavirus sweep across the globe, taking and threatening the lives of so many,” said the unidentified tree sitter…
The United States Forest Service prematurely authorized a tree-thinning project in Mt. Hood National Forest without assessing its environmental impact, the Ninth Circuit ruled Friday. In 2018, several conservation groups sued the agency over plans to sell timber harvested from about 12,000 acres of public land, including roughly 4,000 acres of old-growth conifers in Mt. Hood National Forest. The Forest Service dubbed it the Crystal Clear Restoration Project, saying the tree-thinning would reduce wildfire risk. But Cascade Wildlands, Bark, and Oregon Wild argued that mature tree removal may not actually help with fire suppression, pointing to articles from The Open Forest Science Journal and Forest Ecology and Management, as well as other expert sources to support their claims. “The plaintiffs, especially Bark, got people out into the landscape and spent thousands of hours collecting information about what was going on in the land and gave that information to the Forest Service,” said attorney Brenna Bell…
Arlington Heights, Illinois, Daily Herald, April 5, 2020: Tree pruning is underway
When pruning large limbs off trees, it is a good idea to make an undercut first. This is a cut from the bottom up, about one-third of the way through the limb, 4 inches or so away from the main trunk. Make the next cut from the top, an inch or so outside of the undercut to remove the limb. The undercut keeps the limb from splitting and breaking off, which could damage the trunk. Do not cut flush to the trunk, but just outside the branch collar at the base of the branch. Look for the point where the branch is enlarged close to the main trunk of the tree. It is generally not recommended to paint the wound; make the cut with a sharp saw at the proper point for best results…
Dayton, Ohio, Daily News, April 5, 2020: Local lumber business helped tornado trees find new life
During this difficult time, it’s easy to forget that last May, Dayton was in the middle of another crisis when several powerful tornadoes left many homeless and many more to deal with property damage and devastation. Barrett Niekamp and his dad, Tony, are owners of Moraine-based Outdoor Living Group. Niekamp had been working on expanding the business when the tornadoes hit last Memorial Day weekend. “My dad started the company in 2003 and historically we have been in the hardscape and water-feature industry,” Niekamp said. “We’ve done a lot of water gardens and we even built the big children’s garden at Wegerzyn Garden Center.” After majoring in entrepreneurship at Sinclair Community College, Niekamp knew he’d follow in his dad’s footsteps in the family business. And he started becoming more involved in the company. “I started the sawmill part of our business mainly to provide income in the winter,” Niekamp said. “It’s been a good move.” It may seem completely contrary to his business model, but Niekamp has developed an enduring respect for trees over the years and salvages nearly everything he processes from locally sourced trees…
Million Acres, April 5, 2020: Tree Removal for Do-It-Yourselfers: Get Referrals and Call a Pro
Paying someone to remove trees from your yard can be expensive, but so is a trip to the emergency room. Chain saws, ladders, gravity. What could go wrong? That said, there is some advice out there for do-it-yourselfers determined to rid their property of a dead, dying, or just, in their eyes, distasteful piece of tall, woody vegetation. First, determine whether the tree is one you can, indeed, remove safely on your own. A piece of advice worth considering, albeit from a company that wants to do it for you, is this: “If the tree is small enough that you could remove it without climbing a ladder, it’s likely OK if you remove it yourself.” That’s according to Davey Tree, an Ohio-based firm that’s been coming between chain saws and do-it-yourselfers since 1880, before there even were chain saws or middle-class suburban homesteads by the millions. A tree that small, of course, can be easily toppled and limbed up for disposal. As for the trunk and stump, here are three steps to consider according to the company…
BBC, April 2, 2020: Conifer is top tree in urban sound absorption test
Scientists say trees have a role to play in combating noise pollution in urban environments and have identified the best species for the job. The larch was found to be the most effective tree when it comes to absorbing noise with its bark. The conifer was the most effective out of 13 tree species in a laboratory-based sound absorption test. The researchers say the findings can help urban planners use trees for noise control. The results have been published in the Applied Acoustics journal. The study assessed 76 samples from 13 tree species that displayed a variety of different bark characteristics. Co-author Jian Kang, from University College London (UCL), said: “Beside emphasising the effects of vision and shade, urban greening should be considered as well to achieve noise reduction during propagation.” He told BBC News: “Using plants as a potential ‘silencer’ of urban noise could combine environmental protection and landscape business.” The samples were selected by using a range of criteria, including bark thickness, tree age and trunk diameter. Disks of the trunks were collected from recently felled trees. “The main goal was to have a sufficient variety of species, including broadleaved and coniferous,” Prof Kang observed…
Recycling trees onsite can sequester carbon, save water and increase crop yields, making it a climate-smart practice for California’s irrigated almond orchards, finds a study from the University of California, Davis. Whole orchard recycling is when old orchard trees are ground, chipped and turned back into the soil before new almond trees are planted. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests that whole orchard recycling can help almond orchards be more sustainable and resilient to drought while also increasing carbon storage in the soil. “To me what was really impressive was the water piece,” said corresponding author Amélie Gaudin, an associate professor of agroecology in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. “Water is central to how we think about agriculture in California. This is a clear example of capitalizing on soil health. Here we see some real benefits for water conservation and for growers.” Drought and high almond prices have encouraged higher rates of orchard turnover in recent years. The previous practice of burning trees that are no longer productive is now restricted under air quality regulations, so whole orchard recycling presents an alternative…
In recent weeks, Nadia Manjares has been waking up at 4 a.m. to get ready for a 10-hour shift of packing apples, making sure people all over the country can buy the fruit at their local grocery store. “The work is always heavy, but it’s been heavier because the company received a higher number of orders,” she said. Manjares has been working at Stemilt Growers for 16 years. Two weeks ago, Washington had its largest volume of orders since 2015, shipping about 3.9 million boxes in one week, said Tim Kovis, communications manager for the Washington State Tree Fruit Association. A 40-pound box usually contains about 80 to 88 apples, depending on variety. Although the overall demand for apples from foreign markets went down this week, the domestic demand is still greater than normal, making up for declines from trade disruptions to foreign markets. “But it’s very difficult to know whether or not that (domestic increase) is due to the current COVID-19 issue or our ongoing trade issues that we’re facing,” Kovis said. Packing warehouses have been following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state Department of Health guidelines, ensuring workers wash their hands properly and stay home if they’re not feeling well, Kovis said…
Houston, Texas, Chronicle, April 2, 2020: Time to thin certain fruit on trees
You are probably saying!! “What? My tree needs to be thin?” Well, that is almost the idea. Your stone fruit trees can benefit from a little reduction of production. Reducing the amount of fruit on the tree has more benefits than you think. Your stone fruits are the peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries and plums. Some fruit shedding occurs naturally as fruit develops on the tree. This is due to lack of pollination, environmental conditions or stress. Granted, if a tree is in perfect health, the main factor that will truly influence fruit production load and quality is chill hour accumulation. There are additional reasons like lack of water, overwatering, improper fertilization, diseases and insect damage. Mother Nature has control! Unfortunately, some of the previously mentioned reasons can be controlled by the keeper of the tree. Moving forward, I will refer to peaches for the examples. Without any intervention, most peach trees set more fruit than can be consumed. So, now onto the hardest part for any gardener! Removing fruit!!! I know, I said it. So why remove fruit? Thinning controls the number of fruit on the tree. The result will be an increase in fruit size and better quality. In addition, it will decrease the cumulative weight of fruit that will impact individual limbs and branches. A massive fruit load can break or crack the limbs and branches. Without going into great detail, thinning reduces the overall stress for the tree during the production season which makes for a healthier tree in the long run. I almost forgot! This thinning process will also help the tree produce with more consistency in the future. This is especially important with most citrus…
The way things are going, the Air Force may have to come up with a new name for its golf course at the home of the 36th Wing on Guam. The Palm Tree Golf Course, as Andersen’s 18 holes are known, is infested with voracious coconut rhinoceros beetles, Oryctes rhinoceros, whose meals of choice are the coconut palms that the links are named for. Course manager Steven O’Hearne can only watch from his clubhouse — formerly the base officer’s club — as the beetles gnaw their way, one-by-one, through the beautiful palm trees outside. The damage caused by the tenacious insects is visible yards from the clubhouse door where several nearby coconut trees are on their last legs. Stripped of fronds, the diseased trees look a little like telephone poles. The University of Guam College of Natural and Applied Science has a website devoted to waging war on the invasive beetles, which were discovered on the U.S. island territory in 2007…
Wired, April 1, 2020: Why Old-Growth Trees Are Crucial to Fighting Climate Change
Ken Bible steps over a carpet of bracken and vanilla leaf to get closer to the big Douglas fir. He gives its furrowed bark an affectionate slap, as if introducing a prize racehorse. “It’s about 70 meters tall and 2.6 meters in diameter,” Bible says, leaning back to take in the behemoth stretching above him. From way down here on the shady floor of the forest, he has no hope of seeing all the way to the tree’s top. But thanks to a 279-foot-high tower that rises above the trees, Bible, who helps manage this site on behalf of the US Forest Service, has had the chance to know this old Doug from above as well as below. From hundreds of feet up, at canopy level, he says, you begin to get a new vision of the complexity of structure that defines an old forest. “It looks like a mountain range,” Bible says. “You’ve got ridges and peaks and valleys.” Singular trees like the big Doug reach high over their neighbors. At around 500 years of age, it isn’t the oldest tree in the forest, but a lucky location near a wetland has made it one of the biggest. The Doug is lucky in other ways too. Once upon a time, its particular seed happened to fall from a particular drying cone into what, hundreds of years later, would become a small section of protected old growth inside the Wind River Experimental Forest, a research area in southern Washington state originally created to study the best ways to exploit forests for human use…
We here at Ars do not typically indulge in the online prankery that comes with April Fool’s Day and are even less inclined to do so in the current climate. But it does provide an opportunity to revisit one of the most famous media hoaxes of the 20th century: the so-called “spaghetti-tree hoax,” the result of a two-and-a-half-minute prank segment broadcast on the BBC’s Panorama current-affairs program on April Fool’s Day in 1957. It’s a fun, albeit cautionary, tale of not believing everything you see on television (or read online). The man largely responsible for the hoax was Austrian-born Panorama cameraman Charles de Jaeger, who liked to play practical jokes. As a kid, one of his school teachers used to tell the class, “Boys, you’re so stupid, you’d believe me if I told you that spaghetti grows on trees.” De Jaeger had always wanted to turn this into an April Fool’s prank, and in 1957, he saw his chance. April Fool’s Day fell on a Monday, the same night Panorama aired. He argued that he could do the shoot cheaply while working on another assignment in Switzerland, and Panorama editor Michael Peacock approved a tiny budget of £100 for the project. The sequence was shot at a hotel in Castiglione on the shore of Lake Lugano. De Jaeger bought 20 pounds of uncooked homemade spaghetti and hung the strands from the branches of the laurel trees around the lake to make it seem like they were “spaghetti trees”…
Forbes, April 1, 2020: Turning Olive Tree Branches Into Biofuel For Clean Energy
The road to sustainable farming is not just about saying goodbye to pesticides and chemical fertilizers and going organic. In the olive-oil producing region of Puglia in Southern Italy, olive farmers are converting agricultural waste into a source of clean energy. Branches cut down during the olive harvest are collected from farms surrounding the small town of Calimera and turned into wood chippings. The chippings are used as a biofuels that feed the boiler of a local power plant. But unlike other biomass power plants, this system does not use the hot water from the boiler to drive a steam turbine. Instead, the water passes through a heat exchanger, which contains a separate fluid with a lower boiling point than water, operating in a closed loop. The resulting vapor drives an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbine, rotating at a relatively slow RPM. This system can generate power from lower temperatures, making it more energy efficient…
Futurity, March 31, 2020: How Dead Trees Help Forests Tolerate Drought
As the climate changes, forests have figured out a way to adapt to drought, a new study shows. Researchers used the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis database to study how the traits of tree communities have shifted across the contiguous United States. The results indicate that communities, particularly in more arid regions, have become more drought tolerant, primarily through the death of less hardy trees. To understand what might drive changes in forests’ ability to cope with climate change, the researchers considered two main physiological traits: a species’ average tolerance to water stress and how close this was to its maximum tolerance (essentially how much wiggle room it had when dealing with water stress). “We basically put a number on what species composition means in terms of their ability to deal with water stress,” says Anna Trugman, an assistant professor in the geography department at the University of California, Santa Barbara and lead author of the paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Fortunately for the team, the US Department of Agriculture tracks tree species, size, and abundance in more than 160,000 forest plots randomly distributed across the country. What’s more, the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis database includes over 200 different types of ecosystems including dry pinyon pine forests, cypress swamps, Atlantic hardwood forests, and the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest…
Nearly 60,000 years ago, a bald cypress forest flourished on the banks of a prehistoric river near the Gulf of Mexico. Over time, the massive trees grew and died, their enormous trunks falling and becoming entombed in a protective covering of peat and sediment. As sea level rose and the coastline receded, these ancient forest remains were buried beneath the sea surface off the coast of Alabama, where they remained undisturbed for millennia. Intensifying storms along the coast, however, have scoured the seafloor, beginning to expose this ancient submarine forest. Now, a team of scientists from Northeastern University and the University of Utah, funded by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), are working to unlock the forest’s secrets, including its potential to harbor new compounds for medicine and biotechnology. As demand grows for discovery of novel industrial enzymes and new medicines, researchers are increasingly looking towards the ocean. Marine animals and their symbiotic microorganisms that live on and in wood have recently been shown to be a potentially rich source for biomolecules of high biopharmaceutical and biotechnological value. To this end, this research team is exploring the biodiversity and economic potential of the submerged forest off the Alabama coast, which provides an unusually large, biodiverse, and temporally stable wood-associated marine habitat for them to study. The team’s focus is on bacteria found in wood-eating “shipworms,” a type of clam (teredinid bivalve). These “termites of the sea” convert wood into animal tissue, forming the base of a food chain that can support a rich diversity of fish, invertebrates, and microorganisms in communities that resemble thriving coral reefs…
Yahoo UK, April 1, 2020: Strange tree ‘crop circles’ are being spotted in Japan
Strange ‘crop circles’ made of cedar trees are being spotted in Japan. While many often attribute such formations to aliens, Japan’s ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries is certain these are made by humans. So how exactly did the strange phenomenon happen…
A Desert Hot Springs man expressed concern Tuesday regarding a large beehive he found near his home. The hive is located near Mountain View Road. Richard Emmons, a 70-year-old veteran, said he’d suffered a bee sting near his eye. He added that the hive is “like a black hole in the tree.” He said he wants the bees removed, but has had trouble finding someone to get rid of them. He said he believes the hive poses a threat to those who come into close contact, especially children and seniors. Desert Hot Springs spokeswoman Doria Wilms said the city is going to look into removing the hive or helping Emmons find a group that can remove the hive…
Motley Fool, March 30, 2020: What to Do if Your Neighbor’s Tree Is Impacting Your Property
Trees are a lovely thing — until they become intrusive or hazardous. If you have a dead tree on your property, cutting it down could be a smart move. That way, you don’t run the risk of it falling and wrecking your property, or worse yet, hurting someone. But what if your neighbor has a tree that’s impacting your property — say, a dead one that could fall and shatter your fence at any time, or a thriving one that perpetually scatters leaves and debris into your yard? What can you do? You can’t march into your neighbor’s yard and cut down a tree that isn’t yours. But what you can do is express concern that his or her tree is at risk of damaging your property the next time a big storm rolls around. Your neighbor may agree to take it down. Or, if you’re really worried, you can offer to split the cost of removing that tree with your neighbor. Though you may not want to go that route, as the tree is technically not your responsibility, sharing in that cost could spare you a world of hassle. If your neighbor refuses to budge and insists on leaving the tree in place, express your concerns in writing via email or a certified letter. That way, if that tree does damage your property, you can prove that your neighbor may have been negligent by not taking it down. Now if the tree in question isn’t dangerous, but just needs a major trimming to avoid hanging into your yard or scattering leaves everywhere, that’s a slightly different conversation. In that case, you might ask permission to just do the work yourself, if you’re willing…
The horticultural industry is at “crisis” point, a trade body has warned, as the coronavirus pandemic forces the closure of garden centres across the UK. Growers – many of them family businesses – could be forced to bin millions of pounds worth of plants and trees because they have no buyers for their products, The Horticultural Trades Association said (HTA). It called on the government to step in and provide financial assistance of up to £250 million to help the industry avoid imminent collapse. The HTA said around 650 businesses across the UK produce ornamental crops, contributing £1.4 billion to the economy each year. It added that the sector employs more than 15,000 people directly and almost 30,000 indirectly. Sales have plunged since Mother’s Day – one of the busiest periods for the sector – when people had already begun to self-isolate, the trade body added. The coronavirus lockdown means it is unlikely that sales will see a resurgence over the Easter and May bank holidays…
Russia Beyond, March 16, 2020: Why are Russians so crazy about birch trees?
While traveling for a long time abroad, a Russian often misses his “native birches”. To hold a birch tree tight and cry… that’s the only thing a Russian wants to do in a melancholic mood. Why, you ask? It’s all because of the ancient Slavs. As the birch tree was one of the most widespread trees across Central Russia, it was considered as a tree of “Russian nationality”. Ancient Slavs didn’t come across the massive Siberian fir forests until the 16th century expansion to Siberia – and a fir tree is actually not so easy to hug! Sometimes even modern Russians are surprised that birches not only grow in Russia. How is it possible? Our birches!? According to multiple folk proverbs and beliefs (described in Alexander Strizhev’s ‘Calendar of Russian Nature’ book), ancient pagan Slavs considered hugging a birch tree as a sign of good luck – it would also give you power and joy. Moreover, a birch tree was considered magical…
As the climate is changing, so too are the world’s forests. From the misty redwoods in the west to the Blue Ridge forest of Appalachia, many sylvan ecosystems are adapting to drier conditions. Using the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis database, researchers at UC Santa Barbara, the University of Utah and the U.S. Forest Service have studied how the traits of tree communities are shifting across the contiguous United States. The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that communities, particularly in more arid regions, are becoming more drought tolerant, primarily through the death of less hardy trees. To understand what might be driving changes in the ability of forests to cope with climate change, the scientists considered two main physiological traits: a species’ average tolerance to water stress and how close this was to its maximum tolerance (essentially how much wiggle room it had when dealing with water stress)…
In a development that opponents of the project say was carried out with astonishing speed, work crews hired by Crossgates Mall owner Pyramid Management on Thursday removed most of the trees on the site of a planned Costco store and gas station. The work came to an abrupt halt Thursday afternoon when Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber sent the local Pyramid affiliate, Releaseco LLC, a cease and desist order. Because the site is being reviewed under New York’s State Environmental Quality Review or SEQR program, it wasn’t supposed to be disturbed until the review is completed. “It was a big wooded lot that is no longer a big wooded lot,” said Steve Wickham, a local opponent of the development. “It was almost entirely clear cut.” Pyramid officials did not respond to an email on Friday. A phone message at their Syracuse headquarters noted that the staff are working remotely. The cutting, which observers said was done with chain saws and bulldozer-sized tree removal machines. The lot wasn’t supposed to be disturbed while under SEQR review. But a notice announcing the tree cutting on Guilderland’s planning office website explained that state and federal wildlife law largely prevents cutting trees between April 1 and Oct. 31 in areas where Northern long-eared bats are present. The bats hibernate in caves during winter, but emerge in spring and take up residence in this area, among other spots. Tree cutting would disturb them…
Authorities in Maine are investigating a report that several people with guns had cut down a tree on the island of Vinalhaven to block a road so that some people would be quarantined in their home. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page that when law enforcement arrived, they found the felled tree and said it had been dragged into the road to block it. They said deputies learned that some island residents believe the people staying in the home are supposed to be quarantined because they came from out of state. The sheriff’s office said the trio had been staying on Vinalhaven for about 30 days and none have symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Maine reported two more deaths from the virus on Sunday, bringing to total to three. One of the two who died was a man in his 60s from Cumberland County who was a long-time employee of the Maine Department of Transportation, Gov. Janet Mills said. Meanwhile, in Vermont, State Police there are visiting hotels and motels to make sure that they are closed under Vermont Governor Phil Scott’s order to slow the spread of the virus, police said Sunday…
Anne Arundel County has cited the owner of a property on Bestgate Road with grading without a permit after 14 trees were cut down without a permit but has yet to pursue the incident under its new, tougher forest conservation law. The County Council had, despite argument over other aspects of bill 68-19, agreed that the cost for clearing in violation of the forest conservation law should increase from 80 cents per square foot to $4.50 per square foot to deter cutting. County Council President Alison Pickard said the intent was for that figure to be applied as a fine or penalty. If that $4.50 was assessed for the 16,351 square feet developers have been cited with clearing off Bestgate Road, it would amount to a fine of $73,579.50, Environmental Policy Director Matt Johnston said. But Johnston said the county are still awaiting guidance from the Office of Law on how the Department of Inspections and Permits, Office of Planning and Zoning, and the Office of Law can enforce violations. As the coronavirus pandemic has worsened, and more cases have been announced in the state and county, non-essential matters have been put aside. The guidance is still being drafted and reviewed, Johnston said, as the office of law is focusing on “confronting and stopping the spread of the virus…”
A mother and her 3-year-old daughter are injured after a tree fell on them in Cascade Park in New Castle. Diana Palumbo suffered a series of fractures and a punctured lung. Her daughter suffered a fractured skull. The incident happened Sunday afternoon in between the park pavilions and the creek. They were taken to Shenango Fire Hall. From there, choppers took them to two separate hospitals. The mother was taken to a Youngstown Hospital while the daughter was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. They were taken to the hospital in critical condition but both are now in stable condition. According to the grandfather, they are hopeful for a full recovery. “You feel dread and shock,” said Gerald Anastasia. “You see the tree. It snapped 30 feet from the base, so it was a hard hit. My daughter has a series of fractures, a punctured lung, and the little granddaughter has a fractured skull. They’re stable right now and so we hope in a matter of time that they’re going to have a full recovery…”
Tree trimming and removal, along with street sweeping, may be suspended until the city wins the war on the coronavirus — or at least turns the corner, a top mayoral aide said Wednesday. The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation could be forced to halt those key housekeeping services, which aldermen and their constituents hold dear, said Streets and Sanitation Commissioner John Tully. He plans to discuss the potential cutbacks with all 50 aldermen during a conference call on Friday. He plans to tell the aldermen what he told the Sun-Times on Wednesday: that it’s virtually impossible to continue street sweeping and tree trimming when people are cooped up in their homes, some afraid to leave, and the city has issued orders to suspend ticketing, towing and booting of illegally parked vehicles except when it impacts public safety. “When we street sweep, we post the street and say, `You need to not park on this side of the street. You need to have your car not there.’ Well, we’re not really towing unless there’s emergencies right now,” Tully said…
A study from the University of Surrey has provided a comprehensive guide on which tree species are best for combatting air pollution that originates from our roads – along with suggestions for how to plant these green barriers to get the best results. In a paper published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, air pollution experts from Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) conducted a wide-ranging literature review of research on the effects of green infrastructure (trees and hedges) on air pollution. The review found that there is ample evidence of green infrastructure’s ability to divert and dilute pollutant plumes or reduce outdoor concentrations of pollutants by direct capture, where some pollutants are deposited on plant surfaces. As part of their critical review, the authors identified a gap in information to help people – including urban planners, landscape architects and garden designers – make informed decisions on which species of vegetation to use and, crucially, what factors to consider when designing a green barrier…
If you have enough time to dig a hole in your backyard during your self-quarantine, Forest ReLeaf of Missouri is offering take-out service for trees. Buy your tree online, and then come to your scheduled drive-thru time at CommuniTree Gardens Nursery in Creve Coeur Park on March 31 and April 7 from 9-11 a.m. or 2-4 p.m. The Tree Take-Out Tuesdays is one way for residents to continue planting trees while practicing healthy social distancing. The nonprofit offers a variety of Missouri native species trees and shrubs, and a portion of the proceeds goes back to its programs. “Tree Take-Out gives people an outlet for positive action during this time of uncertainty,” Meridith Perkins, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “It encourages everyone to experience the restorative value of nature while creating a beautiful, healthy habitat for you, your neighbors, and the natural community…”
Due to greenhouse gas-induced climate change, trees are increasingly exposed to extreme drought and heat. The question of how the increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere influences physiological reaction of the trees under climate stress, however, is highly controversial. Carbon dioxide is known to be the main nutrient of plants. By photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to convert CO2 and water into carbohydrates and biomass. Periods of drought and heat, however, increase the stress level of the trees. Their roots have difficulties reaching the water. To reduce evaporation losses, trees close the stomata of their leaves, as a result of which they take up less CO2 from the air.These relationships have now been studied in more detail by the Plant Ecophysiology Lab of the Atmospheric Environmental Research Division of KIT’s Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), KIT’s Campus Alpine in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Together with scientists of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the University of Vienna, and Weizmann Institute of Science in Rechovot/Israel, KIT researchers studied the impact of an increased CO2 concentration on carbon metabolism and water use efficiency of Aleppo pines (pinus halepensis) under drought and heat…
Reading, Pennsylvania, Eagle, March 24, 2020: Red maples of Berks are early pollinators
I’ve been watching red maple flowers every spring for a few years now and photographing them. The pictures help because I am poor at keeping a journal. I realized I had never learned about how such an early blooming tree gets pollinated, or about what their flowers are like. But now I have read some research papers and looked at my pictures and I want to share with you a little bit about this rabbit hole I’ve gone down. In general, there are four basic ways flowering plants and conifers go about arranging their “genders” for each individual in a species. First and most common are plants bearing co-sexual flowers; that is, each flower has functional male and female parts. The female pistil contains the ovaries, which become seeds after they are fertilized. The male stamens have pollen-producing sacs at their ends…
Good Fruit Grower, March 24, 2020: Use ethephon early to help young trees grow strong
For decades, tart cherry growers have used the plant growth regulator ethephon to loosen cherry stems just before harvest, making the cherries more likely to drop when a mechanical shaker shakes the tree. But growers might have a use for ethephon earlier in the season, too: keeping fruit off trees that are too young for the shaker. “Tart cherry trees need to be physically big enough to shake them with our current harvest technology,” said Nikki Rothwell, a Michigan State University Extension educator and coordinator of the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center. “Therefore, at the time of planting until years five, six or seven, we want those trees to get as big as they can as fast as they can. Putting fruit on the tree slows their growth and delays their harvest potential.” In addition, fruit on young trees can attract spotted wing drosophila — not just to the young blocks but to the blocks surrounding them — forcing growers to spray trees they can’t yet harvest, Rothwell said. Since the tart cherry industry sometimes needs to shrink its crop size for marketing purposes, it’s better for growers to drop fruit during bloom — before they end up with fields of ripe, rotting cherries that also can become SWD reservoirs, said Todd Einhorn, an MSU associate professor and tree fruit physiologist…
Geeky Gadgets, March 24, 2020: Tree ring record player transforms the tree’s growth into music
A unique record player has been created that is capable of transforming visual data in the form of the rings of the tree into sound. A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. The sculpture has been created “duly referencing an iconic analog medium as the bridge between the two worlds…” “Bartholomäus Traubeck’s Years is one of those designs that embodies much more than its one-line description might suggest: simply put, it’s “a record player that plays slices of wood, [in which] year ring data is translated into music.” A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently…”
The Forest Service is accepting public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the forest plan revision on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. The comment deadline is April 20. The National Forest Management Act (1976) mandates all national forests to have a resource management plan or forest plan. Forest plans dictate the management direction of a particular forest. The new, single plan for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests will potentially guide management for the next few decades. The Clearwater Basin of north-central Idaho is the northern half of the Big Wild, which is the largest undeveloped watershed complex left in the Lower 48. It is also the southern boundary of the largest known inland temperate rainforest in the world. “Wetbelt” forests contain numerous coastal disjunct species, including western red cedar, Pacific dogwood and others. These vascular plants are similar to those found along the coastal temperate forests of Oregon, Washington and other parts north. The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests are home to many rare and imperiled species like bull trout, salmon, steelhead, wolverines, Canada lynx, fisher and grizzly bears. A World Wildlife Fund study (2001) identified the Clearwater Basin as having the best habitat for large carnivores, including grizzlies, in the entire U.S. Northern Rockies and Southern Canadian Rockies. Last summer, the Fish & Wildlife Service confirmed that multiple grizzly bears were in the Clearwater. The Forest Service is, unfortunately, seeking to exponentially increase logging on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests in the new plan. The agency sells 50 to 60 million board feet annually from these forests combined. The revision, however, offers four management alternatives that exceed current levels. Two of the alternatives propose levels over 200 million board feet per year…
PG&E Corp. PCG 12.47% said it would accept criminal responsibility for starting the deadliest wildfire in California’s history, becoming one of a small number of U.S. corporations to plead guilty to felony charges of involuntary manslaughter. The indictment by a grand jury and PG&E’s decision to plead guilty put to rest significant questions about the extent of the company’s culpability in starting the Camp Fire in 2018. PG&E, a utility that supplies electricity and natural gas to 16 million people, or about one in 20 Americans, admitted that its failure to maintain its equipment was criminally negligent and caused the deaths of more than 80 people. However, the indictment doesn’t charge any PG&E employees or executives. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, who led the investigation, said evidence showed that the company’s maintenance problems resulted from decisions made by many people over many years, and he decided not to charge any single person. On Monday morning, the San Francisco utility disclosed that it would plead guilty to an indictment in Butte County, where 85 people died during the Camp Fire. The indictment charges the company with 84 counts of manslaughter and one count of unlawfully causing a fire. The company has agreed to pay a $3.48 million penalty, the statutory maximum…
US News, March 22, 2020: SW Indiana Man Aims to Save Remains of Large Cypress Tree
Ron Clark of Bicknell hopes to preserve the last large cypress tree in what was once the Little Cypress Swamp. In a southwest corner of Knox County, known to some as Hell’s Neck, rests the remaining acres of Little Cypress Swamp, and it’s Ron Clark’s mission to help preserve the swamp’s largest bald cypress that was once part of 25,000 acres of the mammoth trees. The tree, likely over 1,000 years old — with some estimates closer to 2,000 years — was once the oldest living thing in Indiana. Though it hasn’t been alive and thriving for some time, Clark hopes to gain enough interest and support for the iconic tree to preserve its remains by uprooting and moving it to a newly constructed, weatherproof shelter. “There’s only one like this, and it’s maybe been there for 2,000 years … that goes back to the time of Jesus,” the Bicknell man said of the tree’s significance. The large cypress has a circumference of more than 45 feet and a hollowed out space large enough to shelter several people within it. Little Cypress Swamp is near the confluence of the White and Wabash rivers and is an ecological rarity. The remaining acreage of bald cypress trees in that pocket of Knox County is possibly the northernmost point in the United States where the trees have grown wild, thriving in the sandy soil and regularly flooded grounds…
So many people flocked to the nation’s capital to see its signature cherry blossom trees reach peak bloom over the weekend that authorities have called on the National Guard to help control the crowds — and prevent further coronavirus transmissions. Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sunday ordered the Metropolitan Police Department to work with the National Guard to enforce a restricted access zone around the tree-lined Tidal Basin to ensure social distancing. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic will also be restricted at the National Mall and Jefferson Memorial. Despite repeated warnings to avoid large gatherings, hundreds of people were seen walking almost should-to-shoulder to get a close look or snap a selfie at the stunning site. The National Parks Service said the crowds were making it “increasingly difficult” to ensure “effective social distancing.” “We strongly urge anyone considering a visit to see the cherry blossoms to reconsider and to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases,” the agency said in a statement Saturday…
Chicago, Illinois, Tribune, March 20, 2020: Farm’s towering grapefruit tree has 75-year history
After opening the large rolling door one night recently to park my car into the heated pole barn at the farm, I detected a strong sweet smell, which I thought might be from a new varnish my dad was using for one of his woodworking projects. After turning on the lights and further examination, I traced the scent to the 10-foot tall grapefruit tree that spends winters inside the 54-degree building, along with assorted ferns, geraniums and our other delicate outdoor plants. To my surprise, the branches of the tree were, and are still currently, bursting with clusters of white blossoms, all of them exceptionally fragrant, much like a gardenia. When my dad’s sisters — my Auntie Loretta with Uncle Ed and Auntie Lottie with Uncle Swede — retired from their homes in the Midwest to move near the Tampa and Sarasota areas of Florida more than two decades ago, one of their new landscape highlights were the orange and grapefruit trees in their yards. But the grapefruit tree that has resided at our family farm for the past several years has its own unique story…
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates city buses and the Metrorail, announced on Friday that they would be shutting down service to stops with access to the popular blossoming Japanese cherry trees that line the Tidal Basin. “Metro today announced the closures of Smithsonian and Arlington Cemetery stations, effective 5 p.m. today, to discourage the use of Metrorail for recreational visits to view the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin. Metro is open for ESSENTIAL TRIPS ONLY to maintain regional mobility for hospital staff, government officials, and emergency responders. The two stations will remain closed until further notice,” said the WMATA in a brief statement. While many residents of Washington, D.C. observe protocols related to self-isolation and social distancing, outdoor space has remained an accessible comfort for those needing some fresh air. The early spring blooming of the cherry trees against the backdrop of the Jefferson Memorial has been an iconic part of D.C. life since they were gifted to the city in 1912 by Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki. Currently, more than 3,700 of the pink blossom producing trees line the Tidal Basin, visible from multiple points in D.C. and from Virginia…
Guam won’t lose its coconut trees to the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle, said Roland Quitugua, a University of Guam extension agent who has been fighting the insect for years.The beetle first was discovered on Guam in 2007, in Tumon Bay. It has since spread islandwide. Adult beetles kill palms when they bore into the crowns to feed on sap. “People ask me how many trees we lost, and I can’t tell you that,” Quitugua said, adding some residents reported losing all of their coconut trees and therefore believe Guam is losing the beetle battle. “But my job is to take a couple of steps back and look at the island in its totality. I can tell you now the coconut trees are coming back. I can take you around the island and I can show you beautiful coconut trees.” He said typhoons generate green waste, which causes a temporary spike in the beetle population because there are more breeding sites for the beetles…
Christoph Herby stands inside his 96-square-foot sugar shed and watches the sap hauled from his black walnut trees boil. Steam rises from the evaporator and the air smells of buttered popcorn. “That’s our liquid gold,” he says, noting the intense labor that goes into making walnut syrup. Tonoloway Farm, a first-generation syrup operation run by Christoph and Lauren Herby in Highland County, is believed to be the only commercial producer of walnut syrup in Virginia. But that could change. Researchers in Virginia and West Virginia hope to expand the industry, making the states leaders in the lesser-known but highly sought-after walnut syrup. Highland County is well-known for its maple syrup. Its annual maple festival — initially scheduled for this month, but postponed amid concerns about the novel coronavirus — draws thousands to the sugar camps that dot the bucolic landscape. Like maple syrup, walnut syrup is made by tapping trees for sap and boiling it. But walnut syrup is more difficult to make. Sap from black walnut trees contains pectin, a gelatinous substance used for setting jams and jellies, which complicates the filtering process. Additionally, Herby said the sap yield is significantly lower in the black walnut trees on their property, a trickle compared to sugar maple trees. The couple tapped both types of trees this year — 640 maples and 420 walnuts. Herby said they expect to produce more than 100 gallons of maple syrup compared to 10 gallons of walnut syrup…
Abilene, Texas, Reporter News, March 22, 2020: Bruce Kreitler: The world was built on trees
With the spate of continuing education classes that I have been going through lately, I’ve had plenty of opportunities (partly because they’ve been pointed out to me with the phrase “this will be on the test”), to think about trees and some of the benefits they provide. Or have provided, if that doesn’t immediately pop into people’s minds. But being me, once my attention is drawn to something, I like to go a little further, especially into the history aspect of whatever might be under consideration. There have been all kinds of studies concerning “unseen” benefits of trees. Sure, that big tree in someone’s yard makes their house cooler and more attractive, but I think it’s reasonable to say there’s nothing hidden about those particular benefits. I think the average person could drive past a nice large tree, at 70 or 80 mph, and be able to see what an attractive asset it is. No rocket science needed there. On the other hand, there are a lot of good things that trees do for us that aren’t quite as obvious…
Look around Mill Valley. It would be hard to make a case that the city doesn’t care about trees. For many years, the city has had a law on its books protecting heritage and native trees, but it appears those definitions are in the eye of the beholder. At issue, are five trees that have grown to 50 feet in height that stand at the busy corner of East Blithedale Avenue and Camino Alto. The trees, acacias and eucalyptus, were planted along Camino Alto as landscaping for the restaurant that was built at the corner. The restaurant’s new owner sought the city’s permission to cut them down and replace them with 11 maple trees. The city planning department tested the plan with the city’s tree ordinance and found that acacia and eucalyptus are not on the city’s list of trees it wants to preserve, staff says. A report from an arborist said those species are considered a fire risk, have shallow roots that could cause damage and, if not maintained, could drop limbs onto the road. The city Planning Commission agreed and voted 4-1 to give the property owner the green light to cut down the trees and replace them with trees that are a better complement for the location. Planning Commissioner Kevin Skiles stressed that today’s design standards would never allow the planting of eucalyptus trees at that location…
Unfortunately, there was not enough room to accommodate the huge crowd that came to the Energy Center last month for the discussion about what to do about tree loss hereabouts. Despite the worst job done by our governments in not clearing the roads of a snowfall from several days earlier, there were still so many people that the fire dude had to turn some of them away. So here is a report for those who couldn’t attend, were turned away or tried but had to turn back. First, Pat Ryan did a fantastic job organizing a veritable “who’s who” and “who should be there” panel. There were forestry-related and pest management folks from the municipality, state and federal governments. They addressed questions alongside with representatives from the landscape industry, commercial tree industry and the Anchorage Fire Department. There was a lot of information in the two hours of questions and answers, as you can imagine. I won’t summarize here because on May 16 — virus allowing — the State Association of Foresters will have its annual tree distribution/Arbor Day event at REI. They should plan on huge crowds — if we’re allowed to assemble by then… I’ve heard talk of another forum in a larger venue when it is safe to gather again. This one will be specific to beetles and spruce. We have to get a handle on the dead trees and save as many of the healthy ones as we can before we tackle anything else…
Salem, Oregon, Capital Press, March 19, 2020: Disaster aid available for hazelnut, winegrape growers
Millions of dollars of disaster aid is now available to Oregon hazelnut growers who suffered crop losses in February 2019 as a result of severe snowstorms that damaged up to 12% of mature orchards in the southern Willamette Valley. Congress approved a $19.1 billion relief package in the wake of multiple natural disasters across the country, including hurricanes Michael, Florence and Dorian, as well as major floods, tornadoes, heavy snow and wildfires. Part of the spending bill set aside $4.5 billion for agriculture, timber and watershed recovery to assist farmers and ranchers. The emergency fund — named the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program-Plus, abbreviated as WHIP+ — contains $11 million for Oregon hazelnuts. The USDA Farm Service Agency announced March 16 it has established payment rates for hazelnuts through the program, and is accepting applications from eligible producers. Kent Willett, farm program specialist for the FSA in Portland, said the program is unique in that it provides some compensation for damaged trees in addition to a percentage of the crop value. Payments are limited to $125,000 per farm. “We’re just now trying to get that out to the public,” Willett said. Nearly all U.S. commercial hazelnuts are grown in Oregon. A report by Pacific Agricultural Survey estimated 3,332 acres of mature hazelnut trees in Lane and Douglas counties were at risk of winter storm damage in 2019, out of 27,603 total mature acres…
We are planning to sell our home. One of the real estate agents we have spoken with about becoming our seller’s agent is promoting the planting of trees to help mask neighboring two-story homes. The property to our back left has a satellite dish attached to their second-story roof. Similarly, to our east, two doors down, is another satellite dish prominently affixed to a second-story roof. The three two-story homes built across the street are a recent addition to the neighborhood. It was very competitive when we bought our house, and our buyer’s agent at the time never mentioned that the two-story homes and their second-level windows would hurt resale. If she had done so, we would have planted trees 20 years ago. This real estate agent is suggesting we plant a variety of 6-, 7- and 8-foot “teenage” trees to enhance our front, back, and side yards, which will “offset the fishbowl issue, beautify the property and increase value…”
As a kid, Liz McNamara of Mac’s Maple remembers tapping sap from maples on her family’s farm, then using it to boil hot dogs and eggs for a sweet treat. “It becomes a sweet hardboiled egg; same with your hot dogs. You can boil them right in the sap,” she said. Since tree sap is between 95 and 99 percent water, boiling it releases steam, leaving concentrated sugar syrup behind, she said. Back then, Mac’s Maple sugaring business was strictly a family affair. “Mostly, well, we tapped all in buckets that we collected. My grandfather would drive us around so we could collect in the back of his truck. We boiled on a single pan. When we were little, on a small scale, when we weren’t making syrup for anybody else, we could (do that.) “We’ve been farming since my grandparents have lived on the farm, since 1950,” she added. Mac’s Maple collects much more sap now, and their maple syrup production continues to grow. “It’s a bigger-scaled operation. We still have a very good time with it. We have an actual sugarhouse — no more eggs and hot dogs in the sap,” she said. McNamara said her family, which owns Mac’s Maple in Plainfield, has been producing maple products since about 2010, when they started with just a couple thousand taps. Today, the farm is handling about 30,000 taps. According to the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension website, all native maples can be tapped. Unsurprisingly, the sap from sugar maples contains the greatest amount of the sweet stuff – about 2 percent is sugar. Still, the process takes a lot of effort. It requires about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup, so maple sugars, maple cotton candy and maple cream don’t come without hard work…
Omaha, Nebraska, WOWT-TV, March 18, 2020: Dangerous tree gets removed after investigation
For several years serious injury or worse hung over neighbors Anthony Cato and Daryl Johnson. Daryl Johnson said,” Most definitely if it came down on my kitchen and I’m back there, I’m sure I would get crushed.” In the yard of a rental house next door stood a dead tree. Falling branches have damaged both neighbors’ garages. Anthony Cato said, “60 miles an hour wind the next time, all three houses might get taken out.” A legitimate fear if you look at Daryl’s garage and his partially damaged porch. A dangerous tree has caused damage to the neighbor’s property for years but after a call from Six on Your Side that tree came down. The Brothers Tree Service crew might have said, “Oh, brother!” as they spent two days cutting down the dead ash. The foreman said, “45 inches wide and 75-foot height.” As huge trunks from the neighboring tree are removed, Daryl is thankful. “It was what I needed these last few years to make something happen,” he said. Over the year’s lawyers’ letters and a city violation notice didn’t succeed…
Euronews, March 18, 2020: Which tree did voters root for in European Tree of the Year 2020?
Voters have rooted for a tree overseeing a flooded village in the Czech Republic in the European Tree of the Year competition. The 350-year-old pine, called Guardian of the Flooded Village, sits above the village of Chudobín, which was flooded due to the construction of a dam. According to local legend, a devil sat under the pine in the night and played the violin. However, it is more likely that they were hearing the strong winds blowing over the valley. The results of the competition is usually held at the European Parliament in Brussels, but were moved online in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. “We wondered how to convey the joy of the results to sixteen European communities. Finally, we combined the tree stories and personal testimonies of the first three finalists into a video that can now be watched and shared among tree fans across borders,” said Josef Jary from the Environmental Partnership Association, the contest organiser…
Boston, Massachusetts, Real Estate Boston, March 18, 2020: Why some trees didn’t drop their leaves
Q. We have a 15-year-old dwarf Japanese maple, and most years it is a beautiful red in the fall, but in the past two years, the leaves have turned a light brown and stayed on the tree. I have noticed others in the neighborhood have the same problem. What is causing this?
A. One possibility is that the warmer autumns we have been experiencing may be preventing some kinds of trees such as oaks, beech, and your Japanese maple from dropping their leaves. These are all trees that take a long time to prepare for winter. They drop their leaves relatively late in the fall. The wacky warm weather may be throwing off their timing, so they do not finish forming the abscission layers between the twig and the leaf stem that is necessary to release the leaves from the tree. There is a name for this: “marcescence.’’ The good news is that it doesn’t injure the tree. If winter winds haven’t removed them, new buds will push them off in the spring, when the old makes room for the new…
National Interest, March 17, 2020: What Tracking 300,000 Trees Around the World Tells Us
Tropical forests matter to each and every one of us. They suck colossal quantities of carbon out of the atmosphere, providing a crucial brake on the rate of climate change. Yet, new research we have just published in Nature shows that intact tropical forests are removing far less carbon dioxide than they used to. The change is staggering. Across the 1990s intact tropical forests – those unaffected by logging or fires – removed roughly 46 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This diminished to an estimated 25 billion tons in the 2010s. The lost sink capacity is 21 billion tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to a decade of fossil fuel emissions from the UK, Germany, France and Canada combined. How did we reach such an alarming conclusion, and how is it that nobody knew this before? The answer is that we – along with 181 other scientists from 36 countries – have spent years tracking individual trees deep in the world’s rainforests. The idea is simple enough: we go and identify the tree species and measure the diameter and height of every individual tree in an area of forest. Then a few years later we return to exactly the same forest and re-measure all the trees again. We can see which grew, which died and if any new trees have grown. These measurements allow us to calculate how much carbon is stored in a forest, and how it changes over time. By repeating the measurements enough times and in enough places, we can reveal long-term trends in carbon uptake. This is easier said than done. Tracking trees in tropical forests is challenging, particularly in equatorial Africa, home to the second largest expanse of tropical forest in the world. As we want to monitor forests that are not logged or affected by fire, we need to travel down the last road, to the last village, and last path, before we even start our measurements…
Sean McNamara used to volunteer as Redding’s tree warden — marking a few trees each year that needed to come down. Then the emerald ash borer hit in 2012 and the workload exploded. Last year, McNamara — the owner of Redding Nursery — surrendered his duties to the town road crew. “It got to be dozens of trees — mostly ash,” McNamara said. So it is, throughout the state. There are millions of ash trees in the state’s forest. Very few will survive the killing plague brought on by the arrival of a bright green beetle that infests an ash and destroys its ability to feed itself. “It’s a scourge,” said David Gardener, Roxbury’s tree warden. “It’s tragic.” You can now see ash trees blotched with huge pale yellow patches. Those patches are where woodpeckers have torn away the tree’s bark to feed on the ash borer larvae living beneath it — a process called blonding. “Once you see that, you know the tree is gone,” said Rick King, an arborist at the Kent Greenhouse. The loss of ashes is the third great destructive wave to spread through the forest of the eastern United States in little over a century…
London, UK, The Guardian, March 17, 2020: Wanaka’s famous Instagram tree attacked with a saw
A famous willow tree that symbolises hope and endurance has been attacked with a saw in the New Zealand tourist town of Wanaka. The crooked willow tree that stands in a lake has been photographed hundreds of thousands of times by sightseers and is a major tourist attraction for the South Island region. But on Wednesday it emerged that someone had lopped off a number of branches using a saw or chainsaw, including one branch that dips into the water. Councillor Quentin Smith said the tree was “iconic” and so far there were no leads on who was responsible. The incident comes at a difficult time for the local community, which was experiencing “extreme uncertainty” in the face of coronavirus impacting visitor numbers, he said. “It is disappointing that someone has chosen to vandalise it for whatever reasons,” Smith said. “We just don’t know what would have driven someone to do this, and at this time we have no clue who is responsible.” The Queenstown Lakes District Council’s arborist was scheduled to inspect the damaged tree on Thursday, and has advised the community that it should survive. Wanaka photographer Luisa Apanui told local media the incident was perplexing and sad…
The tree worker who died in an accident while on a job at a private Forestville property was identified Tuesday as a 31-year-old Modesto man. David Romero Mendoza was identified by the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office, according to county sheriff’s spokesman Juan Valencia. Cal-OSHA is investigating the fatality that occurred Monday. Mendoza worked for Mountain F Enterprises, a tree cutting service based in California, said Cal-OSHA spokesman Frank Polizzi. He was operating an ATV on the Forestville property near Highway 116 and Martinelli Road when he lost control and crashed. Cal-OSHA is investigating any possible violations of workplace safety regulations, and has six months to issue citations in connection with the incident…
The developer working on Detroit’s Herman Kiefer revitalization project is planning to install a commercial nursery, raising objections from area residents who are concerned with the expansive acquisition of land in their neighborhood. The proposed nursery would go on 92 parcels of vacant land in the Virginia Park neighborhood near the vacant Herman Kiefer hospital complex, which dates to the early 20th Century and was a public health hospital with a history of treating infectious disease. The nursery would last five years and involve up to 3,000 trees, which would be sold for local construction projects and other uses. Some residents don’t want a for-profit business plopped down in their neighborhood. The tree nursery proposal also has raised larger concerns, emerging as a flashpoint for residents who are generally frustrated with the Herman Kiefer project’s slow pace, changing parameters and lack of community benefits. “Not one cent from this tree farm is going to be offered to the community,” Virginia Park resident Venita Thompkins said at a community meeting Wednesday. “People in this community need rehabs. We need houses. We need steps. We need assistance.” Thompkins and other residents have been mobilizing to stop the tree farm, circulating a petition and deeply researching the project to expose what they consider its shortfalls. The proposal is up for approval by the Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals, but a planned meeting for Tuesday was postponed to an unspecified date…
Houston, Texas, KPRC-TV, March 16, 2020: What Houstonians should be doing for their trees right now
I know, I know–you think trees in spring and you think Pollen! And you’re are right, as the only way to get those beautiful, leafy lush green trees is to go through the warm weather pollination season and the longer that season lasts, the more pollinating those trees seem to do. But that will end and now is the time to make sure you’re taking the right steps to ensure happy, healthy trees. And with our current social distancing measures, gardening and yard work are great ways to safely enjoy your life right now. Davey Trees, a company I’ve personally used for years, offers these four steps: From the graphic above, it’s pretty simple: Inspect trees and shrubs; prune dead branches; plant new trees; mulch your landscape; Fertilize plants. Ted Sonnier, Davey Tree District Manager, says now is the time. “While there is no set date for all trees to break bud, there are two ways Davey arborists predict when trees wake up for spring. First, they respond to warmer days after a stretch of cold temperatures in winter. At the same time, they react to a change in light duration, when shorter nights and longer days of sun exposure spur new growth and development. Trees have adapted to take extra caution because it can be devastating for leaves to be shocked by a sudden freeze. Because of this, trees typically leaf out in mid-March around Houston…”
The construction processes can be harmful and even deadly to nearby trees. Unless the damage is extensive, the trees may not die immediately, but can go into decline over several years before finally dying. With this delay in symptom development, the loss of the trees may not be associated with the construction work. It is possible to preserve trees on a building site, provided the right steps are taken before, during and after the construction is completed. Start by hiring a professional arborist to help you decide which trees are worth saving and to work with your contractor to protect trees throughout the construction process. One of the first decisions to make is determining which trees are to be preserved and which should be removed. Tree species differ in their ability to adapt to compaction, grade changes and root damage that can occur as part of the normal construction process. For example, oaks tend to be very sensitive to construction impact on roots. Consider the species, size, age, location, and condition of each tree. Older trees are more sensitive to environmental changes than younger trees, and therefore they will need more vigilant protecting. Large, mature trees typically do not survive when located within 5 feet of a new building, though you may find it worthwhile to try to save them by taking extra precautions to protect them. Younger, more vigorous trees usually can better withstand the stresses caused by construction…
Not feeling sharp? Finding it hard to concentrate? About 12-19% of adults in Australia regularly don’t get enough sleep, defined as less than 5.5-6 hours each night. But who’d have thought the amount of tree cover in their neighborhood could be a factor? Our latest research has found people with ample nearby green space are much more likely to get enough sleep than people in areas with less greenery. There’s plenty of helpful advice online on sleep, of course. Apart from personal routines, many other things can affect our sleep. Aircraft and traffic noise isn’t helpful. Other environmental factors at play include temperature, artificial light and air pollution. As a result of these factors and their interactions with others, such as age, occupation and socioeconomic circumstances, the chances of getting a decent night’s kip are unevenly distributed across the population. So it is not simply a matter of personal responsibility and choosing to get more sleep. We’ve been studying the health benefits of green space for many years. We recently published research that suggested more green space—and more tree cover in particular—could help reduce levels of cardiometabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes…
In the next 100 years, native plants and habitat could vanish from urban forests like Meadowdale Beach. That’s because Himalayan blackberry, English holly and other invasive species are slowly choking out large trees emblematic of the Pacific Northwest, according to the environmental nonprofit Forterra. As development creeps farther into the rural reaches of Snohomish County, human disturbance is increasingly allowing invasive species to encroach on the 12,000 forested acres owned by the county. The local government is partnering with Forterra to keep those plant invaders at bay, dedicating $130,000 last year to the Healthy Forest Project. It kicked off in January as a 1,000-acre pilot project in 10 locations: Portage Creek, Kayak Point, Smith Island, McCollum Park, Picnic Point, Lake Stickney, the Evergreen State Fairgrounds, Lord Hill Regional Park, Meadowdale Beach and the Paradise Valley Conservation Area. The sites are centered around woods that impact salmon-bearing streams. Large trees shade the water, keeping the temperature cool enough for young fish to thrive, Moore said. Tree bark and leaves support an array of stream insects and critters that fish eat…
Yahoo.com, March 13, 2020: Climate change: Will planting millions of trees really save the planet?
From Greta Thunberg to Donald Trump and airlines to oil companies, everyone is suddenly going crazy for trees. The UK government has pledged to plant millions a year while other countries have schemes running into billions. But are these grand ambitions achievable? How much carbon dioxide do trees really pull in from the atmosphere? And what happens to a forest, planted amid a fanfare, over the following decades? Last year’s UK general election became a contest to look green. The Conservatives’ pledge of planting 30 million trees a year, confirmed in the Budget this week, is a big step up on current rates. Critics wonder whether it’s possible given that earlier targets were far easier and weren’t met. If the new planting rate is achieved, it would lead to something like 17% of the UK becoming forested, as opposed to 13% now. Tree planting is a popular idea because forests are not only beautiful but also useful: they support wildlife, help with holding back floodwater and provide timber…
Johnson County is restoring its natural prairies as part of a 10-year natural resources plan aimed at preserving and restoring the nation’s last tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Johnson County Parks and Recreation District is in the first year of a plan to restore and manage 8,700 acres with efforts across the state, nonprofits and government agencies, reported the Kansas News Service. The 10-year plan passed in 2019. Kansas is currently home to two-thirds of the country’s remaining tallgrass prairie. “Long-term, the goal is to be managing our woodlands and prairies for less than it costs to mow turf grass,” said Matt Garrett, a field biologist. He says getting there will take a lot of work, including spraying herbicide to kill invasive plants, physically remove trees and spreading large amount of native seed. “It took a solid two years for it to not be just weeds,” Garrett said. “It can be labor intensive and it can be expensive,” said Sara Baer, director of the Kansas Biological Survey. “Some of the most successful prairie restoration efforts have been successful through a lot of volunteer work.” Aside from professional staff and hired contractors, supporters from local groups and mountain bikers have all played a key role in the restoration. They believe that exposing people to something they would otherwise have to travel to see can help them understand how important natural prairies can be…
“Prune until it hurts, and then prune some more,” was the old saying repeated by North Dakota State University’s Professor Neal Holland as he taught apple tree pruning to us young horticulture students some 45 years ago. We were so afraid of cutting away too much, but quickly learned that timidity prevents the proper pruning necessary to make trees more productive. Why should we prune apple trees? The most apparent reason is to control height for easier picking. If left unpruned, apple trees can become large, with the best fruits high on the outer perimeter where better sunlight encourages flowering and fruiting. If left unpruned, large upper branches shade and overshadow lower branches. Proper pruning encourages fruit formation on lower branches where picking is easier. Pruning also decreases disease by increasing air circulation through the tree as the canopy is thinned, removing overcrowded branches. And it helps trees bear fruit more evenly each year, leveling out the every-other-year heavy crop pattern of many apple varieties, The best time to prune apple trees is late winter, after severe cold is likely past, but before new growth begins to sprout. March through early April is usually a good pruning window for fruit trees…
Norman, Oklahoma, Transcript, March 12, 2020: Judge to consider dismissing tree lawsuit
A judge will decide next week if a group of Norman residents can continue to enjoy a tree canopy along S. Berry Road. The residents filed a lawsuit in February against Oklahoma Electric Cooperative to prevent the utility from removing several trees, which create a potential hazardous situation by interfering with overhead electrical lines. Cleveland County District Judge Jeff Virgin granted a temporary restraining order that prevented OEC from starting the tree removal. Virgin initially was scheduled to make a permanent ruling on the lawsuit March 26. However, OEC attorney Gregory Tontz filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Feb. 28. A response from the Norman residents and their attorney, Doug Wall, must be filed by 5 p.m. Monday. Virgin said he’ll likely rule on OEC’s request Tuesday. OEC spokeswoman Autumn McMahon said this type of lawsuit is rare. “It’s very uncommon to have lawsuits like this,” she said. “From our perspective, the best way to be good stewards of our members’ money is to dismiss this lawsuit, which does not have a lot of standing.” Doug Wall, attorney for the residents, could not be reached for comment Thursday. None of the Norman residents involved in the lawsuit own property where the 17 trees are located, which is a significant issue in the case. The residents argued in court that removal of the trees would cause irreparable harm to the value and aesthetics” of their homes…
A decision made by the Mill Valley Planning Commission shows that not all trees are created equal. Despite neighborhood opposition, the commission voted 3-1 on Tuesday to allow five 50-foot trees to be replaced with red maples at the corner of Camino Alto and East Blithedale Avenue. The property is being redeveloped into a pizza restaurant. The permit also allows the applicant to plant up to 11 trees, each with a 48-inch box. The Freeman Park Neighborhood Association led the effort to save the trees. Its president, Susan Kirsch, said she is disappointed with the commission’s decision. “We want the owner of the property to know that the neighbors are in favor of something happening at that corner,” Kirsch said. “But I think this is a drastic move and Mill Valley will be making an error cutting down trees, especially these.” Another Mill Valley resident, Judy Thier, agreed. She said the property is at the gateway into the residential zone of the city and the new trees will take a long time before they mature. “My issue is not only replacing the trees, it’s what they’re replacing them with,” Thier said. “With these little spindly trees that they say within 20 or 30 years they’ll be beautiful — I’m going to be dead then.” The five blackwood acacia and eucalyptus trees that are to be removed are non-heritage trees, said Lisa Newman, senior planner. “Even though they’re large,” Newman said. “They’re just not of the species that are considered important to be protected in Mill Valley…”
As weather starts to warm up and people venture out to take stock of their landscaping, many homeowners cast an eye higher in the sky toward the trees on their property, and city of St. George officials are reminding people that the practice of ‘tree topping’ actually does more damage than good. “There is an epidemic of residents who are somewhere getting some bad advice, and they’re topping the trees in their yard,” Shane Moore, city of St. George deputy director of parks, previously told St. George News. “We just want to make people aware that this old-timey style of pruning is really hurting their trees.” According to a press release from the city, when a tree is topped, 50-100% of leafed branches are removed, taking away the tree’s food source and causing it to go into stress mode. The tree then sends out epicormic shoots – “what we call water suckers,” Moore said. These new branches do not have strong attachments and can eventually fall from the tree. Trees can “heal” a wound from a proper pruning cut but not from a stub cut like those seen in tree topping. Moore called a branch that has been cut in the middle a “superhighway for disease to enter the tree…”
St. Joseph, Missouri, News Press, March 12, 2020: Is your tree on death’s door? Here’s how to tell
Worried about a sad-looking tree in your yard? Climate change, invasive species and even international trade are taking a serious toll on California trees. An estimated 150 million trees died during the drought that started in December 2011, according to Smithsonian Magazine, and the stressed trees that survived became more vulnerable to attack by a host of newcomer pests, said Philippe Rolshausen, subtropical tree specialist for the Cooperative Extension office at UC Riverside. “There are lots of invasive pests everywhere because of global warming and the movement of plant materials in general,” he said. Identifying specific tree diseases or pests usually requires an expert, but Rolshausen said three indicators suggest your tree needs help: yellowing leaves, a thinned-out canopy and branch die-back. If you’re willing to wait, researchers or master gardeners in the state’s county Cooperative Extension offices can help you diagnose a sick tree for free, Rolshausen said. Professional consulting arborists usually can respond more quickly but charge $200 to $400 for a consultation, said Darren Butler, a Los Angeles-based consulting arborist, horticulturist, landscape designer and cocreator of the GardenZeus.com. When you consider how healthy, mature trees boost property values, that’s a relatively small fee to pay, he said, but people often wait until it’s too late to ask for help…
A split between Cherry Hill neighbors over the fate of a fence of creeping, 20-foot-tall bamboo trees grew to divide even the state’s top legal minds. A 4-3 decision from the New Jersey Supreme Court on Wednesday finally ended the case in a ruling that says landowners who want to take their neighbors to court over the destruction of trees or shrubs must show their property value was diminished as a result. The story begins with bamboo and ends with a victory for bamboo killers. This is not the first time the non-native plant that grows explosively has created problems in New Jersey. More than a dozen municipalities have passed ordinances regulating where bamboo can be planted. Stories of neighbors fighting neighbors over the flora abound. This one happened in Cherry Hill…
A Belleville homeowner who didn’t want to be identified says tree trimmers she hired lost control of a 20-foot tree limb that fell on top of her house. She says she hired Grant Tree Removal for the job. They’re based out of Missouri. As outlined in her paperwork, the company was hired to cut down a tree and remove limbs hanging over her house. She says the slip-up by the tree trimmers is going to cost her at least $2,000 to fix damage to her gutter and shingles. “They refuse to contact me,” she said. News 4 spoke with Grant Tree Service over the phone and a representative claimed the limbs were already on her house when they arrived to do work. A fact the Belleville homeowner says is true. She says the paperwork states they were to remove limbs that were hanging over the house but not on the roof. “There were no trees on my house, this was the agreement to remove limbs from two trees,” she said. Grant Tree Service says damage done to her home wasn’t done by their crew…
Phys.org, March 11, 2020: Urban trees could cut extreme heat by up to 6 degrees
Australia just experienced the second-warmest summer on record, with 2019 being the hottest year. Summer temperatures soared across the country, causing great economic and human loss. The good news is we can do something about this in our own backyards. We have found trees and vegetation can lower local land temperatures by up to 5-6℃ on days of extreme heat. Our newly published research into a summer heatwave in Adelaide suggests that a simple solution to extreme heat is literally at everyone’s doorstep. It relies on the trees, the grasses and the vegetation in our own backyards. During a three-day heatwave that hit Adelaide in 2017, AdaptWest took to the skies to measure land surface temperatures from an aircraft. Our analysis of the data collected on that day suggests urban trees and grasses can lower daytime land temperatures by up to 5-6℃ during extreme heat. The largest temperature reductions were in the hottest suburbs and those further away from the coast. These significant reductions were mostly achieved thanks to backyard trees…
Buckeye, Arizona, Mayor Jackie A. Meck told the U.S. Senate drinking water is scarce enough for cities in the West – they don’t need to be competing with invasive species for it, too. Meck was one of several witnesses March 4 at a Senate hearing on the impact of nonnative species – mostly quagga and zebra mussels clogging water intake pipes and forcing out native species, but also salt cedars lining the region’s riverbanks. But while others were focused on mussels, Meck said the problem for his city is the thirsty salt cedar trees lining the Gila River, sucking up 200-300 gallons of water per day… Salt cedar trees were first planted in the state in the late 1800s to control erosion and have since spread to 15,000 acres along the Gila River in Buckeye, Goodyear and Avondale. Besides being thirsty, the trees deposit salt around their bases and are highly flammable, which can pose a wildfire threat. “In Arizona, our desert rivers like the Verde, Salt and Gila have been hit particularly hard,” McSally said in her opening statement. “Right now these riverbeds are choked with up to 4,000 salt cedars per acre…”
A Southern California family is speaking out, saying the accident that left their toddler with a fractured skull never had to happen. The accident happened when Eric and Marci Palmstrom had dropped off their daughter, Adelaide, at Linda Vista Children’s Center in Pasadena. Hours later they got a call. A tree limb had fallen on Adelaide while she played in the yard of the day care. Her skull was fractured. Her neck, spine and leg were also broken and she had internal bleeding. Adelaide’s parents were stunned. “How does something like this happen? You drop your child off at day care, and you expect to pick them up same way you dropped them off,” Marci Palmstrom said. The accident happened in 2017. The road to recovery would be long and arduous for Adelaide. One week in a hospital, two months in a heavy, cumbersome halo held in place with screws. Adelaide was requiring round-the-clock care. “The both of us had to stop working to care for her 24/7,” Marci Palmstrom said. “She was in pain. She was upset. She was sad.” It would be more than two years before Adelaide’s last skull wound from one of those screws would heal. And the family’s attorney says the entire ordeal was preventable. “This was something that they knew or should have known was going to happen,” said Robert Glassman, an attorney with Panish Shea & Boyle…
Hawaii officials have confirmed another discovery of a fungal disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of native ohia trees in the state. An ohia tree with the infection was found on Oahu near the popular Poamoho trail above Wahiawa. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources confirmed the tree was infected with Ceratocystis huliohia, the less aggressive of the two fungal species responsible for the blight. The fungal disease infected four other trees on Oahu and has been found on each of the four main islands. An aerial survey in November found Oahu’s fourth case of the fungal disease at the Honolulu Watershed Forest Reserve above Tripler Army Medical Center. The disease was previously detected on Kamehameha Schools land above Pearl City and in two different residential areas of Windward Oahu. “That’s kind of a large area, so that leads us to believe that it’s fairly widely distributed on the island,” state protection forester Rob Hauff said…
US Dept of Agriculture, March 10, 2020: Why the Trees Outside Forests Count
Windbreaks and other agroforestry practices provide a wide range of agricultural production and conservation benefits, helping farmers and furthering the goals of U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Perdue’s Agriculture Innovation Agenda (PDF, 196 KB). Windbreaks are designed to increase crop yields, reduce erosion, and improve soil health while also providing other conservation benefits like wildlife habitat. However, an inventory of agroforestry practices, including windbreaks, has long been a missing piece of information. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is a common saying in the USDA Forest Service as we strive to use data and metrics to better inform our decisions, a key component of the Agriculture Innovation Agenda. We want to improve our data, so we know we are helping farmers increase production while decreasing our impact on the environment. Recently, the Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program and USDA National Agroforestry Center, along with several state and university partners, have worked together to advance the agroforestry inventory in the central Plains states agricultural region…
What if trees could provide electricity to cities? Imagine the tangle of power lines, clunky solar panels, or bird-killing wind turbines replaced by beautiful and lush green groves that double as clean energy generators. This surrealist idyll isn’t too far-fetched, say a team of researchers from China, Italy and Japan. They’ve been working to harvest usable electricity from plants by experimenting with the “triboelectric” effect in tree foliage. The phenomenon occurs when certain materials that rub against each are pried apart, akin to how static electricity is generated. (The word “tribo” means “friction” in Greek.) As thrilling as this sounds, graduate students from Keio University in Tokyo have also paused to think through the ethical implications of such a powerful technology. Colombian-American industrial designer Catalina Lotero is part of the multi-disciplinary team, and explained their work at the recent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town. Leaves, which are positively charged, produce small amounts of electricity when they come in contact with the tree trunk or any other negatively-charged material Lotero says. The team is looking to build out this energy capacity into a “biological microgrid” called Raiki. They envision the technology as an alternative for communities underserved by traditional grids…
A 3-inch hook purchased for 56 cents around the end of World War I could help determine whether PG&E Corp. PCG -11.56% faces criminal charges for starting the deadliest wildfire in California history. Known as a “C-hook,” the badly worn piece of metal broke on Nov. 8, 2018, dropping a high-voltage electric line that sparked the Camp Fire, destroying the town of Paradise and killing 85 people. PG&E has hundreds of thousands of hooks, manufactured by a number of companies, holding up power lines in its 70,000 square-mile-territory, but the utility doesn’t have good data on how old they are, and is trying to replace many of them. Whether PG&E was negligent in inspecting and replacing these hooks has emerged as a key factor in a continuing California investigation that could determine whether the company and some of its former executives face criminal charges for their role in wildfires. “They’re excellent hooks if you don’t leave them up in towers for 100 years,” said Mike Ramsey, the district attorney of California’s Butte County who is leading the investigation along with the state attorney general’s office. Mr. Ramsey’s office sent pieces of the broken hook to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s laboratory in Quantico, Va., for forensic examination. He said he expects to make a decision soon on whether to charge PG&E, individuals at the company, or both…
London, UK, Citylab, March 9, 2020: London’s Trees Are Saving the City Billions
London’s leafy streets and gardens have long been prized for their beauty — and more recently their ability to counteract carbon emissions and improve air quality. But the value of urban trees can also be measured with money. A new report from Britain’s Office of National Statistics estimates tree cover saved the capital more than 5 billion pounds ($6.56 billion) from 2014 to 2018 through air cooling alone. Additionally, by keeping summer temperatures bearable for workers, trees prevented productivity losses of almost 11 billion pounds. The estimates underline just how vital the role trees play is in making cities comfortable and functional in a warming world — particularly in London. An unusually long, hot summer in 2018 pushed cost savings estimates to their highest level to date. Part of the study’s purpose is to promote planting trees and maintaining green spaces, according to Hazel Trenbirth, a member of the ONS’ Natural Capital team, which looks at cost savings of greenery across the U.K. “Britain’s trees have a value that goes far beyond what you can get from chopping them down,” she said…
Country Living, March 7, 2020: 7 trees and plants with the most invasive roots
Invasive tree roots are a common problem for many homeowners. If left unattended, aggressive roots will cause disruption to pavements, buildings and patio slabs. From fast-growing Japanese knotweed to the classic willow tree, there are many plants and trees to avoid planting in your garden if you are concerned about their roots. “Most trees and plants look impressive above ground, but underneath they could be causing havoc,” a spokesperson for BillyOh explains. “Take the humble mint herb for example, it’s easy to grow and makes a great addition to many dishes, but its roots are seriously invasive and can spread throughout your garden in a weed-like manner if not contained. “Similarly, thanks to the magnolia’s crowded under-soil space the roots occupy and the dense canopy of magnolia leaves, it’s almost impossible for any other plantings to thrive near it.” Take a look at the invasive trees and plants below…
If you’ve noticed some trees missing at Bowers Harbor Park, that’s because the Peninsula Township Parks Committee approved the cutting of them due to Beech Bark Disease, a disease caused by both a sap-feeding scale insect and a fungus. According to this report over at Michigan.gov, the trees are first infested with beech scale. Scale feeding allows infection by the Neonectria fungus, which kills the wood, blocking the flow of sap. Affected trees decline in health and eventually die. While some of the trees – marked with two ribbons earlier this year – at Bowers Harbor Park needed to be cut down, others marked with one ribbon only needed to be trimmed. At their January meeting, the Parks Committee approved a bid of $4200 from Parshall Tree Care Experts to tend to the trees, including treating them with a spray in the months of July or August. This treatment, which needs to be done for two consecutive years, prevents the insects from boring through the bark and killing the tree…
A new study says that hurricanes Irma and Maria combined in 2017 to knock down a quarter of the biomass contained in Puerto Rico’s trees—and that massive rainfall, more than wind, was a previously unsuspected key factor. The surprising finding suggests that future hurricanes stoked by warming climate may be even more destructive to forests than scientists have already projected. The study appears this week in the journal Scientific Reports. “Up to now, the focus on damage to forests has been on catastrophic wind speeds. Here, the data show that rain tends to be the greatest risk factor,” said Jazlynn Hall, a Columbia University Ph.D. student who led the study. Her team identified several ways in which extreme rain might topple trees, but they do not completely understand the phenomenon yet, she said…
I believe the sweetgum trees along our city streets should be cut down. I realize this is a first world problem, but because I pay higher taxes to live on a boulevard on a corner lot, and because I am fined if I do not keep snow cleared from my sidewalks, I feel justified to have my complaints heard. Please let me state that I am a “tree-hugger” and have been since my youth. In fact, when we bought our home, I was attracted to its beautiful treed lot. But I dislike sweetgums and I hate their prickly little seed pod balls. The pods are a nuisance and are quite hazardous for the multitudes of pedestrians, joggers and track teams that frequently use Ward Parkway. This thoroughfare is home to numerous charitable runs because it is a beautiful, tree-lined boulevard. Therefore, in addition to keeping the snow cleared from our walks, I feel compelled to remove sweetgum balls. Countless joggers have thanked me for removing them, telling me about their falls and injuries from slipping on the pods under their feet…
Hemlock woolly adelgids have been found in southern Mason County, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says. Infestations were previously found in Allegan, Ottawa, Muskegon and Oceana counties. Hemlock woolly adelgids are small insects that use their long, siphoning mouthparts to extract sap from hemlock trees. Their feeding weakens needles, shoots and branches. Without treatment, infested trees die within four to 10 years. This spring, crews will focus on treated infested trees to prevent hemlock woolly adelgid from spreading further north. There is an internal quarantine in place for Allegan, Ottawa, Muskegon and Oceana counties. The quarantine restricts the movement of hemlock nursery stock and unprocessed hemlock products…
Mohamed Sid is waiting for the lights to go out — not for lack of oil, but because there is too much of it. Unusually heavy rains have yielded a bumper crop of olives across Tunisia, and that oversupply has sent the price of olive oil plummeting, provoking a crisis in one of the world’s largest producers. Sid’s olive trees in the inland province of Kairouan have borne twice as many olives as usual, about 30 metric tons, but he says his earnings are just half of those last year. He cannot cover his costs or pay the electric bill, and he worries the electricity company will soon pull the plug. “I’m fed up, and I wrote on the farm wall ‘For sale’ because I can’t stand this anymore,” he said. With its largely chemical-free orchards, Tunisia is the largest exporter of organic olive oil in the world. Tunisian olive oils have won medals at international competitions in London and Los Angeles…
Officials in Port Washington North are considering cutting down trees that have encroached on sidewalks and lifted curbs to make way for a road repaving project and remove a safety hazard for pedestrians. “I don’t want to cut a single tree down in this village,” Mayor Bob Weitzner told the village board last week. But “it is at the point … where we as a board have got to address the problem, and it is not going to be an easy decision to make.” Removing mature trees can be a highly controversial move on Long Island, where residents have sued and expressed outrage over trees that were cut down for road projects. For Port Washington North, the infrastructure damage created by growing tree roots became particularly problematic this year, as the village plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to repave several residential streets in the summer…
A tree protection order has been labelled “rather unfair” by the Arbroath house owner who planted the trees on his garden sand bank more than three decades ago. Councillors voted narrowly to confirm the order put in place by planning officials after proposals emerged to bring the trees down for development of a house in Colin Keillor’s Cairniehill Gardens home. The mix of specimens includes beech, horse chestnut, ash, sycamore, holly and pine. Official Alan Hunter told development standards councillors: “The trees are on a prominent knoll and are considered significant in relation to the amenity of the area. “It is a feature we consider deserves protection. We are satisfied the trees are healthy and don’t present any significant issues in relation to safety.” Mr Keillor told the committee: “I would question everything that has been said. The trees are of no value or significance. “These are trees I planted 36 years ago when I built the house – not all the trees are to be taken down. “Tree roots are causing the wall to bulge and we have had problems with limbs falling off. Last summer one fell across Cairnie Loan, fortunately it didn’t hit anything…
Nearly two dozen 50-year-old pine trees that were on the chopping block as part of a controversial development behind Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Phoenix’s Alhambra neighborhood will not be axed, after the developer ceded to outcry from nearby residents. At a community meeting Tuesday night at Washington Park, Ed Bull, an attorney with the firm Burch and Cracchiolo, representing developer Residential Pursuits, told the 40 or so residents in attendance (mostly white seniors, and many of them vocally miffed) that 18 of the 23 trees would remain as is. Five unhealthy ones would be cut down, and 38 new trees — half of them pine, the rest either elm or a similar species — would be planted. It’s a minor win for tree-huggers in a city whose Master Plan to plant more trees has all but stagnated in the decade since it came out…
Global Voices, March 6, 2020: A cancer treating yew tree is critically endangered in Nepal
With less than 500 mature trees remaining in the wild, Taxus mairei (or Maire’s Yew tree) is critically endangered in Nepal. While yews have been used in Nepal as traditional medicine for years, T. mairei is one of the major sources of the anticancer drug, Taxol. According to estimates, a ton of T. mairei’s leaves can produce about 550 grams of 10-DAB-III which is used as a chemical intermediate in the preparation of the anticancer drug paclitaxel (Taxol). The tree’s high commercial value has created a leaf harvesting business; however, T. mairei is only found in the wild in three districts in Nepal, and as its numbers dwindle, the need for a responsible and sustainable conservation plan is more important than ever. Paclitaxel, sold under the brand name Taxol, is one of the most successful and widely used anticancer drugs developed in the past 50 years. This anticancer drug was first found in the bark of the Taxus brevifolia (Pacific yew tree). All the species of Taxus are known to produce Taxol. Apart from T. mairei, another two species of yew namely T. wallichiana and T. contarta are also found in Nepal…
With its sights set on providing shade and natural beauty for future generations while protecting people and power lines in the present, the Directorate of Public Works is conducting a tree replacement program in the areas around the air assault track. “Like our other infrastructure that dates from when Fort Rucker was founded as a post, a lot of our trees in our central core area are just aged, and as they age they become full of disease, wind damage and things like that, so we’re conducting a project to replace them,” said Joseph Wyka, DPW director. A lot of the mature oak and other trees in the area along Andrews Avenue and Third Avenue date back to the 1940s-60s, according to Wyka, and now is the time to take action in assessing all of them, picking which ones to remove and creating a replacement plan to ensure future Soldiers, families and employees can continue to enjoy the shade and natural beauty they provide. “Trees are good neighbors — we’re excited about this project,” he added. While tree management has been a post-wide continuous process pretty much since Fort Rucker’s inception, Wyka said DPW Natural Resources staff began assessing the trees in the air assault track area in the fall and plan to start removing trees in earnest this summer…
During an I’m Telling Ken session at the Florida Cracker Kitchen, the On Your Side team heard from Shanda Suggs. “I am concerned about my father’s safety,” Suggs said. Her father, John Turner lives on West 9th Street in a neighborhood that needs some attention. Turner is 77-years-old. “He has his health struggles,” she said. “Every day he is walking with a cane with an oxygen container.” Suggs said the problem in his neighborhood is a city-owned tree and its root system. When he leaves home he has to walk past the tree and over its very overgrown root system. The roots are so overgrown they have become a safety hazard. “The city told me the tree is not dead, so is my dad going to be dead from falling over this tree,” Suggs said. While the tree may appear healthy, what the root system is doing is not. It is coming out of the ground and tearing the concrete curb apart, bulging from the seams. “I fear the worst,” she said. ” I want the city to give it attention.” Suggs said she was told as long as the tree is healthy nothing can be done, even though the tree is also destroying the curb…
A wet and mild winter will mean early blooms this year, according to the National Park Service, with the District’s famous cherry tree blossoms expected to peak March 27-30. Despite earlier concerns that the trees might bloom before the festival celebrating them begins March 20, the big question on the minds of city officials and festival organizers has been less about the flowers and more about the hundreds of thousands of people who come to see them. The spreading coronavirus has in recent weeks resulted in international travel restrictions, economic fallout and at least 11 deaths in the United States. The National Cherry Blossom Festival, where revelers can watch fireworks, dozens of performances, a kite festival and a parade, typically draws more than 1 million people to the Washington region. Concerns over the virus this year have led to some international cancellations. Two student dance troupes from Japan — one from a high school and another from a university — have withdrawn from the festival, which will run through April 12. One of the event’s Japanese corporate sponsors has issued a companywide ban on international travel, which means emissaries from the organization won’t attend the festival in Washington…
A 24-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday evening in West Springfield, Virginia, and a 52-year-old man is charged in his murder. Javon Prather died after being found shot in the 7700 block of Bedstraw Court. Michael Hetle, also of Springfield, was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder. The victim’s mother says the suspect was her son’s next-door neighbor and that they had fought bitterly for years. Police declined to comment on what led up to the shooting and said they are investigating. Prather was shot at about 4:50 p.m. A neighbor said he heard at least seven shots. Prather was pronounced dead at the scene. He worked as a manager at Giant Foods and served in the Maryland National Guard for six years, his mother, Shabon Prather, said Wednesday. He had planned to reenlist and was a “good man,” his mother said. Prather and Hetle had argued for years, Shavon Prather said. She cited arguments over dog poop left outside…
Lawyers for Pacific Gas & Electric said the utility can’t commit to hiring hundreds more tree trimmers in the way that a federal judge wants to cut the risk of starting more catastrophic wildfires in California. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the utility last month to add at least 1,100 more tree trimmers to help prevent trees and branches from falling onto its power lines and igniting. The judge is overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation imposed after its natural gas lines blew up a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood and killed eight people in 2010. He has taken a strong interest in PG&E’s safety record after the company’s power lines started a series of wildfires that killed 130 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Attorneys for PG&E said in court filings Monday that the company is unable to provide a deadline by which it will hire a set number of new contracted workers to cut trees and branches around power lines…
Question: … It’s upsetting to me hearing/reading about the hypocrisy of the, “Now that I’ve got mine, you stay out” mentality. This is so pervasive, in so many forms today. I have three suggestions that should make things better. TREES, TREES and TREES! How about a county ordinance that requires any developer plant two trees for every one uprooted? Simple right? Or, is something like this already in place?
My answer: My favorite recent tree protest came when a guy attempted to cut down a really old tree by an apartment development as a protest against the very same tree being slated for removal. But he only got part-way through with the sawing, as it was a honker of a tree, and that left a dangerous situation for all nearby motorists, as the tree could’ve toppled into the intersection at any time. So we were left with an unsuccessful preemptive tree cutting to protest an imminent tree cutting, with the final result being professionals had to come in and cut the tree down earlier than planned. Very Asheville. Both the county and the city do have rules about replanting trees, and developers often do plant a good number of trees once projects are finished. Essentially, they are going to meet the code requirements. But, you can’t expect them to replace a clear-cut forest with another forest. They’re going to plant young trees, in a landscaped pattern, around the new buildings. So when an entire lot has been cleared and graded, as has been the case recently on Long Shoals Road and on Airport Road, don’t look for the same number of trees to go back in…
The Department of Land and Natural Resources has temporarily closed the Poamoho Trail in Central Oahu after the discovery of another tree with Rapid Ohia Death. The state said the tree was recently discovered to have the fungal disease. Because it is close to the trail, Poamoho will be closed until crews can remove the tree, which is expected to take place this week. The DLNR said crews will also conduct tests to ensure the fungus hasn’t spread to surrounding trees. The fungus has already ravaged thousands of acres of Ohia trees on Hawaii Island, and has been found on all main Hawaiian Islands. Oahu only has five documented cases of the lesser aggressive strain of the fungus. The ohia is considered the most important endemic tree in the state, comprising approximately 80 percent of Hawaii’s native forests, the DLNR said…
The mild winter, coupled with what feels like an early spring, had me worried about peach season. That’s because peaches need a certain number of “chill” (very cold) hours each winter in order for the peaches to make in the coming spring and summer. The requirement’s different for each variety, ranging from a few hundred chill hours to nearly a thousand. Great news, then, comes from Larry Stein, Ph.D., Texas A&M’s go-to tree-fruit guy. “[It’s] been a relatively mild winter, but a pretty good chill year,” he writes in an email. “Bloom should not be hurt by lack of chill. Now we just have to dodge the late cold spells.” Those would be the pesky late-season frosts that sometimes bedevil Texas agriculture. But as long as we stay clear of those, we’ll be rolling in juicy Texas peaches starting sometime in May. First up will be the cling varieties. A good bellwether for the season’s start is the mid-May opening of Ham Orchards farm market store near Terrell…
Lawyers for Pacific Gas & Electric said the utility can’t commit to hiring hundreds more tree trimmers in the way that a federal judge wants to cut the risk of starting more catastrophic wildfires in California. U.S. District Judge William Alsap ordered the utility last month to add at least 1,100 more tree trimmers to help prevent trees and branches from falling onto its power lines and igniting. The judge is overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation imposed after its natural gas lines blew up a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood and killed eight people in 2010. He has taken a strong interest in PG&E’s safety record after the company’s power lines started a series of wildfires that killed 130 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Attorneys for PG&E said in court filings Monday that the company is unable to provide a deadline by which it will hire a set number of new contracted workers to cut trees and branches around power lines. They argued they shouldn’t be forced into hiring a set number of people for “a single part of its multi-faceted wildfire safety efforts.” PG&E’s filing said the company has about 5,500 tree trimmers and plans to train about 2,800 more next year. But the company wants to use that pool of newly trained workers partly to replace out-of-state contractors who were hired at a premium…
The City of Tallahassee says it will remove five “high risk” trees from its Chain of Parks, since they have significant natural decay and structural damage. The city says it received assessments of the trees from internal and external experts, and they agree that the threat the trees pose outweigh their benefits. Scans have been performed on the trees for several years to provide more insight into their internal condition. “In advance of the busy spring season that brings thousands of people to our Chain of Parks, now is the appropriate time to remove the trees that are at the end of their lives. We are extremely grateful for the professional, thorough efforts of our arborists and community tree advocates who collaborated closely on this issue helping to ensure public safety,” Director of the City’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Affairs Department Ashley Edwards said. “We are entrusted with being stewards of our natural resources, and we take that responsibility seriously.” The Florida Department of Transportation and the city will work together to make sure the tree removal process is safe. Work will begin this Saturday, according to the city. Nearby traffic lanes and sidewalks will be closed to protect the public. Drivers are asked to be careful when travelling near the Chain of Parks this week…
Los Angeles, California, Times, February 28, 2020: Is your tree on death’s door? Here’s how to tell
Worried about a sad-looking tree in your yard? Climate change, invasive species and even international trade are taking a serious toll on California trees. An estimated 150 million trees died during the drought that started in December 2011, according to Smithsonian Magazine, and the stressed trees that survived became more vulnerable to attack by a host of newcomer pests, said Philippe Rolshausen, subtropical tree specialist for the Cooperative Extension office at UC Riverside. “There are lots of invasive pests everywhere because of global warming and the movement of plant materials in general,” he said. Identifying specific tree diseases or pests usually requires an expert, but Rolshausen said three indicators suggest your tree needs help: yellowing leaves, a thinned-out canopy and branch die-back. If you’re willing to wait, researchers or master gardeners in the state’s county Cooperative Extension offices can help you diagnose a sick tree for free, Rolshausen said. Professional consulting arborists usually can respond more quickly but charge $200 to $400 for a consultation, said Darren Butler, a Los Angeles-based consulting arborist, horticulturist, landscape designer and cocreator of the GardenZeus.com. When you consider how healthy, mature trees boost property values, that’s a relatively small fee to pay, he said, but people often wait until it’s too late to ask for help. Search for trained arborists through the American Society of Consulting Arborists or the International Society of Arboriculture…
Trees are facing stress from a variety of pressures in California, including climate change and exotic invasive pests, reported Jeanette Marantos in the Los Angeles Times. “There are lots of invasive pests everywhere because of global warming and the movement of plant materials in general,” said Philippe Rolshausen, UC Cooperative Extension subtropical tree specialist at UC Riverside. Yellowing leaves, a thinning canopy and branch die-back are symptoms that the tree is sick. UC Master Gardeners, headquartered in UCCE county offices across the state, can provide free help, the article said. Marantos listed possible reasons for common tree symptoms: Yellow leaves: May be due to a lack of nutrients. A sudden jolt of fertilizer isn’t the best solution. Homeowners often remove the best fertilizer and mulch for trees — their own fallen leaves. Thinning canopies and branch die-back: May be the result of a soil-borne disease, such a phytophthora, caused by excessive water. “Homeowners have a tendency to over-irrigate a tree that’s not doing well, but soil-borne diseases actually thrive in wet soils, so that’s making things even worse,” Rolshausen said. “Trees don’t like standing water on their root systems because they can’t breathe…”
St. George is unique in the American Southwest because of our beautiful shade trees. These unsung heroes provide shade during our unbearably hot days of summer. Shade trees reduce the “heat island” effect that our streets and sidewalks produce. Trees help save energy by reducing air conditioning in the summer and wind reduction in the winter. They also increase property values and beautify our neighborhoods. When a tree is topped the tree sends out epicormic shoots or what we call water suckers. These new branches do not have strong attachments and can eventually fall from the tree. Trees cannot properly close these wounds, creating an avenue for disease to infect the tree. These issues can ultimately cause a tree to fail. Trees are highly compartmentalized organisms. This means they can contain disease and decay by growing thick cell walls around the infection. When a pruning cut is made in the proper place on a tree, the wound can heal properly. The best place to prune a branch is at the branch collar. The branch collar is a swollen area of wood near the base of the branch. When a cut is made just in front of the branch collar the wood is able to grow over the cut and compartmentalize inside the tree…
A recent Ohio University study offers new information about how changes in the nutrient composition of the soil in forests could be leading to a rise in the maple tree population while suppressing the growth of oaks. The research has implications for forest management practices, as oak is a valuable source of timber and supports a diverse ecosystem of plants, insects and animals. “We know that over the last 30 years, the eastern deciduous forests that were once dominated by oak have been transitioning to maples,” said Jared DeForest, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology at Ohio University and co-author of the study, which was published Feb. 17 in the journal New Phytologist. The scientific community has searched for an explanation, such as whether an increase in nitrogen in the soil — introduced through acid rain — could be a factor, he noted. DeForest launched an experiment in 2009 designed to simulate the impact of changing the soil nutrient composition on tree growth. Using three plots of land in southeastern Ohio — in young, middle and older age soils — scientists applied lime that elevated the pH levels (acidity) of the soil and/or added phosphate fertilizer. This created an inorganic nutrient soil system that would be similar to soil found in areas impacted by acid rain or farming, he explained…
Rayma Jacobs is 69 and has collected maple sap for about 30 years, a hobby she began with her father, Milton Hall. “When we had a farm, he had four maple trees and he’d do it for us kids,” she said. “We didn’t do it for years and years, and one day he decided that we should tap some trees. It’s not much of an operation.” Jacobs, who has 60 taps in Mount Vernon, describes herself as “an outdoor girl.”” I like doing it,” she said. Last week, Jacobs began collecting sap. She is one of many producers in Maine preparing for the production of one of Maine’s best-known products: Luxurious, sweet maple syrup. While larger producers often have sizable sugar houses and intricate tubing setups throughout a forest of maple trees, a number of central Mainers, like Jacobs, will collect sap by hand to produce smaller quantities for themselves, family and friends. Her setup is fairly modest: Jacobs still uses an old wood stove, built by her father, with the top cut off so it can hold a stainless steel pan. After the sap is given a long boil there, Jacobs takes what is left and uses an electric burner to finish it…
Abilene, Texas, Reporter-News, March 1, 2020: History is told through trees
Even though it may sound like I’m complaining, I’m not. I went to this kind of stuff before I had the high hour requirements that I have now, and enjoyed the chance — which I still do — to learn more about what I do for a living, and talk with other people who also work with trees. Since the Big Country is not an area that’s known as a great tree growing environment, and there are fewer than ten certified arborists in the region, as you can imagine, none of the tree-type organizations hold conferences or continuing education classes anywhere nearby. Granted, some of the things that I need continuing education unit points for aren’t done by tree groups, such as my Texas Department of Agriculture licenses — and I can do that locally — but most such events, for me, are going to be several hours away. Frankly, as much as I don’t like driving into, and/or around, the big cities, it sure beats the heck out of having to go to Austin or College Station instead (a lot of this kind of stuff is done in those two towns)…
Neighbors are moving quickly to check trees around their homes in a Buckhead neighborhood after one came crashing down on New Year’s Eve, leaving a woman dead. Neighbors in the area of Ridgemore Road called tree services looking for answers on what to do with trees they considered dangerous. The concern was that these trees, if left standing, could hit their homes or their neighbors. One after another, they contacted Atlanta arborists for the okay to take down the trees they thought could fall. One after another, they got turned down. “We look at if the tree is dead; if it’s diseased or dying, and we just have to look at the entire tree – the canopy, the leaves, the trunk – and see if there are any cavities,” said David Zaparanick, arboricultural manager for the City of Atlanta Planning Department. But, if the tree is alive and well, Zaparanick said the chances are the arborists will not authorize the tree coming down. For the neighbors on Ridgemore Road, however, getting a “no” from the arborists was frustrating. Michael Milligan wants a tree down that he fears will fall on his neighbor’s house. “I am spending time, spending money, and taking time off from work to try and remove a safety threat and it may ultimately get denied, and that is frustrating,” he said…
In recent weeks, coastal communities have been the focus of multiple tree cutting services. Trucks, tree climbing equipment and the blare of chainsaws seemed to be everywhere. Contracted by PG&E, these crews have been trimming and removing trees near power lines to reduce the threat of wildfire risk. PG&E’s goal is to prune and cut along 2,498 miles of distribution lines, adding to the 2,455 miles of lines cleared last year. PG&E submitted its 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan to the California Public Utilities Commission on Feb. 18. The plan builds upon the energy company’s Community Wildfire Safety Program which was developed to address the growing threat of extreme weather and wildfires across Northern and Central California. Given the chaos caused by the Public Safety Power Shutoff events last fall, the company proposes changes. According to spokeswoman Deanna Contreras of PG&E, the plan “includes changes to make PSPS events smaller in scope and shorter in duration and to lessen the overall impact of shutoffs while working to keep customers and communities safe during times of severe weather and high wildfire risk…”
Adam Williams is dangling midair next to a rugged cliff in Hawaii. His life depends on the tree that his rope is tethered to yards above his head. It’s a fitting situation for Williams, a state botanist, who rappelled down the cliff to retrieve a rare plant growing on the rockface. Up above, drone specialist Ben Nyberg stands near the tree as a spotter, waiting for Williams to ascend with the Wilkesia hobdyi samples they’re after. Together, Williams and Nyberg are like the Indiana Joneses of plant conservation, leading the crusade to preserve Hawaii’s most distinct — and endangered — plants. Hawaii’s biodiversity is unique, largely because of its isolation: Nearly 90% of native plants don’t grow anywhere else in the world, according to the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. But that isolation has also left it vulnerable to threats like invasive species and environmental changes. So even though Hawaii makes up less than 1% of U.S. landmass, it’s now home to nearly 45% of all endangered and threatened plants in the U.S. Last year, Nyberg, the mapping and drone program coordinator National Tropical Botanical Garden, used a drone to discover a plant thought to be extinct…
When trees are damaged on city property in Raleigh, who is responsible for taking care of them? That question came up after a viewer complained to CBS 17 about a dangerously damaged tree along a city street. Raleigh is the City Of Oaks, but we’ve got a lot of other kinds of trees, too, and sometimes they end up damaged and dangerous. That’s what happened to a tree in the vicinity of 6601 Pleasant Pines Drive, which was snapped in half during our recent snowstorm. The top half of the tree was dangling above the roadway — a danger to anyone passing beneath it should it let go. “We’d rather you call us and let us check it out and make a determination whether it’s on city or private property,” said Raleigh’s Urban Forestry Administrator Zach Manor. The tree was opposite a daycare center, which told me it called its private tree contractor but was told they couldn’t touch it because it was on the city right of way. When a viewer reported the situation to us, we sent an email with photographs of the scene to the city asking about it Tuesday afternoon…
Asserting a property owner’s general right to build on his or her land, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors this week denied appeals by two homeowners in the unincorporated community of Saranap of tree removal permits earlier granted to owners of a neighboring parcel. Twenty-two trees, most notably two large oaks neighbors wanted preserved for stabilizing a hillside and for their beauty, can come down, with the supervisors’ unanimous rejection on Tuesday of the appeal of the county Planning Commission’s recent approval of the tree removal permits. The residents and their arborists and attorneys had argued that removal of the two largest trees, in particular, would damage the sloped property they’re on, cause drainage problems, hamper neighborhood views and lower property values. In fact, neighbors said the 2,527-square-foot house planned by Tambri Heyden and David Montalbo was too tall for this neighborhood…
Washington, D.C., The Hill, February 26, 2020: Panel battles over tree-planting legislation
The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday juxtaposed competing visions for tackling climate change: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and planting trees to capture carbon. They panel considered a bill sponsored by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) that aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions on public lands by 2040 and a bill by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), which seeks to plant trees to capture carbon. Grijalva, who chairs the panel, criticized Westerman’s bill, saying it would not do enough to mitigate climate change. “We must not lose focus on what the science tells us we must do to stabilize global temperatures and avoid catastrophic impacts. This will require a lot more than planting new trees,” he said. “We must dramatically reduce greenhouse gases and get to net-zero emissions as rapidly as possible…”
Demonstrators stood tall and struck their best yoga tree poses at Portage Place mall on Wednesday, urging the city to do more to protect Winnipeg’s urban canopy. “We’ve got trees that are over a hundred years old that are going to get cut unless they get taken care of,” said rally organizer Lisa Forbes, who is with the Glenelm Neighbourhood Association’s trees committee. The association is part of the Trees Please Coalition, which organized the Wednesday noon-hour “stand-still” event along with the community group Budget for All. “There’s no waiting for it. When they’re gone, they’re gone.” The demonstration was a reaction to repeated warnings from Winnipeg Mayor Bowman that the city’s upcoming four-year budget will present “tough choices.” During budget consultations, city staff warned of potentially deep cuts to meet spending targets set by the mayor. That’s led to fears that funding for managing the city’s tree canopy will get chopped…
Humans adores trees. But humans also migrate and trade, habits that led to the accidental introduction of insects and diseases that harm trees and alter the landscape. Examples are easy to find and may be outside your front door: American elms that once dotted streets across America succumbed to Dutch elm disease. Now all colors of ash species – black, green, white, pumpkin, and blue – are threatened by emerald ash borer. The already uncommon butternut tree, also known as white walnut, faces the possibility of extinction from a mysterious attacker.Many invasive insects and fungi come from regions where native trees have evolved to resist their attacks. When these species enter the United States, they find trees that lack this resistance. There’s no immediate end to this dismal pipeline, but there is hope on the horizon. After a pest has moved through a forest, inquisitive scientists scour the woods looking for survivors. There is a chance that no trees will survive, but those that do may be worth studying. Scientists at the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station work with the agency’s Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Research program, also known as RNGR. They have identified lingering green ash trees that are demonstrating resistance. So far, 16 selectively bred varieties of American elm are on the market, and scientists at the Northern Research Station are breeding trees to improve resistance even further. Resistance in butternut remains elusive, but scientists in the United States and Canada, including those at the Hardwood Tree Improvement Regeneration Center, are embarking on a new plan to help save the species. Today, the search for ash and elm trees with resistance to emerald ash borer and Dutch elm disease continues…
A forest fire burning through a popular hiking area crossed by the Appalachian Trail and a major interstate highway was almost completely contained early Tuesday, New Jersey fire officials said. The fire began Sunday afternoon on Mount Tammany, a steep, rugged area of New Jersey’s Worthington State Forest and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border. Fire officials said about 80 acres burned overall, but no injuries were reported. Of the 80 acres burned, 78 were in the state forest and two were in the national recreation area, which is separate from the state forest, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area spokeswoman Kathleen Sandt said. “The number of acres burned in each area may be revised after a final assessment,” Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said. A cause for the fire had not been determined, officials said. Officials say it likely won’t be fully extinguished until expected rain showers pass through the area Tuesday and Wednesday that will soak any remaining hot spots. Chris Franek, the state forest fire service’s assistant division fire warden, has said fires on similar terrain usually burn upward. But he said Sunday’s fire, which started below a trail at an elevation of about 1,400 feet, burned downhill because the trail area is rocky and doesn’t have abundant vegetation…
College isn’t for everyone, but it can be for tree lovers. Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln can declare a new regional and community forestry major this fall. Students majoring in the program can specialize in urban forestry management and arboriculture. They will learn about tree management in rural and urban landscapes, dive deeper into tree biological systems and address natural resource challenges, such as the emerald ash borer and climate change, said Eric North, assistant professor of practice with the School of Natural Resources. The new bachelor’s degree, which will be a part of the College of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, was approved with the unanimous vote by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-Secondary Education. Students will get to climb trees and call themselves “Tree Huskers,” he said. Before Nebraska became the state for “Cornhuskers,” he said it was known as the Tree Planter State. The old name reflected the early efforts of pioneers to plant millions of trees. “By calling themselves ‘Tree Huskers,’ they are contributing to the history of Nebraska and its agricultural system,” he said…
Members of the La Cañada Public Works and Traffic Commission recently considered the wisdom of revising the city’s franchise agreement with utility provider Southern California Edison to include procedures for notifying residents and officials of impending tree-trimming work. The discussion arose during a Feb. 19 meeting in which commissioners reviewed the original ordinance, signed into law on June 24, 1977. The four-page agreement makes no mention of tree trimming or providing advanced notification of work. “Is there some way to put a document together that all parties would agree to that would provide some basic conditions … not to limit Edison’s ability to maintain its facilities in a reliable way but to do it in a responsible way, so the city has notification and can work with Edison?” Commissioner Eldon Horst posed. At a Jan. 15 meeting, a group of residents spoke out against what they called Edison’s overly aggressive trimming practices. Hillard Avenue homeowner Susan Prager described a deodar cedar trimmed within an inch of its life one week earlier. “They chopped off most of the low-hanging branches of the deodars which gave the street much of its grace and beauty,” she told commissioners. “There are sickening examples all over the community…”
A state-owned park once infested with rats is close to reopening in Denver. “It should be in the near future,” Doug Platt, communication manager for the state Department of Personnel and Administration said of Lincoln Park. “We’re just about to the point where we think we’ve got the rodent infestation issue under control, we’re getting these trees, which are a safety issue, addressed and we’ve cleaned up the grounds.” Lincoln Park sits next to the Colorado State Capitol, across the street from Denver’s Civic Center Park. In January, the Denver Health Department shut Lincoln Park down in an emergency action, which also forced about 100 people who are experiencing homelessness to move out. “We need to completely clear the park,” Ann Cecchine-Williams with the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment told 9NEWS back in January. “We’re looking at the rats. We’re looking at animal and human waste. We are doing this because it is an egregious situation here. It is a threat to public health and safety. There’s been a rat issue here for more than just a few weeks or a few days,” Platt said Tuesday. “This has been ongoing for actually a number of years.” He said the rats are the reason the two trees need to be removed. “What we’ve observed, and we’ve had an exterminator come out and check the area, but they basically burrow into and underneath the root system of the tree and then they dig up into and under the tree,” Platt said. “Essentially, it ends up killing the tree from the inside out…”
Eversource has announced a $83 million tree-trimming program to deal with “the ongoing crisis of dead, dying and hazardous trees continues to plague communities across Connecticut and threaten electric reliability.” The energy company’s comprehensive tree maintenance program is already underway along roads in several communities around the state in an effort to fortify the electric distribution system and enhance reliability for customers. Eversource will be trimming trees along more than 4,200 miles of roadside overhead distribution lines around the state. Among the 131 communities where tree trimming will be performed this year, some of the most extensive work is scheduled to be done in Waterbury along nearly 170 miles of city streets. Trees will also be trimmed along 124 miles of roads in Greenwich, 107 miles in Woodbury, 105 miles in New Milford and 101 miles in Westport. Other communities where tree work will be completed include Torrington, Stamford, Middletown, Washington and Wolcott…
Mining Technology, February 24, 2020: Tree Guards
When establishing trees, the first two years are of crucial importance to the longevity and success of the project. Tree guards are vital during this establishment phase, ensuring the plant has the best chance of survival, under harsh Australian conditions. Tree guard products achieve this by providing shelter for the young plant, by means of extra shade from extreme heat, protection from strong wind, and reprieve from frost. Tree guard products also protect the plant by creating a physical barrier between the plant and browsing animals. Tree guards also aid in the ongoing maintenance of a planting project by protecting the plant from spray drift during weed control programs and serving as a marker for watering and monitoring purposes. Tree guards are easy to install and come in a range of sizes and materials. The most basic is the two-litre milk carton guard. This product is the quickest to install and most budget-friendly option, making it a popular choice for large scale revegetation projects. The corflute guard is a much larger and more robust product, made from UV stabilised, corflute plastic. This style of guard will not only protect the growing plant but improve growth rates by providing shelter from weather extremes and preventing evaporation…
Many decades of forest fire prevention and suppression has resulted in a thick buildup of organic matter on the forest floor in many regions of the United States, according to a Penn State researcher, whose new study suggests that the peculiar way that these layers burn should be considered in plans for controlled burns. In both the eastern and western U.S., one of the consequences of avoiding fires for so long in fire-adapted pine forests is the build-up of forest floor”duff”—a deep, dense layer of partially decomposed pine needles—that would otherwise not accumulate under a frequent fire regime, explained Jesse Kreye, assistant research professor of fire and natural resources management in the College of Agricultural Sciences. That accumulation of organic debris can complicate efforts to use prescribed fire as a forest management tool, he explained, and this buildup of duff, particularly pronounced at the base of pines, is problematic if there is a wildfire…
Fargo’s forestry department is hoping to implement ordinances for preserving and protecting trees across the city. During a meeting with the mayor, they talked about the progress that’s been made and what the next steps are for the ordinances. Since October, two task forces have been created to help implement tree protection guidelines. A draft of the ordinance includes whether private property trees should be included in the guidelines and incorporating specific construction standards for tree removal. “I’ve got a great team of individuals that are working through this, and it’s going to take us a little more time but I think in the end we’ll have several different documents and direction on where to go,” says City Forester Scott Liudahl…
A 19th century California law providing double or triple damages for destroying trees or timber on someone else’s property does not apply to fires started by accident, the state Supreme Court has ruled. The law, enacted in 1872, applies to “wrongful injuries to timber, trees or underwood upon the land of another, or removal thereof.” It provides triple damages for harm caused by a deliberate entry onto another person’s property, and double damages “where the trespass was casual or involuntary.” And it allows lawsuits up to five years after the damage occurred, compared with three years for ordinary negligence suits. The law was invoked by a Colusa County resident, Vincent Scholes, whose trees were damaged by a fire in May 2007 that started on neighboring land owned by Lambirth Trucking Co. Scholes said a grinder operated by the company spewed out wood chips and rice hulls that blew onto his property and spread the fire to his trees…
It looked like a scene of wanton destruction on federal land under the watchful eye of a U.S. forester. Two bulldozers plowed up and down a hillside, pushing over anything in their path. Shrubs and small trees snapped under the dozers’ force like kindling. On the barren ground where the machines had been, December rain pooled in muddy tire tracks. A single young oak that had been spared seemed, if anything, to accent the mayhem. “You folks have boots? Want to get muddy?” That was Patrick Angel, leader of this tour. Angel is a scientist who has made his career with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, a little-celebrated unit in the Department of the Interior. For 25 years, he oversaw the process that may represent humans’ best attempt at total annihilation of land: strip mining and mountaintop-removal mining of coal. He told coal companies to do one thing when they were done with a site: Pack the remaining rubble as tightly as possible, and plant grass – the only type of plant he trusted to hold the ground in place. Then, in 2002, Angel realized something was wrong. The big, productive, life-nurturing forests of Appalachia weren’t just slow to come back; they weren’t coming back, period. Nearly 1.5 million acres, an area larger than Delaware, that should have had trees were little more than weedy fields. It was an ecological disaster, and Angel helped create it. “There is a tremendous amount of guilt,” he said…
A university professor wants to rid Clemson of Bradford Pear Trees, an invasive species that’s spread throughout the entire Upstate and most states east of the Mississippi. David Coyle, assistant professor of forest health and invasive species, is spearheading the Bradford Pear Bounty in partnership with the SC Forestry Commission and City of Clemson to replace hundreds of Bradford Pear Trees with native tree species in the Clemson area. Pre-registration is required and availability is limited to five trees per person and 400 trees total. The event will take place on Saturday, Feb. 29 in Nettles Park. Standing in the middle of a mud-drenched, three-acre field covered in dark, skeletal trees, Coyle explained the problem. The trees are Callery Pears, the wild version of Bradford Pear Tree. “It creates an ecological deadzone,” Coyle explained. “Even the grass is gone.” Ironically, the field, located in Pendleton, SC, sits next to a cemetery. The hardwood trees can grow up to 60 feet tall in thick copses and develop wicked-sharp thorns. Flora and fauna stay away from the copses – caterpillars don’t eat the leaves and the only birds who eat the fruit are starlings, Coyle said. The densely packed tree trunks block sunlight, making it near impossible for other vegetation to grow alongside it…
Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sun, February 23, 2020: When to prune trees in New Mexico
Question: When is the right time to prune ornamental and fruit trees?
Answer: Well, you’re not going to be surprised at this answer: It just depends. What are your reasons for pruning? Are your trees grown for their beautiful blooms? If so, do they bloom before leaves start to appear? Trees like redbuds and crabapples and shrubs like lilac and forsythia flower before they leaf out, and that’s a clue that the flowers emerge from buds growing on older growth. If you prune too much you’ll lose out on this season’s flush of color. It makes more sense to prune those just after they’ve bloomed. On the other hand, if you’re wanting to reduce the growth of a young tree because branches are getting awfully close to your gutter, pruning midsummer might make more sense than pruning in late February. As Ed Gilman explains in his wonderful book “An Illustrated Guide to Pruning:” “To retard growth and for a maximum dwarfing effect on all trees, prune just after each growth flush, when the leaves have fully expanded and turned dark green. Pruning at this time theoretically slows growth by reducing photosynthetic capacity and energy-storing wood (sapwood), which causes a dwarfing effect. Only healthy, vigorous, young or medium-aged trees should be pruned using this strategy. Pruning live branches from unhealthy old trees, including those impacted by construction activities, at a time of low energy reserves, during or just after the growth flush, could deplete them further of much-needed energy reserves and energy-producing tissue (i.e., leaves)…”
How do Brazilian pepper tree leaves taste? Not “ba-a-a-a-ad,” say goats blissfully munching on sprigs of the invasive plant. “They love this stuff,” said Steven Slatem of Melbourne, founder and chief executive manager of Invasive Plant Eradicators, as he chopped down a pepper tree limb with a machete and gave it to waiting goats. “It’s their favorite.” His company has a $24,000 contract with Indian River County to use his goats to help clear invasive plants, pepper trees in particular. Among the many benefits, it cuts down on the use of chemical weed killers that can pollute water and harm the environment. St. Lucie County is watching to see if goats are a good alternative before considering whether to follow suit, and Martin County is concerned about goats eating native plants. Indian River County has the goats working on two conservation areas: South Prong Slough west of Wabasso and Cypress Bend Community Preserve near Roseland. Both are former groves where invasive plants are replacing citrus trees faster than native species such as oak, maple, cypress and sabal palm trees can grow. The pepper trees are a scourge on Florida’s environment, pushing out native species on over 700,00 acres throughout the state, including sensitive habitats such as mangrove swamps along Everglades marshes and the Indian River Lagoon…
Phys.org, February 20, 2020: Over 100 eucalypt tree species newly recommended for threatened listing
The Threatened Species Recovery Hub has undertaken a conservation assessment of every Australian eucalypt tree species and found that over 190 species meet internationally recognised criteria for listing as threatened: most of these are not currently listed as threatened. Associate Professor Rod Fensham at the University of Queensland said the team assessed all 822 Australian eucalypt species against the criteria set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. The results have just been published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation. “Our assessment found that 193 species, which is almost one quarter (23%) of all Australian eucalypt species, meet criteria for a threatened status of Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered,” said Associate Professor Fensham. “This is very concerning as eucalypts are arguably Australia’s most important plant group, and provide vital habitat to thousands of other species. Less than one third (62) of the species that we identified are currently listed as threatened under Australian environmental law, and less than half (87) are listed under state and territory laws…
Those traveling along Route 9 in Cromwell may have been surprised to see hundreds of cut trees, including some healthy specimens, lying along both sides of the highway and wondered what work the state is conducting there. In the Middletown / Cromwell area, work is being performed near exits 19 (Route 372 / West Street) and 20 in Cromwell (which leads to Interstate 91 north and south). Thirty feet of clearance on both shoulders is the minimum requirement, which is standard across the country, according to Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The statewide project is estimated at $40 million, and will continue for the next four to five years, he said. Routine maintenance — for safety as well as operational efficiency — stepped up recently after the state provided more funding. For decades, lack of adequate financial support prevented much of the tree work from progressing, Nursick said. “We’re playing a lot of catch-up at this point.” Not only could the public be endangered, but road crews, as well. Nursick acknowledged the view of hundreds of felled dead and decaying trees is an unsightly one. “It’s a big issue. We’ve been all over the map in Connecticut. You could throw a dart, and we’ve probably been there or we’re going to be there,” Nursick explained. During that process, wood chips abound. “It doesn’t really look good, and I don’t think anybody is going to disagree with that,” Nursick said…
More than a dozen trees in Andersonville are saved, thanks to a new pilot program the city of Chicago’s Water Department is implementing. “These mature trees are one of the most valuable things that we have to keep us healthy,” said Lesley Ames, Andersonville tree committee member. Last year, the water department was scheduled to complete routine sewage maintenance and drain removal. To do that, they’d have to cut down trees around the neighborhood, some of them more than 100 years old. “It seemed to us to be an abnormal number of trees,” Tamara Schiller said. Schiller is also a member of the tree committee and has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. “There were ten trees alone on my block, so we started looking into it and said, ‘Isn’t there something else that could be done?'” Schiller said. “The more people found out about it, the more people came out into the street and wanted to find out what was going on,” Ames added. People like Ames and Schiller talked to their neighbors, their alderman and the water department to find an alternative. After months of back and forth, they found one: a CIPP or cured-in-place-pipe. “This pilot program is actually going to give us an opportunity to come up with new technology to allow us to not remove all the trees,” Water Department Commissioner, Randy Conner said…
A federal judge on Wednesday lambasted PG&E Corp. PCG 8.83% for falling behind on efforts to trim trees near power lines, which are designed to reduce the risk that its equipment will spark more California wildfires. U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who oversees PG&E’s criminal probation following its conviction of safety violations after a natural-gas pipeline exploded and killed eight people in 2010, said during a heated hearing that the company is once again in violation of that probation due to its handling of the fire threat. But he stopped short of imposing a new restriction he has warned he might decide to place on PG&E—forcing the company to tie an executive bonus program entirely to safety goals. Judge Alsup said he would make that decision at a later date. “I’m going to do everything I can to protect the people of California from more death and destruction from this convicted felon,” the judge said. PG&E sought federal bankruptcy protection last year, citing more than $30 billion in liability costs tied to a series of deadly wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that killed more than 100 people. It has so far agreed to pay more than $25 billion to settle claims from fire victims, insurers and local governments and agencies…
A case involving vacant land in Taylor and the city is heading to federal court after a developer was fined thousands for removing trees without a permit. Murray Wikol owns a parcel of land at Superior and Pardee roads. He was working on developing the space. “We were cleaning up trees, refrigerators dumped there, dead trees, diseased trees, good forestry practice done by an arborist, and we went out and did the right thing and left 155 trees,” Wikol said. However, Wikol didn’t have a permit to remove the trees. He was fined $133,000. With interest, the amount reached more than $160,000. When he refused to pay the fines, the city put the property in foreclosure. Wikol called the city’s actions oppressive. “Selective enforcement — there’s a lot of other sites where hundreds, if not thousands of trees, are being cut down, and they just are allowing it in certain areas and not in others,” he said. Wikol pointed out a space at Inkster and Eureka roads where a developer was removing trees without a permit in 2017. He said that developer received a $250 fine, and there was no listing of how many trees were taken down…
How short trees must be trimmed to restore the ocean views of beachfront owners on Sullivan’s Island will go back to trial, the S.C. Supreme Court has ruled. That could bring out the shears again on the 100-acre maritime forest that has become a scenic controversy in this reserved upscale community. And it all comes down to Hurricane Hugo 30 years ago. The court ruled Wednesday that a 1991 deed the town executed with more than 80 property owners along the dunes obligated the town to maintain their ocean views, but didn’t specify just how high or low vegetation must be cut to do it. The deeds were signed in the aftermath of Hugo as the town bought properties that had formed in front of the owners from piled-up shore-flow sand. The west end of the island, near Charleston Harbor, accretes sand diverted by the shipping channel jetties. Those dunes have now grown into a forest. The town wanted the dunes strong, to stave off devastation by another storm like Hugo. The owners wanted views. Nobody really anticipated getting lost in the woods…
Dozens of trees have been cut down along the banks of White Rock Creek in recent days. Work continued Wednesday near the Cottonwood Trail, with workers using chainsaws and heavy equipment to remove the trees. Some of the trees were visibly damaged by the high winds of the EF-3 tornado that sliced a path through the area in October, but local environmentalists worry healthy trees are being cut as well. “I was shocked because I didn’t realize it was as thoroughly cleared as I had heard about,” Becky Rader, a former Dallas Park Board member said. The Dallas Park and Recreation Department issued the following statement Wednesday. In the aftermath of the October 2019 tornado and subsequent storms that heavily damaged city parks and trails including Cottonwood Trail, Dallas Park and Recreation Department authorized a contractor to remove severely damaged and downed trees on park-owned property. The work plan presented to the contractor stressed the removal of unhealthy, dying and storm-ravished trees…
It has been described as a Noah’s Ark for citrus: two of every kind. Spread over 22 acres, UC Riverside’s 113-year-old Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection was founded as a place to gather and study as many citrus specimens as possible — right now, the inventory numbers at over 1,000. It’s an open-air temple where innovations in irrigation, fertilization, pest control, breeding and more have allowed California’s iconic $7-billion citrus industry to thrive for over a century. When the trees blossom, or hang heavy with fruit of almost every conceivable shape and color — orange and yellow and purple; as small as a pinky nail or as large and gnarled as Grandpa’s hand — a stroll through the collection’s immaculately manicured orchards is downright heavenly. But now, an apocalypse is nigh. A bacterial infection known as citrus greening, or Huanglongbing, transmitted by the moth-like Asian citrus psyllid, has upended the agricultural world. It’s harmless to humans, but reduces trees to withered, discolored shells of their former selves that produce inedible, immature fruit…
The recent high winds we’ve seen have damaged Virginia’s oldest and largest corkscrew willow tree. It sits along the Dora Trail in Pulaski. Arborists estimate it’s about 150 years old, which is very unusual for this type of tree. Typically, they only live about 50 years. Unlike your usual willow tree, its branches grow up in a corkscrew pattern instead of drooping down. Mayor David Clark said high winds upwards of 60 to 80 miles per hour caused two limbs to fall off. “Before anyone called me, I had seen it driving by. As hard as we’ve worked to try to preserve it, it made me very sad to see it fall,” Clark said. “A tree of this age is not as strong as it was once. The wind just took those out. The other parts seem to be stable for now…”
A leaf that fell from an elm tree more than 6,000 years ago was discovered intact by archaeologists in the United Kingdom. Scientists found the leaf — along with a selection of Stone Age tools and pottery — when they were clearing a piece of land outside of Blackpool along the coast of northern England. Lead archaeologist Fraser Brown told The Daily Mail that the finds were of national significance. “We have found extensive deposits of peat and marine clays which have helped preserve ancient plant remains and which yield information on the local vegetation, water, climate, and human activity,” he explained to the British publication…
Boise, Idaho, Post-Register, February 19, 2020: How to prune shade and evergreen trees
Question: I enjoyed your article about pruning fruit trees. Are other trees also pruned like fruit trees? Could you explain the differences?
Answer: There are some similarities, but also a lot of differences in pruning shade trees and evergreens. Other trees need a lot less pruning than fruit trees. Young trees need some help in developing major scaffold branches. The main job is to remove branches with narrow angles between the branch and the trunk. These narrow crotch angle branches are weak and are the first ones to break in a storm. I also like to leave branches on the lower part of the trunk temporarily. They supply food that increases the growth of the trunk diameter. I shorten these branches to about 6 to 12 inches and allow tufts of growth for the first two to three years. I then prune them back even with the trunk. Removing upright growing branches (water sprouts) is a good practice with most trees. Trees that naturally have upright growth of all branches should be allowed to develop naturally. There is no need to thin side branches the way we do with fruit trees. I usually remove a few branches that grow toward the center of the tree. I also remove some crossing branches unless the normal growth pattern is thick inner branch growth. It is never a good idea to shorten the height of shade and evergreen trees. Occasionally branches that are growing toward structures are removed. In this case, it is usually best to remove the entire branch back to its origin. Pruning around utility lines is dangerous and is best left to professionals. If a tree becomes too large for the area where it is planted, the best practice is to remove it and plant a smaller tree…
Nashville, Tennessee, WSMV-TV, February 18, 2020: Tree hazards to watch out for after a storm
Strong storms are notorious for causing tree damage throughout Middle Tennessee. After the initial damage is cleared, it’s time to take a closer look at surviving trees to see if there is any long-lasting damage that could cause long-term problems. Rob Kraker is an arborist with Davey Tree Expert Company. He says it’s important to keep an eye on the health of trees, especially ones around your home, sidewalks or roadways. “You wanna look for any cracking or any decaying,” says Kraker. “We also look for any mushroom growth or fractures in the roots. These are basically like the I-65 for all the nutrients for the tree.” Another very evident sign that you could have a dying tree, is large dead limbs. But not all dead limbs mean something is wrong. They have to be larger than an inch or two in diameter. “The little ones, those are not something to be worried about,” says Kraker. “It’s the ones that could potentially hurt you if you’re mowing the grass or where kids are playing.” If you’ve noticed any of these on your trees, you should call a certified arborist to come take a look. An initial consultation by Davey Tree is completely free of charge and could save you a lot of money and stress in the long run. Many times, there are steps you can take to nurse your trees back to health…
In love, timing is everything, the saying goes. The same is true for fruit and nut orchards in California’s Central Valley, which depend on a synchronized springtime bloom for pollination. But as winters warm with climate change, that seasonal cycle is being thrown off. Cold is a crucial ingredient for California’s walnuts, cherries, peaches, pears and pistachios, which ultimately head to store shelves around the country. The state grows around 99% of the country’s walnut and pistachio crop. Over the winter, the trees are bare and dormant, essentially snoozing until they wake up for a key reproductive rite. “In the pistachios, the females need to be pollinated by the males trees,” says Jonathan Battig, farm manager for Strain Farming Company in Arbuckle, Calif. “Ideally, you’d like the males to be pushing out the pollen as the females are receptive.” In Battig’s orchard, one male tree is planted for every 20 female trees, though an untrained eye couldn’t tell them apart. “I know by just looking at them,” says Battig. “The buds on the males are usually more swollen.” In March or April, if all goes well, both trees will bloom so the wind carries the male trees’ pollen to the females. “For that to happen, the timing needs to line up pretty close,” he says. But several times in the last decade, that timing has been out of sync…
A handful of farmers in Ohio’s Mahoning County are getting an unpleasant lesson in government power at the hands of a local park district. Mill Creek MetroParks, a public agency governed by five unelected commissioners, wants to take over an abandoned railroad line running through about a dozen local farms for a recreational bike path. Last year, when landowners balked at the idea of strangers wandering across their properties, the park district decided to invoke eminent domain and gain right of way. “I asked the park representatives if there was any way we could negotiate on this, and they told me, ‘The time for talking is over. We’re taking this property,’ ” says Ohio state Rep. Don Manning, who tried to intervene on the farmers’ behalf. Rep. Manning, a Republican, has sponsored legislation that would limit the use of eminent domain in Ohio. The practice of government taking land for recreational uses—typically bike lanes, hiking paths and fashionable “rail trails” and “greenways”—is spreading across the country, marking a sharp and troubling expansion of eminent domain. The Takings Clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment grants government the authority to seize property to be used for the public good, as long as government pays “just compensation” to the owner. Over the years, the Supreme Court has consistently expanded what is considered a “public good” to justify government seizures. In 2005, for instance, the high court upheld the taking of Susette Kelo’s waterfront home by the city of New London, Conn., so that a local development corporation could build high-end condos and a hotel. The redevelopment was intended to boost property values and increase municipal tax revenues…
Tropical forests are allies in the fight against climate change. Growing trees absorb carbon emissions and store them as woody biomass. As a result, reforestation of land once cleared for logging, mining, and agriculture is seen as a powerful tool for locking up large amounts of carbon emissions throughout the South American tropics. But new research published in Nature Communications shows that the ability of tropical forests to lock up carbon depends upon a group of trees that possess a unique talent — the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. The study modeled how the mix of tree species growing in a tropical forest following a disturbance, such as clearcutting, can affect the forest’s ability to sequester carbon. The team found that the presence of trees that fix nitrogen could double the amount of carbon a forest stores in its first 30 years of regrowth. At maturity, forests with nitrogen fixation took up 10% more carbon than forests without…
Forcing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to hire its own tree-trimming workforce, instead of relying on contractors to keep vegetation away from power lines, would not have the fire-safety benefits envisioned by a federal judge or alleviate the need for fire-prevention blackouts, attorneys for the utility say. PG&E lawyers have also pushed back on a proposal from U.S. District Judge William Alsup to prevent the company from awarding any bonuses to executives or managers unless it fulfills certain fire safety goals. The restriction would intrude on the purview of state regulators and PG&E’s bankruptcy judge, attorneys said. PG&E’s filing came in response to two recent proposals from Alsup, who is overseeing the company’s probation arising from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion and has taken a strong interest in the company’s wildfire problems. Alsup in January said he might impose the tree-trimmer requirement after the company admitted it fell short on some parts of its state-mandated fire-prevention plan last year. One week later, Alsup proposed tying “all bonuses and other incentives for supervisors and above” to PG&E’s fulfillment of its state fire plan “and other safety goals…”
When two men came to her door at about 1:30 p.m. Feb. 8 to look at trees to trim, a resident, 84, became suspicious and called police. The cops had their concerns as well, since the crew somewhat matched the descriptions of suspects in a Jan. 22 burglary in which a couple in their 90s had two rings valued at over $22,000 stolen by two men who had come inside under the guise of borrowing buckets of water. Suspects with similar descriptions have also posed as utility workers in order to gain entry into roughly five homes in and around Cuyahoga County, and police in those communities were also contacted. But the man who had his wife’s rings stolen in January could not make a positive identification. Questioned was a Columbus man, 54, who was driving a truck when Orange police arrived, along with a New Carlisle man, 32, walking around the side of the woman’s house. He had active warrants in Strongsville and Butler County near Cincinnati…
A $5 million settlement has been reached after a tree-trimming company was accused of causing the 2011 Complex fire in Bastrop, the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. Bastrop County, Bastrop ISD, Smithville ISD and Bastrop County Emergency Services District No. 2 filed the suit in 2018 against the Asplundh Tree Expert Company for allegedly diverting crews away from a tree-trimming operation along Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative power lines. Drought conditions caused dry vegetation around the Bluebonnet lines, igniting the fires when trees fell on the power lines on Sept. 4, 2011. According to our partners at The Austin-American Statesman, the government’s attorney argued the fire had three starting points – along Schwantz Ranch Road west of Texas 21, in Circle D Ranch and Tahitian Village. The fire killed two people and burned for a month, destroying 34,000 acres and 1,700 homes. The destruction cut off five years of property tax revenue for the county, school districts and emergency services…
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I have no idea. I leave that question to the philosophers and physicists. But I do know that if a tree in your yard falls on your house while you’re in it, you darn well will hear it. The sound will make your heart jump from your chest like the creature in “Alien” — and your emergency savings fund will disappear faster than a puff of pollen. That scenario was precisely the one I chose to avoid when I had the old water oak tree removed from my yard this week. The old oak was nearing the end of her years, two arborists told me. Hurricanes had damaged her once regal crown. Now, where branches had once been, open cavities pocked the trunk, opening doors for decay. “We won’t know till we get up there how bad it is, but I can tell you she’s compromised,” says Alec Lantagne, a certified arborist and partner at Central Florida’s Sunbelt Tree Service. He pointed to a section of root that was beginning to lift. “This indicates instability…”
These weren’t just tiny little trees, perched in dirt and presented in pretty ceramic bowls. The two bonsai trees were family members; sturdy, sage stalwarts at the Pacific Bonsai Museum in Federal Way, where they were carefully tended to for decades. So when the trees “mysteriously returned” to the museum grounds Tuesday night after being stolen last weekend, well, people wept with relief. “These trees matter,” Kathy McCabe, the museum’s executive director, said Wednesday. “They are treasures. They have such deep history. “I’m going to cry. It makes me emotional.” The trees — a Japanese black pine and a silverberry, each worth thousands of dollars — were stolen from the museum’s public display at about 7 a.m. Sunday. Security cameras captured two people crawling under the museum’s fence. It wasn’t clear what they had taken until assistant curator Scarlet Gore came around a corner a few hours later and saw the trees were gone. Word of the theft — a kidnapping, really, for some people — spread quickly. The museum’s Facebook post about it was shared 3,000 times and reached 350,000 people. The New York Times called. So did NPR and CNN…
Last week’s storms brought down trees all across the Charlotte area. WCNC Charlotte Meteorologist Iisha Scott spoke to an expert on ways you can be prepared ahead of the next storm. An Allstate agent gave this advice: • Make sure you’re getting all trees trimmed and don’t forget your regular maintenance; • Keep an eye on older trees because they fall easily; • Make sure you have proper insurance coverage and an adequate amount of coverage. And while storms bring out a sense of community, they also bring out scammers. The North Carolina’s Attorney Generals’ office wants to remind you to: • Get a written contract that lists all the work to be performed, its costs and completion date; • Make sure the company is insured. You can contact the insurer directly; • Don’t pay upfront…
At first glance, you might just think someone got a little carried away and paintedthose tree barks. Reasonable guess, but what if I told you that those colorful streaks formed naturally? And that these colorful trees are actually real!? Not all bark is brown, my friends, and these multi-colored timbers are here to prove it! Eucalyptus deglupta trees, also known as “rainbow trees” or “Mindanao gum trees,” are tropical evergreens known for their colorful, rainbow-like bark. Every season, these trees shed their old rinds, revealing a new variegated layer of oranges, blues, and greens. It’s magical, not to mention beautiful, especially since the tree’s shelling will never look exactly the same over the years. The large evergreens (which can grow up to 250 feet tall) commonly grow in tropical forests in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Indonesia where sunlight and rainfall are ample. However, they can grow in certain parts of the United States with similar conditions, too. Eucalyptus deglupta trees have been spotted in Hawaii and the southern parts of California, Texas, and Florida. However, as the U.S., is not the tree’s native environment (and the ones here were planted by seeds brought from other parts of the world), they typically only reach heights of 100 to 125 feet…
Syracuse is trying to ease the impacts of two of the nation’s biggest problems – income inequality and climate change – through a simple idea: Planting trees. Lots of trees. The city today is releasing an ambitious urban forestry master plan that calls for planting 70,000 trees over 20 years. That would increase the land area covered by tree leaves by more than 1,600 acres, resulting in a third of the city draped in shade. “Urban forests are our first line of defense in a hotter, more unpredictable climate,” says the city’s draft plan. “They function as an outdoor air conditioner and filter, water control system, wind barrier, anger and mood management program, beautification initiative, and even sunblock.” Syracuse and New York state are getting warmer. A Syracuse.com review of climate data shows the city’s normal temperature is 1 degree higher than it was from the 1950s through the 1970s. A 2015 study by several New York state agencies said New York state has warmed 2.4 degrees since 1970…
Enough with the palm trees already! Joan Bockman is known to many locals as Oceanside’s unofficial Johnny Appleseed for native plants. She celebrates and encourages homeowners who introduce cottonwood or desert willow trees in their front yard. The former planning commissioner recently chastised the Oceanside city council for approving a new mixed-use downtown project that she says relies too much on Oceanside’s omnipresent invasive plant, the palm tree. “There are thousands of palms west of I-5, and more are being planted all the time,” says Bockman. ”I ask the city to adopt a proclamation of ‘No new palms.’ This means that for any palm planted, a similar one has to be removed.” Oceanside’s own tree census shows there are some 5,000 palm trees planted along Coast Highway, the beach-adjacent Pacific Street and on adjoining side streets. Those tall and skinny Mexican fan palms have been Oceanside’s iconic trademark…
Phys.org, February 11, 2020: Climate warming disrupts tree seed production
Research involving the University of Liverpool has revealed the effect of climate warming on the complex interactions between beech trees and the insects that eat their seeds. Masting, the process by which trees vary the amount of seeds they produce year by year, is a characteristic of many forest tree species, including oaks, beeches, pines and spruces. It is beneficial to the trees because during “famine years,” seed-eating animals (such as moths) are starved so their numbers decrease, while in the “bumper years,” seed production is so high that it satiates insects and seed predators, so that some seeds can survive to establish the next generation of trees. However, a study of beech tree seed production published in the journal Nature Plants, found that increased seed production due to warmer temperatures was accompanied by a reduction in the degree of year-to-year variability in seed production, and specifically a reduction in the frequency of the “famine years.” Thus, the main beneficiaries of climate-driven increases in seed production are seed predators, and not the plants themselves…
Futurity, February 11, 2020: City ‘Heat Islands’ Trick Trees Into Thinking It’s Spring
It’s a symptom of the way cities trap heat, researchers say. The findings have ramifications for people with allergies and anyone interested in the ecological impact of climate change, says Yuyu Zhou, an associate professor of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State University and a coauthor of the study in PNAS. Researchers examined satellite images of 85 large cities in the US from 2001 to 2014, which allowed them to detect changes in greenness of plants and determine the timing when plants start to grow in spring. The data show the start of the season arrived on average six days earlier in the studied cities than surrounding rural areas due to the heat island effect. Little research has investigated the connection between the heat island effect and phenology, or the study of cyclical and seasonal natural phenomena, Zhou says, adding this kind of information will become increasingly important as scientists attempt to predict how plants will respond to changing environmental conditions, including climate change and urbanization. “In the future, we want to have more accuracy in our Earth system models to predict changes in our environment. Taking into account the interactions between temperature and phenological change in vegetation will mean those model predictions will improve,” Zhou says…
Few places are as dangerous as Oregon’s garden shops and nurseries. You walk in planning to purchase a bag of potting soil and, bewitched by green magic, walk out carrying a pear tree, blueberry bush, hydrangea hedge, carrot seeds, soaker hose and a new line of credit. Oregon is a resplendent place to grow all manner of fruit and fern, tree and root. But the price of plants often wallops the pocketbook. That’s why I was so excited about a program in Oregon’s national forests that allows you to get a surprising number of ferns, plants and even tree seedlings from the forest — all for free. With a permit, map and shovel, you’re allowed to transplant plants from the forest to your garden. Not only can it save money, but it makes for a fun outdoor adventure — it’s hunting, except for ferns. “I don’t think many people are aware of it,” said Courtney Schreiber, resource specialist with Siuslaw National Forest. “But it’s great program and open to everybody.” Officially, it’s called a “forest products free use permit.” You can get them at most national forest offices, such as Detroit Ranger District station east of Salem in the Willamette National Forest…
A large tree fell on a home in DeBary on Monday in what appeared to be some type of landscaping mishap. The tree fell on a house on Gardenia Street. A mother was in the bedroom where the tree crashed through and had just put her young daughter down for nap. No injuries were reported, but the residents have a big cleanup ahead of them. Relatives told WESH 2 News the mother had just put the child down for a nap in her own room, and laid down in the master bedroom when the ceiling literally exploded. Aerial video from Chopper 2 showed that work was underway on land next door to the house. A piece of machinery was next to the trunk of the tree that had fallen on the home…
It lived through the arrival of Columbus, welcomed Lewis and Clark to the West and survived the rise of Portland hipsters. But last winter a particularly strong gust of wind brought a titanic Douglas fir crashing down in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. Normally, even a tree the size of a Saturn rocket would barely be noticeable when it fell. But in this case, it blocked the Jefferson Lake Trail, an increasingly popular path into a beautiful section of wilderness backcountry. At first, forest officials considered rerouting the trail around it, since nobody short of Sasquatch would have a chance of climbing over it. But then came an audacious idea: a team of volunteers and Forest Service employees would cut a pathway through it. “It was a really cool opportunity for people to basically walk through the tree and see all its rings up close,” said Jessie Larson, the volunteers’ trail coordinator for Deschutes National Forest…
Federal Way police were on the lookout for two people who allegedly stole two prized bonsai trees — both decades-old and worth presumably thousands of dollars — from the Pacific Bonsai Museum on Sunday morning. The two trees were stolen at about 7 a.m., Kathy McCabe, the museum’s executive director, said in a news release. Federal Way Police Department spokesman Cmdr. Kurt Schwan confirmed the time and said officers responded to an alarm call at the museum. Two suspects were seen on the museum’s security footage in the secure area of the museum, Schwan said in an email. However, when officers arrived, no suspects were found. The two trees were stolen at about 7 a.m., Kathy McCabe, the museum’s executive director, said in a news release. Federal Way Police Department spokesman Cmdr. Kurt Schwan confirmed the time and said officers responded to an alarm call at the museum. Two suspects were seen on the museum’s security footage in the secure area of the museum, Schwan said in an email. However, when officers arrived, no suspects were found. The trees were especially valuable because of their historical significance. One, a Japanese black pine, was grown from a seed in a tin can by Jizaburo Furuzawa while he was imprisoned in an internment camp World War II, McCabe said…
Researchers at Stockton University are looking for participants for a pilot program to study the potential for maple syrup production in New Jersey. On Monday, team members tapped maple trees in the woods at Stockton University, while mathematics professor Judith Vogel offered a taste of her homemade maple syrup made from her family’s trees nearby. “My girls have this understanding that things like syrup and honey take time. And it takes process and it’s years’ worth of work for a little bit of product,” said Vogel. The demonstration was part of the kickoff for a new pilot program, and researchers are looking for property owners with maple trees, especially if those landowners have multiple acres. “With the goal of letting Stockton students and faculty go into their property and take measurements to understand why their land is or is not good for producing sap,” said Aaron Stoler, assistant professor of Environmental Science at Stockton University. Stockton was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study South Jersey’s potential for syrup production and its effect on the environment. “The soil quality on this land is great, the soil quality is not great. What does it do to the wildlife? What does it do to the other vegetation in the forest?” Stoler said, rattling off a few things for which his team will look. Researchers will focus mainly on red maples. They’re not as commonly used for syrup production as the sugar maple. But red maples are readily found in New Jersey and often cut down for firewood…
The Insurance Information Institute says no matter where a tree came from –your yard, your neighbor’s yard, it doesn’t matter. If it hit your house — your homeowners insurance will cover the cost. The only time your neighbor’s insurance could be on the hook for paying for your damage is if you have already notified the neighbor, your insurance company and theirs that the tree is a danger. This notification needs to be in writing BEFORE any damage takes place. Usually, the insurance company will cover the cost of getting the tree out of the house and repairing the house. But many policies don’t cover cutting up the tree and physically removing it off your property– that’s an out of pocket cost. Also, if the tree falls on your property and doesn’t hit the house, chances are your insurance will NOT pay for any of the costs. When you contract with a company for tree removal, make sure the cost includes the actual removal of the debris from your property. Many times the cost only includes cutting up the tree into manageable parts. Get it all in writing. If a tree or limb or even the carport falls on your vehicle damaging it, it is your car insurance that pays–never your homeowners. (Again, the tree rule for homes applies here too. It doesn’t matter where the tree comes from, it’s your insurance claim!) For this kind of damage to be paid for by your auto insurance, you need to have Comprehensive Coverage…
Beautiful landscaping can add instant curb appeal to a property. But beauty isn’t the only thing that makes idyllic landscaping attractive to homeowners. Some landscaping features, such as shade trees, save homeowners money while adding aesthetic appeal. The U.S. Department of Energy notes that shading is the most cost-effective way to reduce solar heat gain in a home. Shading also cuts air conditioning costs, which tend to be expensive in areas with warm, humid climates. In fact, the DOE notes that well-planned landscapes can reduce unshaded homes’ air conditioning costs by anywhere from 15% to 50%. When planting shade trees, one of the first decisions homeowners will need to make is which type of tree, deciduous or evergreen, they want to plant. Deciduous trees are those that seasonally shed their leaves, while evergreens are trees that keep their leaves throughout the year. Deciduous trees can help keep homes cool in the summer by blocking sun, and those same trees can be beneficial in winter after they shed their leaves by letting the sun in and keeping homes warm. But evergreens also can be beneficial in winter by blocking wind, potentially preventing cold air from making its way into a home through cracks in walls or around windows…
Even in death, the Witness Tree looked alive. With twin trunks and a regal crown of tangled branches, the gigantic valley oak stood in the middle of Hollywood’s Paramount Ranch for at least a century, perhaps witnessing enough films to rival Roger Ebert. It witnessed the making of silent movies and TV westerns, fake gunfights and real car crashes. It saw Bob Hope in “Caught in the Draft” and Sandra Bullock in “The Lake House.” And it witnessed weddings and parties too, hosting hundreds of guests beneath its leafy outstretched branches. But early in the morning of Nov. 9, 2018, it witnessed something frightening. The flames of Southern California’s Woolsey Fire ravaged through the Santa Monica Mountains, taking out a stand of willow trees before surging onto Paramount Ranch. The entire Western Town’s Main Street, recently the set of HBO’s “Westworld,” burned to the ground…
Q: I had this happen last year to another tree. This one is a weeping willow. I know it is still alive because it is starting to bud. But there is a big wound in the bark, and it is cracking above it. I don’t know how this happened, unless it was a mountain beaver or “boomer” as they call them out here. (I live in rural Estacada) Is there a way I can fix this wound and save this tree?
A: As you can guess, we have no way of predicting whether an insult to a plant will spell its doom, or whether it will survive in spite of it. The photo appears to show no rotting wood, seeping or infection. If the tree is still creating foliage, then water and nutrients are being transported from the roots to the tree canopy, so the phloem and xylem are still functional. I think the best thing you can do is to wait and see, by regular monitoring. Don’t add anything — except perhaps some fencing around the trunk, but not near it, to keep boomers away. Here is an article with information about “dressing” tree wounds…
If a tree falls in your yard, what you do next could save you money, a limb and maybe even your life. According to Trees Atlanta, the metro area has the nation’s highest “urban tree canopy,” defined as the layer of leaves, branches and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. During the stormy summer months, fallen trees are fixtures in metro Atlanta’s landscape. The steps you take after a tree falls can mean the difference between headache and heartache. The first thing to do is call your homeowners insurance agent, said Bob Delbridge, owner of 404-Cut-Tree, one of the largest tree service companies in the Atlanta area. “Occasionally we will deal directly with the insurance company. But that’s more likely if there is a storm that covers a large area, like a whole neighborhood.” Delbridge said. “Typically, the homeowner deals with their own insurance company.” Where the tree falls determines who pays for what. “Almost everyone is surprised when we tell them, the way the law works is, wherever the tree landed, that person is responsible for dealing with it regardless of where the tree came from.” That’s right, even if the tree is rooted in your neighbor’s yard, if it crashes onto your property, it’s your problem. An exception to this, attorney Steve Goldman with The Goldman Firm said, is if the tree is visibly diseased or damaged. In that case, the owner of the tree might be held liable…
The town is hoping a judge will toss a local couple’s lawsuit over a crabapple tree that selectmen have deemed a “public nuisance.” Town attorney Michael Courtney filed a response to Dustin and Jennifer Heiberg’s complaint on Tuesday asking a Rockingham County Superior Court judge to dismiss their case. The Heibergs took legal action in January asking the court to reverse the selectmen’s decision that determined the crabapple tree in the front yard of their home at 14 Jane Drive to be a public nuisance. The town has threatened to remove it if the Heibergs don’t cut back some of the small branches that have begun to stick out into the road. The Heibergs claim the tree isn’t a problem and that other larger trees in town pose a bigger hazard. They also argue that the town never got a deed for the road, which would make it private and would give selectmen no authority to find that it’s a “public nuisance…”
LaSalle, Illinois, Agrinews, February 6, 2020: Extending the life of urban trees
Many urban trees only live about 20% of their life due to issues like pests and disease, but mostly can be linked back to improper care and installation. Quite simply, a tree should live more than 50 years and up to 100 years, depending on the species. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study analyzing tree life expectancy in urban areas averaged the typical street tree living between 19 to 28 years. However, the ideal lifespan of a white oak is 600 years and the average lifespan of a red maple can be between 75 to 150 years in the Illinois wilds. Urban greening through planting trees has increased in response to residents’ lack of interaction with nature and the benefits these trees provide the environment through services like cooling buildings through shade and cleaning the air and water through filtration. However, urban trees must withstand pollution, poor soils, limited leg room for roots and pressure from insects and disease and their health and cultural requirements are not considered or monitored. Maybe it’s these urban challenges that cause them to die young. What’s worse, most are planted incorrectly, giving them a poor outlook from the beginning…
Geauga Park District is on the lookout for a parasitic insect that is harmful to the Eastern hemlock tree, one of the few native evergreens found in Ohio. The non-native insect pest from Asia is called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, or HWA for short. It is very small and attaches itself to the underside of the hemlock’s needle base and feeds on the tree’s carbohydrates, according to a news release. Because the HWA has no native predators, it can reproduce in such large numbers that it will eventually kill the tree. To survey the parks for the presence of HWA and prepare ways to deal with this potential threat, the park district’s Natural Resource Management team has organized a group of six volunteers that are surveying 11 Park District properties this winter. “Eastern hemlock trees are also on many more acres of private property in the area, and landowners should be on the lookout as well,” said Land Steward Joel Firem in the release. Those who have hemlock trees in their yard or in their woodlands are asked to take the time to inspect them. October through March is the best time to survey for the HWA, the release stated…
You can’t fight City Hall. And it’s even tougher to fight the feds, even when you ARE City Hall. The city of Atlanta recently got a stiff arm from the U.S. government in the form of the Federal Reserve, that big marble building at 10th and Peachtree streets where kids go on tours and walk out with bags of shredded money. Except now the feds are shredding trees instead of cash. Let me explain. The whole episode began last year when officials at the Atlanta Fed contacted the city arborist to request permission to take down 12 elm trees planted out in front. The trees were located in the Fed’s Jack Guynn Plaza, a shady respite with benches in the increasingly built-up Midtown. The city initially gave the feds the OK to take down the dozen mature elms and replace them with four small redbud trees. But two women who live nearby — Tovah Choudhury and Sudie Nolan-Cassimatis — thought that was a terrible idea and appealed the decision to the Atlanta Tree Conservation Commission. “It was almost like a mini-park, a break in all the concrete,” said Choudhury…
A public charity is working to replace trees lost during the April 2019 tornado in Lincoln Parish. On February 8, 2020, RETREET will lead a coalition of local, regional, and national partners in planting up to 170 caliper trees, free of charge, at the homes of families in Lincoln affected by the April 2019 tornado. RETREET, a group that helps communities restore decimated urban forests, says families affected don’t have the resources or means to replace their lost trees. “It’s been a long journey back. RETREET’s volunteers and trees helped my community fill voids left by the devastation and bring smiles as we watch them grow – a symbol that life is returning and this will be a great place to live again,” said Rebecca Kasbaum, an Oklahoma woman who RETREET helped after a tornado hit her town in 2013…
Seven date palm trees have been grown from 2000-year-old seeds that were found in the Judean desert near Jerusalem. The seeds – the oldest ever germinated – were among hundreds discovered in caves and in an ancient palace built by King Herod the Great in the 1st century BC. Sarah Sallon at the Louis L Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem and her colleagues previously grew a single date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera) from one of the seeds. The team has now managed to grow a further six. The ancient seeds were prepared by soaking them in water, adding hormones that encourage germination and rooting, then planting them in soil in a quarantined area. The team used radiocarbon dating to reveal the seven seeds were all around 2000 years old. Genetic analysis showed that several of them came from female date palms that were pollinated by male palms from different areas. This hints that the ancient Judean people who lived in the area at the time and cultivated the trees used sophisticated plant breeding techniques. Historical accounts of the dates that grew from the palms in this region describe their large size, sweetness and medicinal properties. The Roman scribe Pliny the Elder, for example, wrote that their “outstanding property is the unctuous juice which they exude and an extremely sweet sort of wine-flavour like that of honey”. Unlike Egyptian dates, they could be stored for a long time, meaning they could be exported throughout the Roman Empire…
The city of Calistoga is in the process of replacing the decaying trees along Lincoln Avenue downtown with a few new species. The project is planned to take over the next three years. About 15 trees will be replaced this year, with 10 more next year, and about five more the following year, officials said. The majority of trees being removed are flowering pear trees, and also a few Chinese pistache, one maple and a couple of crepe myrtles, said Public Works Director Derek Raynor. Most were planted in the early 1990s and are almost 30 years old. On Jan. 31, Pacific Tree Care was planting a crepe myrtle tree in front of West of Poppy, near the corner of Washington Street. The tree will blossom with white flowers, to contrast against the red brick building, said the company’s owner, Joe Schneider. It takes about half a day just to take the original tree out, along with its roots and old soils, he said. Red maples and Chinese pistaches will also be planted downtown. Pistache blooms are mostly reddish, and are hardy, small- to medium-sized trees that can withstand harsh conditions and poor quality soils…
A few months ago Beclee Wilson found five workers cutting down a tree behind her house north of St. Helena. Hired by PG&E, the crew had entered the Wilson property through a gate to an adjoining property, where the landowner had granted them permission to trim his trees. Beclee and her husband, John, had not. She approached the foreman, who said he was from West Virginia. “I told him there was a town named Beckley in West Virginia, just like my name. He said, ‘That’s where I’m from.’ I said, ‘Good, now go home,’” Wilson said. She managed to shoo them away before they could cut down the entire tree. But the incident is echoed by other rural Upvalley residents who accuse out-of-state crews hired by PG&E of haphazardly trimming and removing trees, failing to implement erosion-control measures, and leaving behind trash and dead trimmings that will only add to the fuel load. Deanna Contreras, spokesperson for PG&E, writes, “PG&E takes all feedback about our work seriously. The safety of our customers and communities we serve is our most important responsibility. There are several opportunities for property owners to voice concern regarding our work…”
Abundant snowpack in Colorado last winter helped reduce 2019 bark beetle activity compared to 2018, but the wet spring that followed contributed to some defoliation of aspen trees, including locally, a new report finds. The U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service recently released results from their annual aerial survey to evaluate the level of impacts to forest health from insects and disease. “Region-wide, the total acreage of new tree mortality attributed to bark beetles declined; however, large epidemics of spruce beetle and roundheaded/western pine beetles in Colorado continue to expand,” the Forest Service says in a report. Last year’s solid snowpack followed a 2018 winter that was the second driest in Colorado in records dating back to 1895. Dan West, a State Forest Service entomologist, said last year was “a good year for trees, which means reduced acreage in bark beetle activity.” More moisture makes trees better able to produce sap, which they use as a defense against insect infestation. West said it takes more than one year of good precipitation, however, for trees to get back to full health after drought…
It’s that time of year again where local and state officials are reminding residents to hold off on pruning their oak trees through June to help prevent the spreading of a deadly tree disease. Oak wilt is considered one of the most destructive tree diseases in the US and is killing oak trees in some parts of Texas at epidemic proportions, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Oak wilt is an infectious disease caused by a fungus, Bretziella fagacearum, that invades and disables the water-conducting system in oak trees. “February through the end of June is oak wilt season in Texas,” Texas A&M Forest Service Staff Forester II Rachel McGregor, who covers the Parker County area, said. “If you are concerned you might have oak wilt, I recommend contacting an ISA oak wilt qualified arborist, your local Texas A&M Forest Service forester, me, or your local AgriLife Extension agent.” All species of oak trees can be infected by the oak wilt fungus, but live oaks and red oaks are the most susceptible. “Oak wilt is one of those diseases that can cause a lot of heartache and distress. In some situations homeowners have no other option than to just watch their oak trees die,” Parker County Extension Agent Jay Kingston said. “I have seen oak wilt in red oaks and live oaks in all portions of the county. If residents have infected red oaks, immediate disposal is recommended to help cut down the chance of spreading the fungus…”
Coos Bay, Oregon, World, February 4, 2020: Man admits to stealing trees on BLM property
A man was caught stealing two cedar trees last month. According to a press release from the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, a call came in reporting an active cedar theft in the Fall Creek area of Myrtle Point on Bureau of Land Management property. Deputies responded but weren’t able to locate the suspect. However, they did find where the two cedar trees were cut down and the missing cedar bolts. “Deputies received information from a witness about the suspect vehicle and license plate,” the release said. On Jan. 20, a deputy and BLM law enforcement ranger went to the registered address of the suspect vehicle on the 1600 block of Maple Street in Myrtle Point. While there, officers spotted the suspect vehicle and a large amount of cedar bolts in the yard, the release said “Officers made contact with James Baker, who later admitted to stealing the cedar bolts from the Fall Creek area,” the release continued. “Officers seized the stolen cedar bolts from the property.” James Baker, 31, from Myrtle Point was issued a criminal citation and released. He will also be charged with theft in the first degree. “Officers later received a timber value estimate that put the value of the two trees at over $1,500,” the release said…
PBS, February 3, 2020: Dog sleuths sniff out crop disease hitting U.S. citrus trees
Dog detectives might be able to help save ailing citrus groves, research published Monday suggests. Scientists trained dogs to sniff out a crop disease called citrus greening that has hit orange, lemon and grapefruit orchards in Florida, California and Texas. The dogs can detect it weeks to years before it shows up on tree leaves and roots, the researchers report. “This technology is thousands of years old – the dog’s nose,” said Timothy Gottwald, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a co-author of the study. “We’ve just trained dogs to hunt new prey: the bacteria that causes a very damaging crop disease.” Dog sleuths are also faster, cheaper and more accurate than people collecting hundreds of leaves for lab analysis, according to the study in the Proceedings of National Academies of Sciences. Citrus greening — also called huanglongbing — is caused by a bacteria that is spread by a tiny insect that feeds on the leaves and stems of citrus trees. Once a tree is infected, there’s no cure. The disease has also hurt citrus crops in Central and South America and Asia. In one experiment in a Texas grapefruit orchard, trained dogs were accurate 95% of the time in distinguishing between newly infected trees and healthy ones…
Edgar Martin Ramos Martinez called his wife and four kids in Guatemala every morning, as he did every lunch break and after he finished work as a Bay Area arborist. The 37-year-old would hear updates from his children, and he and his wife would discuss the future they wanted for their children and where the family could build a house in their native country. But Ramos was killed Jan. 27 in an unincorporated part of Mill Valley when a tree he and his colleagues were cutting knocked over a second tree that toppled a third tree that struck him. Officials determined Ramos’ cause of death to be blunt impact injuries and the manner an accident. A Marin County chief deputy coroner called the incident a “fluke.” Ramos’ death marked the first tree-related workplace fatality of the year in California, officials said, but it’s just the latest example of the hazards arborists face when providing a vital service to communities. Such deaths have nearly tripled across the state over the last decade, according to Cal/OSHA’s most recent figures, and officials and experts have become increasingly concerned that the public and even some workers underestimate the dangers of the industry…
A new study led by the University of Arizona shows that poplar trees can be altered to produce better air quality by removing isoprene, a gas that damages air quality. Russell K. Monson, professor for the department of ecology and evolutionary biology and Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at UA explained the modification. “We engineered the process by which cells translate genes into proteins by constructing a molecule that neutralizes the messengers that carry the genetic code to the protein-synthesizing machinery of the cell,” Monson said in an email. “We then used a bacterium that is specialized for infecting plant cells to transfer our engineered molecule into some cells isolated from poplar trees.” Monson also said when they were certain that the infection had been transferred into the molecule, they cultured the infected cells and they grew and differentiated into a new tree, “but in this case with the isoprene emission trait neutralized.” After the infected cells developed into a new tree, the modified tree growth was tested at both Biosphere 2 in Arizona and experimental tree plantations in Oregon. The researchers repressed isoprene emissions from the poplar trees by using a technology that’s specifically used for genetically-modifying these trees called Ribonucleic Acid Inhibition (RNAi)…
A blooming tree reacts most to warming temperatures, so warmer weather in the winter can have the trees blooming like it’s already spring. Most trees go dormant in the winter until they can bloom again in the spring. But when the weather feels like spring, like it has been in western Massachusetts recently, trees can sprout leaves, flowers, and fruit early. 22News sat down with associate professor Rick Harper of urban forestry at UMass Amherst about when we can expect to see bloom again in Spring. “The real thing we’re concerned about is the fluctuation,” said Harper. “So we do start to see early blooms so if this warmer weather continues, well into February, we certainly could see some earlier blooms, and then we get concerned about early frosts.” A stretch of warmer weather, followed by a significant cooldown, can be stressful and potentially damaging to trees…
In October 2015, New York City celebrated the final planting of its Million Trees program with Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg presiding over the installation of a lacebark elm in a Bronx park. Though this marked the official end to the city’s ambitious program to combat climate change, the city planned to continue the sped-up tree plantings to cool sweltering summer sidewalks. But that did not happen; beginning with the city’s very next budget year, the number of street trees planted began dropping and the decline has continued ever since. Only 6,646 street trees were planted in the 12 months ending June 30, 2019, one-third the 20,545 trees planted three years earlier. The cuts were forced upon the city due to rapidly rising costs for planting street trees, according to Department of Parks and Recreation officials. The average cost of planting a tree is $2,700 for the current budget year, nearly double the $1,400 five years ago. The cuts were forced upon the city due to rapidly rising costs for planting street trees, according to Dept of Parks and Recreation officials…
Abilene, Texas, Reporter News, February 2, 2020: Trees unfazed by winter winds
I can’t help but notice that we’ve had some pretty typical weather lately, where part of the day was really pleasant, then suddenly a north wind blew in (and by “blew”, I mean 20-30 miles per hour) and the temperature dropped like a rock. Oh well. Welcome to West Texas and its weather. Spring in the morning, winter in the afternoon, or vise-versa if that’s what nature has in mind that day. While you and I may not be particularly appreciative of cold, windy days, it’s a little different for trees. Some of our trees really need this kind of weather, and at this time of year. I joke a lot about how our northern neighbors in Canada are not doing us any favors by sending us blasts of cold air in the winter when we don’t want them instead of in the summer. However, as much as I would enjoy that reversal, or at least like to give it a try this coming summer, trees and plants have evolved to make use of the winter weather…
Republicans are putting the finishing touches on a bill that would cement President Trump’s commitment to a global initiative to plant 1 trillion trees, though experts caution that planting trees is not the most effective way to combat climate change. Legislation being drafted by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) that will be unveiled this week would commit the U.S. to planting some 3.3 billion trees each year over the next 30 years, an increase of about 800 million trees per year. “The pragmatic, proactive thing to do is to plant forests and manage them so that you’re actually pulling carbon out of the atmosphere,” Westerman said. The bill is just one component of a coming package of legislation from House Republicans that offers their solution to the climate crisis following Democrat’s rollout of their own sweeping plan that would aim to have the U.S. reach carbon neutrality by 2050…
If you have fruit trees, do me a favor. If you don’t know already, go outside and see if your trees are starting to flower. Many of you will know this already, but some people don’t go outside and look. Then the same people later wonder why their tree didn’t produce any fruit or produced very little fruit. Some peaches flower early in the spring and some later, and some citrus have open flowers right now. If freezing weather came through your yard, those fruit trees with open or partially opened flowers will lose fruit to the freeze. Some may even lose their flowers. If several freezes come through your backyard a week apart during the month, it’s possible to lose all the fruit because of sequential freezing temperatures. Last year’s fruit production was much lower than in previous years. That’s because we had three freezing events about a week apart that moved through the Las Vegas Valley in February, including one snow event. This reduced or eliminated fruit production on about two-thirds of the fruit varieties in the valley…
Some homeowners are concerned after learning PG&E is injecting chemicals under trees near power lines on private properties in an effort to stunt the tree’s growth. CBS13 has learned that 3,700 Northern California homeowners recently received door tags from PG&E, notifying them that the utility would be injecting a chemical Tree Growth Regulator (TGR) at the base of some trees on their properties unless they contacted the company to opt-out. Joe Green of Ione, along with many of his neighbors, are among those opting out. “I don’t want to be the guinea pig,” Green said. “I think trimming is a much more viable alternative right now to having an unknown chemical inserted into our ground.” One of Green’s concerns is that there is not much public information about the potential health effects of the chemical. According to his notice, the brand name is Cambistat, a plant growth retardant and fungicide. The active ingredient, Paclobutrazol, is classified as a toxic chemical by the EPA. The chemical would be injected into the soil at the base of the tree where it is absorbed by the roots, reducing branch growth by 40 to 70% for up to four years. The goal is to reduce PG&E’s need to prune the treated trees under power lines…
A sawmill is struggling to keep afloat amid a months-long court injunction that barred logging anywhere near Mexican spotted owl habitat in New Mexico’s five national forests. Mt. Taylor Manufacturing in Milan, New Mexico, was silenced in mid-December because of the court battle, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. A federal judge imposed the ban on timber activities in September based on a 2013 lawsuit by the Santa Fe-based environmental group WildEarth Guardians that claimed the U.S. Forest Service failed to monitor the spotted owl adequately. The bird is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1993. A month later, the judge allowed limited cutting, such as Christmas tree harvests, outside owl territory. The trees outside the owls’ habitat are juniper and piñon, according to Matt Allen, owner of Mt. Taylor Manufacturing. His operation uses ponderosa pine — the trees on which the owls nest — so the judge’s revised order doesn’t help his mill…
Phys.org, January 30, 2020: Trees might be ‘aware’ of their size
Trees are known for their great, but not unlimited, trunk height and diameter. They have evolved to develop a heavy above-ground biomass, but this integral feature poses a challenge to the trunk’s stability. Despite its evident importance, the principle by which plant stems respond to their increasing weight remains unknown. To address this question, a theory of “vertical proprioception,” a mechanism that balances the radial growth of the stem with the weight increase, has been developed. To study the theory, researchers at the University of Helsinki, University of Cambridge and Natural Resources Institute Finland manipulated the aerial weight of downy birch (Betula pubescens). The researchers observed that the tree was indeed able to adjust its stem radial growth in response to the added weight, and the strength of this response varied along the length of the stem. Furthermore, a degree of lateral stem movement was required for this response: static trees did not grow as thick as free-moving ones…
The cost of maintaining more than 32,000 city-owned trees within Yorba Linda’s 20-square-mile area will jump 25% under a contract extension approved by City Council members at a recent meeting. The contract with the Anaheim-based West Coast Arborists will total $6 million for a three-year period through June 2022, up from $4.8 million, based on two more extensions allowed under the current contract. The company has been maintaining city trees since 2011. West Coast Arborists will work on more than 25,000 trees in the city’s Landscape Maintenance Assessment District, some 4,000 trees in city parks and about 3,500 along the streets. The prior 2016 contract estimated annual maintenance expenses at $681,500, but actual costs over the three-year contract term jumped 35% to $920,476 “due to emergency tree removals and other required work due to the drought,” according to a city report. An additional $406,503 for each year would be required under three one-year extensions, bringing the total cost to $6 million through June 2022. Consumer price index adjustments, higher insurance limits and indemnification language account for much of the added costs…
Imagine taking over a business and growing it into a $5,000,000 a year operation. Now imagine making a decision that could cut that business by at least 30 percent. That’s what Basil Camu did with his Raleigh tree service company, Leaf & Limb. “As I was learning about trees, I was also learning about planetary health issues,” Camu said. “And I began to learn that trees can solve so many of those issues.” He took over the company from his father 10 years ago. He said the only thing he knew about trees then was how to cut them down. Now, he said he has learned a lot since he became a certified arborist or, as he calls himself, a treecologist. Some of his research involved findings by NASA. that examine the possibility that tree planting could help save our planet from the dire issues facing it like the loss of underground water and air pollution. His knowledge of trees moved him to make a monumental and potentially fateful decision late last year: Leaf & Limb will no longer cut down trees. It meant an almost immediate loss of business that could mean a drastic reduction in revenue. “Somewhere between one third and one half. It’s hard to say, but roughly $1.5 to $2 million,” Camu said. Now, Leaf & Limb will care for your trees, but they will not fell them…
After what Paradise town leaders say took months of negotiation and conversation, FEMA plans to expand its coverage of post-disaster clean-up in the Camp Fire burn scar to private roads. The impact of this new expanded coverage will be largely felt in Paradise, which has roughly 100 miles of private roads well-traveled by locals. The federal government usually only covers disaster-related clean-up near public infrastructure. “This is huge for the town of Paradise. Allowing the state to come in and remove those trees at no cost to the property owner is a very big help,” said Lauren Gill, Paradise Town Manager. “That said, we are still working with CAL OES to get a public-facing map that shows the eligible roads and properties. It’s not complete yet,” added Gill. Action News Now is working to learn just exactly which private roads will be covered by the state-sponsored program. County spokesperson Casey Hatcher said a map will be made available to the public sometime next week…
In the debate over fuels for energy production, we’re overlooking the most reliable cleanest option: Our trees. I’ve studied and written on this issue for more than ten years, and the facts lead me to conclude that sustainably sourced woody biomass is an environmentally sound alternative to fossil fuels such as coal in the United States and beyond. An analysis I recently published in the Annual Review of Resource Economics explains in detail the economics, environmental benefits, and social acceptance of wood-based energy development in the United States, mirroring the recommendations of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that woody biomass, when grown in sustainably managed forests and harvested following forestry best management practices, could help in mitigating climate change. Yes, burning wood pellets releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But these emissions are recovered within a year by the new growth on those forestlands which are supporting the continuous production of wood pellets. This creates an overall low-emission electricity generation system. An earlier study estimated that woody biomass from the U.S. Southeast reduces carbon intensity by at least 77% compared to coal if consumed within the country, and between 49% and 72% if the same is shipped abroad for use in countries like the Netherlands…
Beside the front entrance to the Tisbury School, an evergreen tree grows against the brickwork. It appears to be a yew, according to experts. The yew is what Cornell University describes as the “tree of death,” and the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences calls “one of the most poisonous woody plants in the world.” Ingestion of yew can be fatal to people and animals, according to the American Conifer Society. “All species of yew contain highly poisonous alkaloids known as taxanes,” according to the society website. “All parts of the tree except the arils contain the alkaloid. The arils are edible and sweet, but the seed is dangerously poisonous; unlike birds, the human stomach can break down the seed coat and release the taxanes into the body. This can have fatal results if yew ‘berries’ are eaten without removing the seeds first. Grazing animals, particularly cattle and horses, are also sometimes found dead near yew trees after eating the leaves, though deer are able to break down the poisons, and will eat yew foliage freely.” Shown photographs of the plant, Tim Boland of Polly Hill Arboretum, Marc Fournier of Mytoi Japanese garden, and John Delrosso of the Arnold Arboretum thought the plant looked like a yew. When the possibility a poisonous plant on the school grounds was pointed out to Superintendent of Schools Matt D’Andrea, he said if it proved to be true, the plant would likely be removed…
Scientists in Florida have confirmed what some citrus growers suspected for years — that oak trees could inhibit citrus greening disease, which has brought the once-thriving Florida industry to the brink of collapse. Oak leaves represent “the first potential organic cure” for the destructive tree sickness, said Lorenzo Rossi, a University of Florida biologist and co-author of a study published in the January issue of the journal Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. Research over the past year at a University of Florida greenhouse in Fort Pierce showed that citrus trees recovered from citrus greening when sprayed and drenched with treated water twice a week for two months. The water was treated by steeping chopped oak leaves in it overnight, allowing leaf compounds to leach out, according to the published findings. The findings bring new hope to Florida’s citrus growers, said Andrew Meadows, director of communication at Florida Citrus Mutual, a trade association. “We all are watching closely, and it sounds promising,” Meadows said. “This has been a curiosity in the industry for a year now” as word of the study traveled through the farming community. “Growers knew that oak trees provided some protection, but not why…”
Mill Valley, California, Patch, January 28, 2020: Tree Trimmer Killed By Falling Tree In Mill Valley
A tree service worker was killed when a tree fell on him Monday morning in Mill Valley. Edgar Martin Ramos Martinez, 37, was a native of Guatemala who was living in San Rafael, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. Martinez was removing trees on behalf of a homeowners’ association between Blue Jay Way and Chamberlain Court when he was struck by a falling tree and suffered traumatic head and body injuries, Chief Deputy Coroner Roger Fielding said. Martinez was in cardiopulmonary arrest when paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A forensic postmortem exam and toxicology testing have been scheduled for later this week. “The Marin County Sheriff’s Office and personnel of the Coroner Division offers our best wishes and condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Ramos Martinez,” Fielding said. The Sheriff’s Office and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) are investigating the death…
Signing on to the Trillion Tree initiative was basically the cost of admission for the global elite at this year’s World Economic Forum (well, that plus tens of thousands of dollars for the badge). In fact, tree planting was the rare issue on which even Jane Goodall and Donald Trump could get on the same page at Davos. Meanwhile, Axios revealed last week that Congressman Bruce Westerman, an Arkansas Republican, is working on a bill dubbed the Trillion Trees Act that would set a national target for tree planting (although apparently it won’t be—and almost certainly couldn’t be—a literal trillion). It’s great that trees are having a moment. Nations absolutely should plant and protect as many as possible—to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provide habitat for animals, and restore fragile ecosystems. “Trees are an important, very visible, and very socializable answer,” says Roger Aines, who leads Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Carbon Initiative, a research program on carbon dioxide removal. But it’s also a limited and unreliable way of addressing climate change. We have a terrible track record on carrying out reforestation efforts to date. We’d have to plant and protect a massive number of trees for decades to offset even a fraction of global emissions. And years of efforts can be nullified by droughts, wildfires, disease, or deforestation elsewhere…
A B.C. woman is on the hook for cleanup costs after a large tree on her property deemed too close to power lines was cut down last week. Leigha Hamelin of Castlegar says she was shocked when she came home last Wednesday to find a tree service company cutting down the tree on the edge of her downtown property. Worse, she said, was that the work crew hired by FortisBC left the mess behind and that she has to foot the cleanup bill. A single mom with two small children, Hamelin said she asked the tree service company about cleanup costs, and was told the price would be about $200 an hour, with time ranging between two and three hours. Hamelin says she looked on FortisBC’s website and found information that said prior to taking down any tree, they make contact with the homeowner, then take the danger tree down in a safe manner…
Another tree has been discovered in the area that was infested with Asian longhorned beetles, according to the U.S. Department of agriculture. The tree was discovered at the town-owned Pakachoag Golf Course on Jan. 14. Survey crews continue to search trees on public and private property. But the recent discovery of the infested tree is not related to an ongoing search, officials said Monday. Workers will be seen in the area as the search continues, said Rhonda Santos, spokeswoman for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. A part of the area south of Route 20 is in the quarantine zone, and some residents have been notified that crews will inspect some trees in the area. The ALB quarantine zone is not expanding, Santos said. She said the agency has survey crews this week in Auburn. Most of the surveyors are with a subcontractor, Davey Tree Expert Co. Robert Platukis of Millbury Street said he received a written notice over the weekend that tree workers would be on his property inspecting trees for signs of the bugs. “We recently did find an infested tree in Auburn, one tree on the Pakachoag Golf Course, where survey staff was surveying. Staff surveyed that area last week and did not find any more infested trees, but we are sending tree climbers to conduct additional surveys to be sure, and they will be in that area for one to two weeks,” she said…
Q: I just discovered some damage from deer rubs to the trunks of a couple of my trees. Will the trees be OK, and what can I do to protect them in the future?
A: Bucks can cause significant damage to young trees in the fall by rubbing their antlers on trunks. Male deer clean their antlers of summer velvet from early September through November while also marking their territory during the breeding season. The bucks repeatedly strike trees for noise effect to show dominance and intimidate other bucks. They also coat the twigs and bark with scent from glands in their faces and underbodies to mark their territory.Young trees that are 1 to 6 inches in diameter with smooth bark — such as maples, lindens, birches and magnolias — are most likely to be damaged by deer rubs. Larger trees with smooth bark, as well as clump-form trees, can also be damaged. I have seen aspen trees in Winnetka that are more than 10 inches in diameter incur major damage from buck rubs — buck territory includes many home gardens in this area. The damage to trees from buck rubs comes from the shredding of bark from a foot or so above the ground to 3 to 5 feet up the trunk. Young trees have very thin bark that is easily damaged. Usually, the damage is done over a 24-hour period. The tree’s vascular system — which is just below the bark and transports water, nutrients and food between the roots and leaves — gets damaged, and the underlying wood is exposed. If rubbed all the way around, the trunk will be girdled, resulting in the eventual death of the tree in one to three years. If the damage is mostly located vertically on the trunk and does not go all around it, the tree can survive, although it may die on the side where the damage occurred…
Back in Oklahoma’s early years, cattle rustling was an all-too-common criminal activity. Oddly enough, it is a crime that still has its adherents even in today’s modern age. Sort of an off-shoot of this is tree rustling. Our state’s native black walnut trees are bearing the brunt of this crime. Cattle ranchers have been battling back on the bovine thefts. They take on the Herculean task of marking the individual livestock in their cattle herds with I.D. markers. Special employees (stock detectives) have even been hired in order to come to grips with this perplexing criminal activity. It’s a much different world when comparisons and contrasts are done between cattle rustling and tree theft. Those persons that purloin walnut trees they do not own do so in broad daylight in municipal lawns. The large, stately walnut trees that play a major role as the prominent shade tree in a home’s street-facing lawn are all too susceptible to theft. The interior wood of a walnut tree fetches a premium price on today’s market. The central trunk of a walnut tree can be milled to a paper-thin veneer that can be glued to a furniture framework. The tree’s beautiful wood grain and pleasing color have the potential to transform a ho-hum pine wood table into a magnificently beautiful piece of furniture art…
Emergency crews rushed to get to a man in the woods after a tree fell on his head Monday afternoon, Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said in a news release. The man, whose name was not released, was cutting down a tree in a wooded area off Evans Road in the town of Steuben when the logging accident happened, the sheriff said. Someone called 911 at 4:57 p.m. to report the man had been struck in the head by the tree he had been cutting down. Road patrol deputies walked about a half-mile into the woods and found the injured man, Maciol said in the release…
Cleveland, Ohio, Plain Dealer, January 26, 2020: Where have all the trees gone? Cuyahoga tree canopy shrinks by 6,600 acres; Lakewood 
hardest hit
Nothing looks obviously out of kilter on a crisp winter day in Lakewood’s tony Clifton Park neighborhood, where beautiful mansions command stunning views of Lake Erie. But Cuyahoga County’s newest urban tree canopy assessment, released last month, shows that the neighborhood has suffered one of the highest levels of tree losses in the county over the past decade. Clifton Park is a snapshot of what tree advocates are calling an emergency for climate resilience, natural habitat, property values and human health Lakewood topped all 59 Cuyahoga communities with an 18.5% loss in its tree canopy, according to the assessment, which analyzes data gathered in 2017 to determine rates of change since an earlier report based on 2011 data. Clifton Park shows up as a bright red hot spot in the Urban Tree Canopy Viewer on the new county webpage brimming with navigable maps and data about the county’s growing bald patches. The neighborhood accounted for 20% of Lakewood’s losses between 2011 and 2017. That amounts to 37 acres of tree cover out of 182 acres lost in the city, according to a local report by Lakewood’s urban forester, Chris Perry. Overall, the county’s tree canopy — the layer of leaves, branches and trunks of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above — fell from 37% to 35% of its land area…
NPR, January 26, 2020: Bigleaf Maple Syrup Flows As Profits Drip From Once-Maligned Northwest Tree
There’s probably more written on how to kill a bigleaf maple tree than how to grow one, according to Neil McLeod of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup, a farm in the tiny northwestern Washington burg of Acme. “It’s hard to kill,” McLeod says with a wry smile. “A great tree. Perfect weed. It makes good syrup.” In his humid, densely-scented sugar barn puffy steam pours out of an evaporator through several big stacks and into the cold winter air. The damp perfume permeates his T-shirt and clouds his glasses as he leans over the vats, inspecting them for any out-of-control foaming. McLeod has become intensely interested in how to better grow the West Coast’s native bigleaf maple tree — because he’s started tapping them by the hundreds for his boutique syrup business…
Las Cruces, New Mexico, January 26, 2020: How to protect tree trunks from sunscald
After last week’s column on transplanting 8-year-old plum trees was published, City of Las Cruces Community Forester Jimmy Zabriskie contacted me about another important consideration: sunscald. Zabriskie pointed out that care should be taken to be sure transplants are oriented in the same direction in their new spot as they were when they were originally planted. The concern here is that the southwest side of the trunk may have already been hardened and is better able to withstand afternoon sun during winter months. If a tree is inadvertently rotated, there could be higher risk of getting winter sunscald (aka southwest injury) on that tender side. Zabriskie also notes that orientation should be considered when transplanting other ornamental plants like shrubs, cacti and agaves. I’m glad Zabriskie brought this up because I’m concerned that winter sunscald is a much bigger problem for our trees than we realize, and not just for new transplants. What’s more, it’s preventable with a few simple steps. Have you ever noticed bark buckling off the tree trunk? Or blisters on the southwest side of the trunk while the other side looks fine? Go outside and take a look for yourself. Sometimes the differences are shocking…
For nearly four decades, lawyers Dan and Richard Gatti helped the community get into the holiday spirit each year, lighting up their business at the Y intersection of Liberty and Commercial streets NE, with thousands of Christmas lights and decorations. But now, the brothers’ devotion to their little corner of the city has them in hot water. Over the most recent holiday season, people driving past the building also were greeted with a half-dozen topped trees — including four on city property. Experts say trees should never be topped, which removes most of the branches. And city code prohibits anyone from trimming or removing city-owned trees without a permit. The light display went on hiatus in 2018, when the law firm moved to a new building downtown, but a new tenant brought a limited version back last year. The brothers still own the building, as well as another on the property and one across the street. In an interview, Richard Gatti said he hired a contractor to do general work around the properties, and asked him to tidy up the trees, which were blocking the sidewalk as well as views of the lights. “Dan and I always want to keep things in great shape for people who go see the Christmas display, or for normal people going down the sidewalk,” Gatti said. “Those trees haven’t been maintained in a long time.” Unfortunately, Gatti didn’t notify the city, get a permit, hire a licensed tree service, or specify exactly what should be done. “Do I know that we’re not supposed to be trimming their trees without approval? I suppose I knew that, but I thought, well, I was doing mine,” Gatti said… Tree topping, also called heading or tipping, is the removal of a majority of a tree’s branches. It’s one of the worst things one can do to a tree, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry…
A tree trimmer working 30 feet up a palm tree inside a University City hotel was injured Thursday morning when the tree uprooted and fell over with him tied to it, his supervisor said. The accident occurred a little before 11 a.m. while workers were removing several caryota palm trees at Embassy Suites by Hilton San Diego-La Jolla, according to Joe Jaha, a supervisor with Arbor West Tree Surgeons. San Diego emergency personnel initially reported that a guest was struck by a falling tree at the hotel on La Jolla Village Drive near the Westfield UTC shopping center. Jaha said the worker who was injured was a “very experienced tree trimmer” and climber who was about 30 feet up the 40 foot tree. “Unexpectedly, the tree uprooted, and he went down with the tree,” Jaha told OnScene TV and other reporters. “We inspected the trees before we started. They looked healthy, just shallow rooted … He didn’t fall out of the tree, he fell with the tree.” Medics took the victim to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The worker sustained a broken leg, broken arm and cuts to his face, according to Luke Brown, a spokesman for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He was treated at the hospital and released by 4 p.m…
A mix of golfers and conservation-oriented residents met at the Public Works Facility on Wednesday to debate a proposal that would remove 121 trees near the 13th hole of the Manchester Country Club. The public hearing was called by Public Works Field Services Superintendent Kenneth Longo, who operates as the town’s tree warden, after residents asked for it. The club received an inland wetlands permit for the project from the Planning and Zoning Commission in November. A dozen or so residents showed up at the hearing. Matt Gomes, director of operations for the Manchester Country Club, said the work would remove 121 trees on the south side of the 13th hole that are encroaching on the fairways, the greens, and the tees. The project aims to reduce shade and improve the quality of the turf, he said. “This is a maintenance issue that should have been taken care of decades ago,” Gomes said. He said golf courses across the country are dealing with similar encroachment issues and have to conduct periodic tree removal to keep their courses healthy. Gomes said that the country club leases the land from the town, so it has a responsibility to maintain the course…
A tree in Charleston, which is damaged and leaning over Winant Place, is a danger to motorists, said a Charleston resident who has been trying to get the tree removed. When first contacted by the Advance, the Parks Department issued a statement regarding the criteria for tree removal. After the Advance again reached out to the Parks Department, the agency said it was working to remove the tree the following day. In an initial email to the Advance, the Charleston resident said he’d witnessed multiple crashes into the tree, which was hanging over Winant Place between Arthur Kill Road and Kreischer Street. Online city data shows there have been 10 motor vehicle accidents since 2017 on Winant Place between Arthur Kill Road and Kreischer Street, however, the data does not indicate if a tree was involved in any of the accidents. Since December, four complaints have been made to the city’s online 311 portal, city records show. On the Parks Department website it asks resident to report if a tree is “leaning, uprooted, or has fallen down” or if “a tree is alive, but is in poor or declining condition.” All four complaints were closed out the following day, the data shows, with the comment, “no action was taken because the Department of Parks and Recreation determined the issue is out…”
Albany, New York, Times Union, January 23, 2020: A fascinating tree, once you get to know it
The leaves were an odd shape, I noticed while we waited for the realtor. Not a maple or oak or ash or any other tree I knew. We bought the house, but not because of the tree. “It’s a gingko,” my mother-in-law told us when she saw the leaves that had defied my identification. You never know what you’re getting from a house, from a marriage, from a city or from a tree until you live with them for a while. We learned during our first fall with the gingko. When those distinctive-shaped leaves turned bright yellow and the tree reached like a golden sword into a blue autumn sky. But the gingko show wasn’t done. Because the leaves fall almost all at once, in the space of an hour or two. You can lay on your back in the grass and watch those golden leaves drift down on you. Gingko morning has become a minor family holiday in our house. We watch the thermometer and when it’s cold enough, the first rays of morning light trigger the leaves and we watch the cascade. The gingko is there for us on other, warmer mornings as well. When my mother, daughter and I sit on the porch with mugs of coffee and hot chocolate and watch a white-breasted nuthatch take sunflower seeds from our feeder and hide them in the ginkgo’s bark…
Weather Underground, January 22, 2020: Marcescence: Why Some Trees Keep Their Leaves in Winter
I love to walk through the woods at all times of the year. Fall is so wonderful because of the change in the colors of the leaves, and as we head toward winter, the deciduous trees pretty much shed their leaves and become bare—well, most of those trees. I often wondered why some of these trees seem to keep their leaves into early winter and some keep their leaves right through until the next spring. That process is known as marcescence, and it’s defined as the retention of dead plant organs that normally shed. In this case, it’s those leaves that are normally shed by deciduous trees in at the end of the growing season, in contrast to trees that are “evergreen” and do not shed their leaves (as shown in the image at top). The process of shedding leaves is really interesting and shows the intricate evolution of nature as a way to survive through all seasons. When the days grow shorter and the amount of sunshine available to leaves decreases, the process that makes food for the trees ends. Chlorophyll begins to break down, the green color disappears, and we get those splendid colors of the fall before most trees drop their leaves. The process of leaf drop is also a neat little trick of nature. At the base of their stem (referred to as the petiole), leaves have a zone called the abscission layer, located near the branch to which they are attached…
In a busy downtown Minneapolis, keeping roads and sidewalks clear during winter is critical. “You got to keep it clear,” said property manager Robert Schroeder. “We salt sidewalks, but we make sure to limit it.” He limits his salt usage because of the harm it can cause to the hundreds of trees planted downtown. “That is going to affect them,” said Robert. Dozens of trees have died downtown according to the Downtown Improvement District and a salty diet may be to blame for a good portion. “We believe one of the things that lead to challenge downtown in growing trees is salinity in the soil,” said Ben Shardlow, director of urban design for the Downtown Improvement District. He says tree survival rates have actually improved, but he’s still working to educate everyone. “In many cases property owners and managers can reduce the amount of salt by about 50%,” said Shardlow. Environmental Consultant Connie Fortin says homeowners should pay attention too and look for alternatives so they can ‘salt smarter.’ “If we can be a little bit patient we can use a lot less salt or if we invest in newer technologies we can use a lot less salt,” said Fortin. “Lets make smart decisions…”
Residents in the University Endowment Lands, a small, unincorporated community tucked between Vancouver and the University of B.C., are dismayed by plans to axe dozens of large maple trees in the area. Chris Wall, who has lived for 17 years on the same block as many of the broad, leafy trees, said he fears the community administrators are committed to seeing them gone despite what residents think about the idea. “The death warrant’s been signed,” Wall said in an interview this week. “We don’t have a lot of time.” Wall said residents have started a petition aimed at reversing what they see as an arbitrary decision to remove the trees, and he said some are prepared to go as far as chaining themselves to the trees to keep them standing. Jonn Braman, the manager of the endowment lands, said he believes the trees are putting people at risk and for that reason he has told community members they need to be replaced…
Mango season may be months away, but if you live in South Florida today, your trees may be ripe for the picking — of iguanas. Iguana meat, dubbed “chicken of the trees,” started showing up on Facebook Marketplace overnight, as the temperature dipped into the 40s. The green iguanas are an invasive species, stunned lifeless by South Florida’s occasional cold snaps, and they die if the chilly weather holds. The National Weather Service even tweeted to watch out for falling iguanas. That apparently makes them easy pickings for backyard harvesters. Several ads for skinned and butchered iguanas, looking like Peking not-duck, were posted in Miami, Doral and Homestead. Some of the ads, however, were posted days ago and show iguana meat that has clearly been frozen (though not by South Florida’s climate). At least one ad showed what looked like freshly prepped garrobo — a name often used as interchangeable for iguana in parts of Latin America. (The animals may be slightly different species, but both are often found as invasive in South Florida.) But can you actually eat them, or should you? You absolutely can — as long as the food comes from a reputable processor, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. They are commonly hunted in Central and South America and parts of the Caribbean and are an “economical source of protein,” according to the organization’s post…
New York City, WABC-TV, January 21, 2020: Should Pawling Tree Be Saved?
Seven years ago, 7 On Your Side helped save a towering tree in a New York town from being torn down. Now, it’s being targeted again. For more than 30 years, the soaring Spruce tree has stood next to the train tracks in the Dutchess County town of Pawling, and each year, it takes center stage for “Decemberfest.” But during the tree lighting last month, village residents were told to say goodbye to the 45-foot tall tree. According to Pawling’s Chamber of Commerce, the tree is dead, rotting and dangerous. This isn’t the first time the town has tried to cut down the tree, and seven years ago, the mayor wanted it gone to make way for public toilets. But townsfolk and advocates rallied to save the tree. Jacob Voudren was 10 year old when he appeared in our 7 On Your Side broadcast… Fast forward to 2020, and Jake is now a high school senior who once again finds himself fighting to save the tree. “Unless the tree was very sick, it would be respected for the heritage it has in this town,” he said. Pawling Mayor Robert Liffland said the trees branches cannot hold lights, and other town officials also want the tree gone…
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll and the Salem Tree Commission have established the Century Tree Program, a new initiative tied to Salem 400, Salem’s quadrennial celebration, which aims to plant the next generation of heritage trees at suitable locations throughout Salem for future residents to enjoy for decades to come. Salem residents are invited to submit their suggestion for potential sites for Century Trees by emailing the location to centurytree@salem.com. The City’s Tree Warden will review the proposed locations to select the most appropriate ones for plantings that will, we hope, grow and flourish throughout the 21st century and, potentially, beyond. Each Century Tree will be designated with a plaque commemorating its planting. A heritage tree is usually recognizable by its age, rarity, and size, as well as aesthetic, botanical, ecological, or its historical value. Salem is planning ahead and identifying now sites where residents may enjoy seeing a grand tree growing through the 21st century…
For decades, Sioux Falls property owners have been tasked with keeping branches that hang over sidewalks primped. And new data released this week by the Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Department, charged with administering Project T.R.I.M. (Tree Raising Improvement Methods), says abolishing that policy and instead using city workers to keep sidewalk trees trimmed would come with a hefty price tag for taxpayers. At the request of Councilor Theresa Stehly, who for years has griped about the city putting the burden of keeping trees trimmed on property owners, the parks office used a six-block area to study the cost of doing the work in house. In total, it took city crews about 44 labor hours to finish trimming the pilot area, which included 172 individual properties. That work resulted in about $9,900 in staff and equipment costs. Sioux Falls park operation manager Kelby Mieras said with about 12,000 properties in the yearly Project T.R.I.M. coverage area, the city would expect an annual cost of about $688,527 if property owners no longer had to do the work themselves…
Dozens of aging Ficus trees in San Francisco are posing a public safety risk, the city says. Residents are fighting to keep the streets green, but trying to keep the dying trees might actually prevent the city from getting new ones planted. San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza is a place where any number of the challenges facing San Francisco are in near sight. One that may not jump out immediately, however, is the trouble in the trees. The Ficus trees in the city are not only old, they have been prone to failure since the most recent drought. Those trees are now of particular concern because in 2016, voters made the city responsible for the 125,000 trees that line city streets. “They’re now responsible if those trees now fall and hurt someone,” said Dan Flanagan of the Prop E aftermath. Flanagan is the Executive Director of Friends of the Urban Forest, San Francisco’s partner in the tree business. “There’s been an online petition with close to 5,000 signatures trying to save the Ficus,” says Michael Nulty, one of the petition supporters. Downtown, the Ficus trees circle the Main Library. In the Mission, it’s the Ficus trees that line 24th Street. “You tell me, doesn’t the trees behind me make this place look a lot better,” asks Luis Gutierrez, owner of La Reyna Bakery. In both cases, the city says the trees are a safety hazard and require removal. This, happening in a city that could certainly use more trees…
Trees: menace to society or beautiful ally in the fight against climate change? In the Kensington neighborhood, San Diego authorities recently marked at least a half dozen landmark pepper trees — each more than a century old — for removal. On Monday, the first was reduced to a sawdust-covered stump. “Public safety is paramount,” said Anthony Santacroce, the city’s senior public information officer, arguing that each marked tree is structurally unsound, buckling the adjacent sidewalk or both. “The removal of trees is obviously not something we take lightly. We don’t want to hurt neighborhood aesthetics.” That’s precisely what the city is doing, argued Maggie McCann, a systems engineer whose Craftsman-style bungalow is shaded by one of the imperiled peppers. In San Diego Superior Court on Tuesday, McCann won a 21-day temporary restraining order against further removals. Why take out perfectly healthy trees?” she asked. From San Diego to midtown Manhattan, cities face an arbor of competing goals. “Urban forests” are invaluable, from acting as carbon dioxide sinks and creating shady sanctuaries on hot days. Like all living things, though, trees are complex. They come with costs and hazards, from broken sidewalks and clogged storm drains to — in extreme cases — crushed cars and mangled residents, victims of fallen branches and trunks…
Beaumont, Texas, Enterprise, January 20, 2020: Encroaching tree may be root of trouble down the road
Q: My neighbor has a huge tree, and the roots from that tree are causing my driveway to crack. Parts of my driveway already need to be replaced. Can I be held liable if I were to cut the roots, thus causing my neighbor’s tree to die?
A: Under the law, you do have the right to cut the roots of a neighbor’s tree that encroaches onto your property. But there is also the chance you could be held liable if the tree dies. If you decide to cut the roots, the tree will not likely die quickly. It will probably be years before the tree starts showing the effects of your actions. By then, it might be difficult to determine what had happened to cause the tree to die. To force you to pay for any damages you might have caused years earlier, your neighbor would need to sue you. Your defense would be that you had to cut the roots to prevent damage to your property. Fortunately, it is highly unlikely your neighbor will sue you over a dead tree…
Brain Pickings, January 20, 2020: Calculating the incalculable: Thoreau on the true value of a tree
More than two years after a fire started by a teenage boy destroyed 47,000 acres of old-growth forest in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, having just resolved to face the new year like a tree, I found myself on the brink of tears before the blackened trunk of an ancient ponderosa pine as I walked the sylvan scar tissue of the tragedy. A conversation with my hiking companion — a dear friend currently working with the Navajo Nation on preserving and learning from their own ecological inheritance — led to the impossible question of how we can even begin to measure the loss: What is a tree worth? Not its timber, not its carbon offset value, but its treeness — the source of the existential wisdom Whitman celebrated, the mirror Blake believed it holds up to a person’s character, its silent teachings about how to love and how to live and what optimism really means. The teenager who decimated this green tapestry of belonging was ordered to pay $36.6 million in restitution — a number that staggers at first, but only until one considers the nearly 4,000,000 leaved and rooted victims of the crime, and the many more millions of creatures for whom the forest was home, and even the occasional insignificant human animals who, like my friend and I, bathed in these ancient trees to wash away the sorrows of living…
Portland, Oregon, KOIN-TV, Activists say beloved Portland tree doomed by development (Jan. 20)
The man named Merlin wrapped his home around a tree, and lived happily – until the forces of change came calling. It sounds like something ripped from the pages of “The Overstory,” the recent Pulitzer Prize winning novel that features a subplot about a Portlander fighting to save a strand of trees from city saws. But unlike Richard Powers’ fiction, this story is true. Longtime residents will remember Merlin Radke for his auto parts store, which closed its doors in 2015 after more than 80 years in business. Radke built several homes on his secluded property at 6285 N. Fessenden St., including one with the bole of the tree branching through the roof. On his death, the property was deeded to Warner Pacific College, according to local activists with the Tree Emergency Response Team. It seems the institution didn’t have much interest in the property. Multnomah County property tax records show the lot is owned by Fish Construction NW, who purchased the land last year for $470,000. Here’s where the story gets complicated. “Normally when you think of trees that are about to be cut down — you immediately think, ‘oh, it’s the developer’s fault,’” says Ashley Meyer, a project coordinator for the response team. “That’s what Captain Planet taught us.” But developer Jeff Fish is well known for his commitment to building affordable starter homes aimed at first-time buyers…
A massive elm tree nicknamed Herbie is long gone, but it is going to live on, thanks to cloned trees that are being made available to the public. At 110 feet and more than 200 years, Herbie was the tallest and oldest elm in New England and survived 14 bouts of Dutch elm disease because of the devotion of his centenarian caretaker, Frank Knight, the late tree warden of Yarmouth. The duo became famous after Knight spent half of his life caring for the tree, which he referred to as “an old friend.” Knight realized he couldn’t save the town’s elms as they succumbed by the hundreds to Dutch elm disease. So he focused his efforts on one of them: Herbie. Over five decades, Knight oversaw selective pruning of Herbie’s diseased limbs, and applications of insecticides and fungicides. The pair became well known, both in Yarmouth and beyond, thanks to international news coverage. The tree was cut down Jan. 19, 2010, as the 101-year-old Knight looked on. Knight died two years later. But before Herbie was chopped down, the Elm Research Institute in New Hampshire worked with Knight to collect some cuttings from Herbie to preserve the tree’s legacy with clones…
Bend, Oregon, Bulletin, January 19, 2020: Tree felling project planned for Camp Sherman
The Sisters Ranger District in the Deschutes National Forest is planning to cut down up to 500 trees to clear a 20-foot-wide corridor for an existing electrical line in one Central Oregon’s most popular recreational areas. The project is located in the vicinity of Camp Sherman and County Road 1102 (Indian Ford Creek), according to a release from the U.S. Forest Service. Around 13 miles of forest area will be affected by the project, equal to about 40 acres of potential impact. Camp Sherman is a resort area 40 miles northwest of Bend. The area contains a number of small, low-key resorts and is well known for fishing and swimming in the cold waters of the Metolius River. The electrical line is owned by the Central Electric Cooperative Inc., a member-owned nonprofit that has provided electric utility services to its members in Central Oregon since 1941. Around 80 miles of CEC power lines are located in the Deschutes National Forest. “Due to recent wildfires in California and other states, the utility companies have a heightened sense of clearing right-of-way areas around electrical lines,” said Ian Reid, Sisters district ranger…
On a stretch of the Lower Keys, near an old borrow pit quarried during the construction of Big Pine, sea water and mud cover much of the rocky ground. Poisonwood trees, whose sap was used by the Calusa to poison enemies, grow along the pit’s high berm. Clumps of pink-flowered pride-of-Big Pine, one of the planet’s most imperiled plants and found only in the Keys, also sprouts from the rare patch of high ground. There’s something else, more ominous, too: bleached pine tree stumps, rising like tombstones. A pine rockland forest once stood here, maybe a century ago. Not that long in tree years. The stumps still give off a sharp, tarry smell when gouged with a knife. Freshwater sawgrass could be found as recently as the 1990s. But now, it’s a stark and solemn warning about rising seas. “It’s really kind of pathetic,” said Florida International University forest ecologist Michael Ross, who’s been studying the Keys pineland since the 1990s. Just three decades ago, when he started studying the forests, healthy pineland grew on at least 10 islands. Today, the forests are thinning or gone. The only healthy tract stands on Big Pine…
Minneapolis has planted hundreds of trees in the past few years in an effort to green up downtown, but many aren’t surviving past their first year. City staff have been trying to figure out why, and they think they might have found the culprit: salt. Soil tests show that salinity levels in some of the planting spots are much higher than what’s ideal for trees to thrive, said Ben Shardlow, director of urban design for the Minneapolis Downtown Council and the Downtown Improvement District. “I don’t think there is such a thing as tree autopsies, so we never know exactly for sure why a tree hasn’t done well,” Shardlow said. “But in a lot of spots, it’s been pretty normal for a tree to have to be replaced every year or two, again and again and again … It’s not the tree’s fault. It’s something to do with the ground that it’s growing in.” Salt is used liberally in downtown Minneapolis to keep sidewalks and parking lots clear of ice. After the ice melts, the extra salt left behind piles up or gets pushed to the side — sometimes directly into the places where the trees are trying to grow…
A federal judge on Thursday threatened to force Pacific Gas & Electric to hire more tree trimmers to reduce the chances of its electrical grid igniting fires in Northern California and adhere to a requirement imposed after the utility’s natural gas lines blew up a neighborhood a decade ago. U.S. District Judge William Alsup notified PG&E he expects more precautions to be taken, a day after the San Francisco company acknowledged in a court filing that as many as 22,000 trees in its sprawling service territory may still be creating fire hazards. Those dangers are one reason the nation’s largest utility has resorted to deliberately turning off the power in dry, windy and hot conditions — a strategy that at one point left an estimated 2 million people without power in October. PG&E has said the deliberate blackouts could be a recurring event for the next decade while it spends billions of dollars to upgrade its outdated electrical grid. Alsup said he thinks that reliance on blackouts stems in part from PG&E’s tree-trimming shortcomings. The company said it will respond to Alsup by his Feb. 12 deadline. In its disclosure Wednesday to the judge, PG&E asserted it’s unrealistic to expect it to be able to ensure all trees are maintained in a way that ensures all the branches, leaves and other vegetation remain a safe distance from its transmission lines…
More than a dozen trees in Andersonville are saved, thanks to a new pilot program the city of Chicago’s Water Department is implementing. “These mature trees are one of the most valuable things that we have to keep us healthy,” said Lesley Ames, Andersonville tree committee member. Last year, the water department was scheduled to complete routine sewage maintenance and drain removal. To do that, they’d have to cut down trees around the neighborhood, some of them more than 100 years old. “It seemed to us to be an abnormal number of trees,” Tamara Schiller said. Schiller is also a member of the tree committee and has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. “There were ten trees alone on my block, so we started looking into it and said, ‘Isn’t there something else that could be done?'” Schiller said. “The more people found out about it, the more people came out into the street and wanted to find out what was going on,” Ames added. People like Ames and Schiller talked to their neighbors, their alderman and the water department to find an alternative. After months of back and forth, they found one: a CIPP or cured-in-place-pipe…
Palmetto logs famously helped Fort Moultrie absorb a pounding from British cannonballs in 1776, and many palmettos there survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989. But the iconic trees are no match for the coming buzz of Dominion Energy’s chainsaws. The utility plans to cut down nearly 250 palmettos on the island where some residents are still smarting from the extensive tree-trimming Dominion conducted there last year. “They’ve already butchered things here and in Mount Pleasant and West Ashley and James Island,” said William Fuller, who has lived on the island since before Hugo. “Dominion, ‘schmominion’ — I don’t know what they are doing.” Utility tree-trimming is often controversial, but it’s particularly fraught when palmetto trees are involved. That’s because those trees can’t be trimmed shorter, so it means removing them entirely. “It’s very disturbing to a lot of residents,” said Sullivan’s Island Administrator Andy Benke. “I actually have three near my yard that are coming out. “They are just such wonderful trees to have, and I’m sad to see them go,” he said. “I don’t know that there’s anything the town can do…”
Middletown, New York, Times Herald, January 16, 2020: The Balmville Tree
The Balmville Tree, that grew in Balmville, was the oldest Eastern Cottonwood on record in the United States. Scientists in 1953 determined it started growing in 1699. There was a fable which told that the tree sprang to life when George Washington, who made his headquarters in Newburgh from 1783-84, planted his walking stick. But the tree began its life 33 years before Washington. The beloved tree grew at the intersection of three Indian trails. It grew quickly due to the plentiful supply of water, achieving a height of more than 85-feet and a circumference of 25-feet. In the latter half of the 20th-century, the roadways around the tree were redirected to avoid having it damaged. Concrete and stone were placed at its base which later caused the tree to weaken. In 1976 the NYSDEC declared the 348-square-foot site a “public historic park.” The DEC maintained the tree but the trunk soon turned hollow and the trunk was split after being hit by Hurricane Floyd causing the crown to be trimmed down. Preservation efforts were made to save the tree but in 2015 the tree was cut down due to safety concerns. A 15-foot tall stump remains and it is still a protected area…
Australian officials said Thursday that a stand of trees with ancestors that date back 200 million years was saved from a series of devastating bushfires, a glimmer of good news as the country begins recovering from the ongoing disaster. New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean said a team of firefighters was deployed to a remote part of the Blue Mountains, about 120 miles northwest of Sydney, as a massive bushfire approached. Fire officials used planes to water-bomb the area and lowered firefighters into a remote gorge to set up an irrigation system to wet the ground and save the trees, called Wollemi pines. “Wollemi National Park is the only place in the world where these trees are found in the wild and, with less than 200 left, we knew we needed to do everything we could to save them,” Kean said in a statement Thursday. “The pines, which prior to 1994 were thought to be extinct and whose location is kept secret to prevent contamination, benefited from an unprecedented environmental protection mission.” The area hosts the only known natural cluster of Wollemi pines, which are colloquially known as “dinosaur trees” because fossil records show they date back as far as 200 million years. The species was thought long extinct until they were discovered by a park ranger about 26 years ago…
Dayton, Ohio, Daily News, January 15, 2020: Free tree seedlings to help heal tornado-damaged areas
Five Rivers MetroParks is launching a reforestation to help replace thousands of trees ripped from their roots by Memorial Day tornadoes and heal the community. Damage to trees was immense and remains an inescapable loss, but replacing them will help heal the community, said Becky Benná, Five Rivers MetroParks’ executive director.“An untold number of trees, shrubs and other plants critical to our region’s wildlife and natural heritage were lost during the storms,” she said. “It’s important we replant in the areas where so many were lost to tornado damage.” The project, called Healing Nature, will provide communities and individuals with trees native to Ohio. A limited number of free seedlings will become available to the public in April…
The only thing clear in this mystery is there’s an unobstructed view of the water now that someone lopped off all but a few feet of more than two dozen trees on a waterfront lot on Main Road owned by the town. Who did it, and why, is under investigation by the police department, Capt. Michael Miguel said of the property across from 1644 Main Road, just south of St. Christopher’s Church and across from Jennifer Lane. Police Chief Patrick Jones said police have conducted “an exhaustive investigation,” and are asking that anyone with information contact them. Town Councilman John Edwards V suggested Monday night that the Town Council offer a reward for information, but that may be discussed at another meeting. “It’s not every day a bunch of trees get lopped off and nobody knows what happened,” said Council President Patricia Hilton. “They lopped all the trees off at the height of the chain-link fence. This happened on Main Road. Somebody saw something.” It happened Jan. 2, it is believed, because someone went to town hall Jan. 3 and told Town Clerk Nancy Mello about it…
A 30-year-old man from Sarkhej on Tuesday filed a complaint with police alleging that his neighbour and two of his family members assaulted him as the complainant objected to them cutting trees in the housing society. In his FIR with the Sarkhej police, Faruq Mansuri, 30, a taxi driver and a resident of Bilal Park Society in Sarkhej said he had seen his neighbour Altaf Mansuri cutting trees in the society. “I told him not to cut the threes as they are needed, Altaf got angry at me and began abusing me. I responded and an argument ensued over the issue,” said Faruq in the complaint. To avoid a fight with Altaf, Faruq did argue more and left the place. Later, he went to drive his taxi. When Faruq returned to his home at around 7pm on Tuesday, Altaf, his wife and their son rushed to their home and began arguing about why he had stopped them from cutting the trees. As Faruq tried to tell them about the values of trees, Altaf and his family members began abusing him again. When Faruq’s wife intervened, Altaf’s wife hit her and as Faruq tried to rescue his wife, he was assaulted by Altaf and his son…
Phys.org, January 14, 2020: RNA provides clues to explain longevity of ginkgo trees
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China and one in the U.S. has found that ginkgo biloba trees do not experience senescence. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their RNA analysis of Ginkgo biloba cambium and what they learned from it. Prior research has shown that ginkgo biloba trees can live for a long as 1000 years. To learn more about their longevity, the team working in China collected tissue samples from nine ginkgoes aged approximately 600, 200 and 20 years old. Prior efforts at studying tree aging were focused on the leaves. In this new effort, the researchers were more interested in the vascular cambium—the thin layer of tissue that produces outer bark and inner wood. RNA analysis showed no sign of senescence. They did find that the older trees produced less auxin, a common plant hormone, and more abscisic acid, a hormone produced in response to stress. The older trees also had thinner annual rings. But there was little difference in efficiency of photosynthesis and seed germination rates in trees of different age, and the activity of the genes in all of the tree ages was similar. There were also no differences in disease resistance. The researchers were unable to find any sign of programmed death and were also unable to explain the lack of senescence…
The recent warm winter weather, including back-to-back 70-degree days last weekend, has given cherry trees on the National Mall the reason to flower — two months before the start of the annual cherry blossom festival. But, don’t worry; they’re not those cherry trees. Predicting peak bloom dates is a yearly tradition for the National Park Service, local hospitality providers, tourists and locals trying to time their visit to the Tidal Basin. But the annual bloom watch focuses on Yoshino cherry trees. The trees flowering now are Higan cherry trees. “They’re autumnal bloomers,” said Brian Hall, National Park Service spokesman for the National Mall and Memorial Parks. “You’re going to see lots of branches blooming, but not the full tree.” Most of the Higan cherry trees are on the grounds of the Washington Monument, Hall said…
There is a scar across Australia’s Western Desert. For millennia—no one is sure how many, though evidence of Aboriginal people’s presence in Australia stretches back 50,000 years—the Martu people used fire to hunt in the scraggly bush. In a practice called cultural burning, they set low blazes patient enough for small animals such as bettongs and wallabies to flee their burrows before the fire reached them. Years of cultural burning cleared underbrush, creating a patchy habitat preferred by the small animals Martu people most liked to hunt, while simultaneously preventing massive lightning fires from consuming the land. For the Martu, these fires were so vital that they were a means of maintaining life itself. “They would say, ‘If we weren’t out here burning, things won’t exist,’” says Rebecca Bliege Bird, a Pennsylvania State anthropologist who has worked with the Martu for decades. But when, in the 1960s, the Australian government pushed Martu people into towns, in order to test missiles on their land, the life-giving burns stopped. Lightning fires—large, hot, unscrupulous—took their place. In the 20 years it took the Martu to regain access to their homeland, the entire ecosystem was knocked off balance…
Philip Poynter Construction Safety, January 14, 2020: Tree felling operations lacked defined comms
A UK company has been fined following an incident when a worker suffered serious injuries after being struck by a tree in February 2016. Fort William Sheriff Court heard that four employees were felling trees on land adjacent to the A82 north of Fort William, contracted by the Forestry Commission. Whilst dealing with an 8m tree the injured workman made preparatory cuts and checked with the rest of the team to ensure they were in a safe place. He thought his colleagues understood that he was about to fell the tree. After the initial cut was made he made his felling cut at the same time as a co-worker dragged a large branch from the brash pile into the path of the felling tree. The tree stuck him on the left side of his helmet and left shoulder. HSE investigators found that the normal exclusion zone (no one positioned within two tree lengths of a tree being felled) was not adhered to on this occasion. A clearly defined system of communication would have prevented the misunderstanding…
The Goldspotted Oak Borer, or GSOB, is an invasive beetle that is killing native oaks in several areas of Southern California. Susceptible oaks include coast live oak, canyon live oak, and California black oak. In many cases, GSOB has damaged or killed mature oaks valued for their beauty, wildlife habitat, and shade. Areas with large numbers of native oaks are particularly at risk. Unfortunately, oaks that are injured over several years from multiple generations of the GSOB often die. Although the Goldspotted Oak Borer was first identified in San Diego County in 2004, it wasn’t until 2008 that oak deaths were linked directly to them. By 2010, they’d killed more than 20,000 oak trees growing in forests, parks, and urban areas in San Diego County. Later infestations occurred in Idlyllwild in 2012, Orange County in 2014, and Los Angeles County in 2015. The three most recent outbreaks have all occurred in San Bernardino County…
Chico, California, KHSL-TV, January 13, 2020: Hazardous tree removal deadline, what you need to know
The Paradise Town Council and the Butte County Board of Supervisors passed ordinances requiring the removal of hazard trees damaged by the Camp Fire from private property that may fall into public roadways. The deadline to sign up for hazardous tree removal in the Camp Fire burn zone is Friday, Jan. 17. Ginessa Stark from CAL OES along with Jenna Johnson, one of the ‘Zone Captains” in Paradise joined Action News Now at noon to share what you need to know. If you choose to go with the state program, you will sign the right of entry form (ROE). Then officials will come in and take all the trees that are hazardous to the public right away, with no out of pocket cost to the owners, Stark said. If you want to take the trees down yourself, you can hire a private contractor to do so. If you have already had the trees taken down, CAL OES said you still need to sign the inspection access form. That allows the officials to go, make sure that you’re complying with the ordinance, and get you signed off. Afterward, you can get your rebuild permits…
With nearly 2,000 people asking for 3,000 damaged trees to be removed from their property after last year’s late spring snowstorm, it seemed an overwhelming job for a 7-member crew in Colorado Springs. But on Monday, crew supervisor Dennis Will announced that the crew successfully met its goal of responding to those service requests by the end of 2019 — after seven months of steady work. “We cleared it two weeks ago,” he said. “We just wish we had the manpower to respond sooner. There’s probably 500 requests from people who got tired of waiting for a response. And our response doesn’t count some of the 50,000 park trees that have damage.” The forestry crew responded to reports of damaged trees along sidewalks or under city responsibility that threatened private property owners. “What really helped us is we got three new employees and $1 million in new equipment approved before the storm,” Will said. “The storm response cost around $233,000, with several departments contributing to the effort…”
The city’s controversial scheme to axe a small forest worth of trees in Fort Greene Park hit a snag after a state judge ordered the Parks Department to conduct an environmental review that could delay the project for months. State Supreme Court Judge Julio Rodriguez III sided with the environmental watchdogs at Friends of Fort Greene Park in ruling that the Parks Department needed to study the $10.5 million project’s potential environmental impacts, saying the plan to fell upwards of 83 trees constitutes a substantial change to the green space, according an attorney for the plaintiffs. “This decision should awaken the department to reality,” said legal advisor Michael Gruen in a statement. “Environmental regulation is not enacted to be evaded as if it were merely an annoyance. It is designed to ensure serious and honest evaluation of environmental risks from the inception of governmental consideration of any project…”
Phys.org, January 13, 2020: Climate change unlikely to drive sugar maples north
Climate is an important factor in determining a plant species’ growing zone. Some studies suggest that by the turn of the next century, climate change will have caused some species to spread several dozen kilometres north of their current distribution areas. Such changes could have major consequences on how land-based ecosystems function. But a northern migration isn’t in the cards for sugar maples, according to Alexis Carteron, who recently published his doctoral research findings in the Journal of Ecology. His work is supervised by Professor Etienne Laliberté of Université de Montréal and co-supervised by Mark Vellend of Université de Sherbrooke. Carteron and his colleagues at Université de Montréal’s Department of Biological Sciences and the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale reached this conclusion after conducting experiments in greenhouses at the Jardin botanique de Montréal using soil samples harvested from Mont-Mégantic National Park…
Genesee, New York, The Daily News, Jan. 13, 2020: Local forests losing their stories
The Erie Canal towpath was once the interstate for itinerant workers — hoboes, if you will — who traveled from town to town in search of their next farming or handyman gig. While doing so, they frequently stopped over on my family’s farm, which butts up to the canal. It was an attractive spot to set up camp because of the fresh water they could drink from a brook that runs through our woods, the same brook from which they ignited gas for cooking (there is a good reason it’s called “Gas”port). While there, they often killed time by carving their names and other things in the bark of the beech trees that are common in our woods. The smooth gray bark, so easy to cut with a pocketknife, has always been quite inviting to amateur artisans, not to mention young lovers who wanted their names forever inscribed in Mother Nature for all the world to see. The hoboes, the lovers, and anyone else interested in making a statement left their calling cards on the beeches — old-fashioned graffiti that remains to this day. Those trees tell stories…
Three years ago, on behalf of The Nature Conservancy I supported the designation of a portion of Yellowwood State Forest as a High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF). My reason for doing so was clear: I wanted to save the yellowwood tree. Happily, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has done just that. The new HCVF will ensure rare yellowwood trees remain part of the Indiana landscape. The 591-acre HCVF will be called the Yellowwood Conservation Area at Yellowwood State Forest. Beautiful and rare, yellowwood trees are a state-endangered species in Indiana. They occur naturally in Indiana only in Yellowwood State Forest and Brown County State Park, which is the northern end of their natural range. The tree’s name comes from the yellow coloration of its heartwood, which has been used to make furniture in the past. Because Indiana’s yellowwood trees are located so distantly from any others in the U.S., I worked with the Hardwood Tree Regeneration and Improvement Center at Purdue University to learn if they are genetically distinct. We solved this mystery by studying the genetics of yellowwood trees, both inside and outside Indiana. Our analysis showed the ancestors of these trees are ancient, and they have been isolated from all other yellowwoods in the country for thousands of years. In short, Indiana has a yellowwood tree unlike any other on the planet…
With its fate sealed at a Wellesley School Committee meeting earlier in the week, the estimated 200-plus-year-old white oak at Hunnewell Elementary School property was chopped down by the Department of Public Works on Saturday. The crew started the job at 7am and expected to be working past noon. When I arrived a DPW worker in a cherry picker was carving up limbs on the 30-foot-high-ish tree. “We’ve already taken care of the hard part,” said one employee, keeping me behind the cones and tape. A report commissioned by the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission recently deemed the oak a “high risk tree,” unsafe for its location. The tree’s future had already been in question as a result of plans to re-do the Hunnewell Elementary School itself, but now the tree’s part in that equation is no longer a factor…
Housing won’t be built on California’s largest unprotected sequoia grove. A conservation group in San Francisco has purchased Alder Creek Grove. The massive parcel is located above Camp Nelson within the Giant Sequoia National Monument. It will someday provide another scenic area for families to go hiking. The beauty of the towering sequoias and pine trees at Alder Creek Grove is enough to take your breath away. Equally breathtaking is the incredible amount of money ‘Save The Redwoods League’ was able to raise to buy the scenic 530 acres so it could protect the majestic trees. League president Sam Hodder says over 8,500 donors raised $15.6 million to buy the land from the Rouch family of Springville. “People love the redwood forest and when they have an opportunity to protect a place as spectacular as Alder Creek, they step up and this was truly amazing,” says Hodder…
How many of you like the taste of fine dark chocolate? Yes, I know. The answer is quite obvious. (Who does not love chocolate?) But how many of you know the farmers behind your chocolate? This asymmetry of information between the first mile (producers) and last mile (consumers) leads us to a shocking reality: • According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), an estimated 500 million small farmers – men and women – produce most of the developing world’s food. Yet their families suffer from even more hunger, have higher rates of poverty and enjoy less access to basic social services than poor people in urban areas. • Despite being the ones who spend the most hours per day working, producers earn the least profit of all players in the value chain. • New generations of producers do not see a decent living option in agriculture. In the words of Francisco Numan Tene, a cocoa producer from Zamora-Chinchipe province in Ecuador who has been engaged in agriculture for more than 40 years: “Agriculture is a way to bequeath poverty to our children…“
Rochester’s Committee on Urban Design and Environment is looking for public input to draft a city tree preservation ordinance. Trees in an urban environment provide multiple benefits — economically, environmentally, in public health and mental health. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Urban Forest guide, cities in forested states would benefit from a 40% to 60% tree canopy. Currently, Rochester has a tree canopy coverage of about 27%. That might also be on the high side once the final toll of the emerald ash borer beetle is tallied. CUDE’s ordinance draft calls for a 40% minimum canopy coverage for new and existing developments but won’t affect individual homeowners. The ordinance isn’t just a requirement to plant more trees. In order to include trees in development plans, city planners and developers will need to consider their development plans and how much impervious pavement is laid, and consider long-term land-use plans. The CUDE survey cites a slightly outdated Society of American Forests guideline recommending a minimum 40% canopy coverage. The updated guidelines do suggest that 40% to 60% canopy is achievable in forested areas, but the report stresses that how it’s achieved is the most important factor, not just the size or percentage of canopy…
As January continues, residents within Kennebunk Light & Power District territory should see Asplundh Tree Services in their neighborhoods, trimming trees. That is the word from KLPD General Manager Todd Shea, who said last week last week that customers should expect to see tree trimmers at work along several streets and roadways. “KLPD performs maintenance trimming to increase the safety of our line workers and improve system reliability for our customers,” he said. Representatives of the tree service would be notifying residents in person about the work, he said; if no on is around, they’ ‘ll hang a tag on the door. Those with questions should call the number on the door tag. The areas to be trimmed include…
A crabapple tree declared a public nuisance is at the root of a court battle between the town and a couple refusing to trim the 10-foot tree’s branches. Jennifer Heiberg has filed a complaint in Rockingham County Superior Court asking a judge to overturn the selectmen’s recent decision. The town has threatened to chop down the tree if Heiberg and her husband, Dustin, don’t remove some of the small branches sticking out into the road in front of their home at 14 Jane Drive. Selectman Brien Brock sent a letter to Heiberg dated Dec. 26 informing her and her husband they have 30 days to trim the branches in the town’s right-of-way. If they’re not cut back within that time, the town will remove the tree, the letter said. Heiberg argues that the tree isn’t a problem and that town officials can’t force them to do anything because the town never got a deed for the road and therefore it’s private. Heiberg said there are other, larger trees in town that pose a much greater safety risk and they’ve never been declared a nuisance. The dispute over the fruit tree began about two years ago, said Heiberg, who insists that it’s all political…
We first showed you the images on Tuesday – hundreds of trees chopped down at a park alongside the Chicago River system. As CBS 2’s Jim Williams reported Wednesday, the leveled trees in Legion Park shocked neighbors who did not see it coming. But Friends of the Chicago River said this is just the first step in a project that will actually improve the neighborhood. Hundreds of trees were chopped down and carried away along the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River in Legion Park, leaving it looking like the aftermath of a tornado. “It’s mindless, thoughtless, indiscriminate, heartbreaking destruction,” neighbor Janette Dingee said Tuesday. Painful it may be to see the trees go. But it is also necessary, according to Margaret Frisbie, executive director the nonprofit advocate group Friends of the Chicago River. “Because it’s a step-by-step process, and to start, you actually have to take down the trees that are there.” So that the banks of the river at Legion Park can be shored up – stopping erosion, and creating a healthier ecosystem, Frisbie says…
Nine trees ready to be planted at the Landen-Deerfield Park have disappeared, according to park officials. The Warren County Park District Nature Programs posted the news on Facebook on Wednesday, noting that nine blue spruce and white pine trees had been staged at the back of the park on Christmas Eve to be planted after Christmas. When staff members showed up on Dec. 26, the trees were gone. “These were very heavy trees with large root balls, and would have required a truck and either a bobcat or several strong people to move them,” the release states. A police report has been filed. Larry Easterly, Warren County Park director, said the trees – worth $1,500 total – were purchased with taxpayer dollars and donations from the Friends of Warren County Park District, a non-profit charitable organization whose mission is to promote, support, improve and protect the parks within the Warren County Park District. It is not clear if the trees were stolen or taken by mistake as a part of the Christmas tree recycling program, Easterly said. The park is also a drop-off point for cut trees after the holidays…
One of Bowie’s first city commissioners didn’t just plant the seeds of government in the Washington suburb. He was a pecan fanatic. Thomas P. Littlepage spent 15 years hunting across nine states for the best varieties of tree nuts in the early 20th century, then brought them back to his Bowie orchard, according to a pamphlet published in 1917 by his farm, Maryland Nut Nurseries. Today, a portion of that land has been proposed for an 80-house development. Caruso Homes plans retain 61 out of 85 specimen trees on site, according to plans submitted to Prince George’ County officials. Farmer Eliza Greenman, a member of the Northern Nut Growers Association who studies the history nuts and fruits, hopes to inspect the land before work begins, ideally in the fall when the walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, oaks, hicans — a pecan hybrid — and sweet gum balls. Greenman testified about the horticultural importance of the land at a Bowie City Council meeting Monday evening. She wants to analyze the remaining orchard and take cuttings from the trees so she can graft them to seedlings elsewhere, preserving the plants…
Scientists have engineered poplar trees to not harm air quality, according to a new study. Like palms and eucalyptus trees, poplars emit isoprene. Their leaves produce the highly volatile chemical in response to stress, like rising temperatures and drought. The chemical triggers the production of other protective compounds. Because the leaves produce so much isoprene and the molecules are so volatile, some of the isoprene escapes into the air. Poplar stands, grown to be harvested for biofuels, toilet paper, furniture and more, now cover 36,294 square miles of lands — double the amount of land they did 15 years ago. As a result, more isoprene is being leaked into the atmosphere. Isoprene molecules react with sunlight to produce ozone, a respiratory irritant. It also encourages the production of atmospheric aerosols, fueling the formation of haze and boosting the greenhouse gas effect of methane… In field tests, researchers planted and monitored the growth of the genetically engineered trees. The data, published this week in the journal PNAS, showed the lack of isoprene did not interfere with the trees’ photosynthesis of biomass production rates…
Houston, Texas, Chronicle, January 7, 2020: Encroaching tree may be root of trouble down the road
Q: My neighbor has a huge tree, and the roots from that tree are causing my driveway to crack. Parts of my driveway already need to be replaced. Can I be held liable if I were to cut the roots thus causing my neighbor’s tree to die?
A: Under the law, you do have the right to cut the roots of a neighbor’s tree which encroaches onto your property. But there is also the chance you could be held liable if the tree dies. If you decide to cut the roots, the tree will not likely die quickly. It will probably be years before the tree starts showing the effects of your actions. By then, it might be difficult to determine what had happened to cause the tree to die. To force you to pay for any damages you might have caused years earlier, your neighbors would need to sue you. Your defense would be that you had to cut the roots to prevent damage to your property. Fortunately, it is highly unlikely your neighbors will sue you over a dead tree. To play it safe, consider hiring a professional tree company to cut the roots in a way that will do as little damage as possible…
It is not the view Joyce Hodges wants of her yard – a bare Magnolia tree standing just feet from her front door. “I made a really bad mistake,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll know better next time.” The 92-year-old Hodges said she was talked into removing the tree by an employee of East Coast Tree Pros. She said she paid more than $3,000 up front before Thanksgiving and now, more than six weeks later, she is left with a tree without its limbs and a pile of debris next to her driveway. “I made phone calls and friends made phone calls and they said ‘we are going to get back out there and finish it.’ That’s all I ever got,” she said. First Coast News called East Coast Tree Pros and spoke with the owner who said it was an employee who did the initial tree cutting and took the money while never returning to complete the job. “It’s just one of those things that I am going to have to bite the bullet and go get it took care of,” owner Kenny Sims said. Sims said there’s about a day’s left of work to do and he plans to reach out to Hodges Wednesday. She said she has not heard from him since Thanksgiving and doesn’t want him back. But Sims said he wants to make things right. “This particular gentleman, whenever he got paid up-front, I said I don’t care if we lose money, I don’t care what it takes, I am not about leaving jobs. I said I will stay here and lose money before that situation comes up,” he said. For Hodges, who’s 92 and has lived in the home since the 1950’s, it’s too little too late…
The city of Rochester is seeking public input on language used to develop a tree preservation ordinance. The Committee on Urban Design and Environment, often referred to as CUDE, was directed by the Rochester City Council to draft a tree preservation ordinance for consideration. The proposed ordinance would require the preservation of existing trees as well as the planting of new trees for development projects to meet minimum required canopy coverage, defined as “the cumulative aerial extent of all trees within a geographic area.” “As construction and development continues at a rapid pace locally, it is important we balance the benefits of this progress with the preservation of resources that make Rochester a great place to live,” Molly Patterson-Lundgren, the city’s heritage preservation and urban design coordinator, said in a statement seeking public input. Once adopted by the City Council, the proposed ordinance would seek to help preserve existing trees and green infrastructure, increase Rochester’s overall tree canopy coverage, and help maintain and expand the positive benefits of an urban forest…
Whoever is illegally cutting down trees near Perry Lake seems to be trying to cover their tracks. They appear to be covering up freshly cut stumps with sticks and leaves. When a visitor noticed someone cutting down trees near Perry Lake, they reported it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Perry, Kansas. “Some remnants of what they left behind. We think they are working in somewhat of a hurry trying to get this done without anybody noticing,” Park Ranger Wesley Henson said. “We discovered probably between 30-40 trees that have been cut. We haven’t been able to catch anyone so far.” Because this is federally owned property, stealing oak, hickory and walnut trees from this property could lead to federal charges. “You are taking from taxpayers and you are taking from the wildlife. Standing trees are very valuable for wildlife habitat,” Henson said…
A contracted PG&E crew cut a tree that landed in a power line causing damage to a Paradise home. The owner of the home, David Yarger, said it caused damage to the power line which then pulled down the Weatherhead. “A PG&E crew came out to do some tree work and while they were doing their tree work, a branch or a tree, fell on the drop to my house causing some damage to my power and my power lines… I wasn’t overly concerned about it, but as the days went by, it started getting lower and lower,” said Yarger. Yarger said he filed a report with PG&E, but when Action News Now took Yarger’s concerns to the utility they said they were not aware of the situation. They said they sent someone to check it out as soon as they found out. Yarger agreed that the utility took action quick. “They were very prompt, I have gotten several phone calls from the field technician and from representatives in the office working with me and the problem to get it solved,” said Yarger…
Last April I followed Gretchen Hayes into the leafy shadows and woods along Las Trampas Creek in the East Bay. Pipevine swallowtail butterflies flapped like black handkerchiefs in the warming sun along the trail, from which we swiftly departed. Just a few steps into the foliage and we were surrounded by green, avoiding poison oak, and gingerly stepping across a creek. Hayes, a geomorphologist and veteran environmental consultant, soon zeroed in on the object of our odyssey: a gigantic Northern California black walnut (NCBW) tree. These walnut trees grow between roughly 20 and 75 feet high, with broad-spreading crowns of long, thin, and fluttery pinnate leaves, and their fruits are, well, a little larger than walnut size. The tree Hayes sought was enormous. Its trunk bent and turned in a most torturous perpendicular shape. Undoubtedly a survivor, the tree had a presence as settled and stolid as a tribal elder’s. This particular tree was one of but a handful at the center of a mystery that’s been unfolding for more than 150 years. The story reaches not only into the past, but into a future that matters. A large cast of characters across the Bay Area have played a part—city officials, natural resource management agencies, NGOs—but Hayes has mostly been aided and abetted by Heath Bartosh, a native plant botanist, and UC Davis plant sciences professor Daniel Potter. Their painstaking work enabled others to determine whether the Northern California black walnut is rare. Or not…
Large sprays of pale apple-green flowers are blooming across Singapore, beautifying roads by day and shrouding the city-state with a powerful musk when dusk falls. While some Singaporeans welcome the rare blossoming of trees best known by their scientific name of Astonia Scholaris, which have been in full bloom for some days, others find the heady scent a tad too much. “Blooming in the estate. The blooming is not only seen but smelled. I could smell them at night from home which is about 700m away!” Facebook user Tse Horng Khoo wrote to the Nature Society group Saturday, including photos of the flowers spotted in the unnamed housing estate where he lives. Responding to Tse, Theng Jenn Chiang said: “The smell is too overpowering at my place.” Descriptions of the scent seem to vary from one sniffer to another, with some saying it is akin to jasmine flowers, while others say they smell of pepper and cinnamon…
The Boys and Girls Haven on Goldsmith Lane is celebrating its 70th year of empowering and uplifting children who often have nowhere to go. Through those years the Watterson Expressway developed and grew near their location, which has added a lot of pollutants that can be harmful. 24 trees were planted by volunteers on Sunday who want to help improve the lives of the boys and girls who live on campus. The trees will help eliminate some of the negative impacts that comes with living right next to the Watterson. Alan Gates, a Boys and Girls Haven alumni, said the life lesson he will never forget learning from the organization’s founder is if you want to improve yourself or situation, you have to work and work hard. That message has carried him to his adult years and is one of the reasons he came out to plant trees and improve the situation for future generations. “The field that’s behind us is the athletic field where we used to play softball and football and the kids still do that,” Gates said. “And I think absorbing some of that sound that you hear right now will help these kids feel more like this is their backyard rather than a field by the expressway…”
It is hard to overstate the value and cultural importance of the American chestnut tree for those who came before us. The native hardwood was once so ubiquitous, it has been said, that a squirrel could travel from Maine to Georgia in the chestnut canopy. The largest trees, spreading 100 feet or more, dropped 10 bushels of nuts, and in the fall the ground was covered with a nut blanket four inches deep, sociologist Donald E. Davis writes in a 2005 paper. The bears and turkeys feasted, the farmer’s hogs feasted, and the people who lived in chestnut territory feasted – on that sweetened Appalachian ham but also on the economic value of the trees and their nuts. The chestnut’s arrow-straight timber was valued for its size and rot resistance and today endures in the posts and beams of old farmhouses and barns. For us city folk, the chestnut evokes everything that is nostalgic about yuletide season, the notion of a vendor plying hot roasted chestnuts on a street corner. The aroma, the warmth in the hand, the nutty flavor all conjure one of the more cuddly images of a Dickensian world. Today, this diminished holiday custom is carried on with nuts from Asia and Europe, which are bigger but less sweet. The American chestnut was killed off by the arrival of a blight in 1904 that within a few decades had virtually wiped out an entire, dominant species. In modern parlance the fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, went viral…
The valley oak, a tree species native to California, is at the root of a new means of determining an organism’s genetic fitness in the face of climate change. A UCLA-led study found that under current global warming conditions, trees such as valley oaks are unable to thrive, adapt and proliferate as before. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in November. While the study focused on the valley oak, it illustrated greater ramifications for species that are slow to adapt and evolve, in terms of conservation and reforestation, said Victoria Sork, a plant evolutionary biologist who headed the research. The study was authored by former UCLA postdoctoral researcher Luke Browne, who collaborated with Jessica Wright, a conservation geneticist at the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, along with several other researchers. The study used common garden experiments to test the assumption that trees are best suited to their climate of origin. A benefit of using trees is that trees are a living record of changes in the environment. Scientists can go back to these organisms and continue to study them over several generations…
Grand Island, Nebraska, Independent, January 5, 2020: Don’t forget to water your trees this winter
It’s been an exciting year. Above average moisture this spring and summer had most of our trees full of leaves and fruit and our gardens bursting with produce. With 2019 at an end, do you know what it takes to make sure your evergreen trees and shrubs stay in good spirits into the New Year? Winter is often an overlooked season when it comes to watering in the landscape. Plants may be dormant during the winter, but they still loose water through their stems, crowns, and in the case of evergreens, their leaves. Desiccation injury happens when the plants can’t replace the water that is lost during the winter. The cause is often dry or frozen soils where the water isn’t available for uptake by the plant. High winds, dry air, warm temperatures, and reflected heat from buildings can all play a factor in the amount of water lost by plants…
The discovery of a dozen diseased fruit trees in Corona has fanned fears that citrus greening disease may soon ravage commercial orchards in Riverside County. Because of the finding, agriculture officials have expanded a sprawling Southern California quarantine area by 107 square miles, adding Corona, Norco and part of Chino, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The addition creates a 1,127-square-mile quarantine zone that takes in parts of Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties. People living inside the new area, which stretches from Chino Airport on the north to Black Star Canyon on the south, and east to the 15 Freeway, are forbidden from moving their citrus plants, fruit or foliage. However, state officials say it is permissible to consume oranges, lemons, grapefruits and kumquats on the properties where they are grown. “Sometimes it’s hard, especially around the holidays,” said Ruben Arroyo, Riverside County agricultural commissioner and sealer of weights and measures. “You have an orange tree or lemon tree with fruit, and you want to take it to your family…”
Three North Huntingdon officials are being sued in federal court after the township had 10 trees removed from a resident’s front yard in October. Curt Orner of 500 Oakhurst Drive alleges in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh on Dec. 30 that the defendants — township Manager Jeff Silka, Code Enforcement Officer Josh Andrykovitch and police Chief Robert Rizzo — were responsible for the township having the trees cut down on Oct. 24. Orner is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in the five-count lawsuit, alleging the township violated his constitutional rights by taking his property without due process or just compensation, as well as depriving him of his civil rights when they abused their authority. Silka said Thursday the township has yet to see the lawsuit. Orner claims he paid a landscape company $2,000 to plant 15 arborvitae trees in April 2017. In May 2017, he was told that two of his neighbors objected to the trees, alleging they blocked the vision of motorists…
When it comes to holiday decorations, there are two kinds of people: Those who take down their Christmas trees down on December 26, and those who aren’t quite ready for the season to be over. And while taking down the tree is usually less fun than putting it up, there’s actually another good reason people wait to do it. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to keep listening to Christmas music and admiring your festive decor, you’re in luck: Tradition says you should be celebrating Christmas (and leaving your decorated tree up) through January 6. You’re probably familiar with the song about the 12 days of Christmas—but you may not have known that the 12 days don’t actually start until Christmas Day, meaning there are almost two full weeks of celebrating to do after Santa arrives. According to Christian tradition, January 6 marks the day the three kings actually arrived in Bethlehem and signals the end of the Christmas celebrations. This day is called The Feast of Epiphany, The Twelfth Night, or Three Kings Day, and in some parts of the world, it signifies a celebration that’s just as big as the one on Christmas Day. And while we’ll welcome any excuse to leave the ornaments and lights up a little longer, tradition says it’s actually unlucky to take your tree down before this date. When you do finally take down the tree, don’t just leave it on the curb; you can actually recycle live Christmas trees by finding a recycling program or having them chipped into mulch for your garden…
Pollarding – or extreme tree pruning – is done now, and apples too, aiming to retain as much fruit bud as possible. Plant environmentally favourable wildlife hedges and nuts when the soil is dry enough. Winter gnats, seething in mild periods, happily lack bite. Cutting branches from deciduous trees to the point where only the trunk remains is very effective at preventing trees getting too big, controlling the shade they cast and promoting attractive shoots. Begin pollarding when the tree is young to avoid harm, removing branches at about 2-3m high, ideally in winter and early spring. When there has been sufficient regrowth repeat cutting, removing new branches at their point of origin. Eventually the trunk will become thickened, developing the characteristic “pollard head”. Hedges provide shelter, cleanse air, absorb excess rainfall and enhance garden wildlife, especially when native trees are used. Beech, bullace, dogwoods, hornbeam, hazel, holly, oak and spindle bush are good subjects but hawthorn is best. Plant small, 50cm inexpensive trees called whips every 35cm. Keep the whips weed-free and watered if necessary in the first year. Prune only the sides, cutting the top once the hedge approaches its final height, ideally 1.5-2m after about five years…
Nova Scotia has sent a Christmas tree to Boston every year since 1971 as a way of showing gratitude for help after the Halifax Explosion. But what happens to the tree after the holidays end? According to Boston’s parks and recreation department, pieces of the tree could wind up in Massachusetts gardens. The 13.7-metre white spruce tree that came from around Trenton, N.S., will be taken down after mid-January. It will then be run through a wood chipper and composted. “City residents can visit a central location to pick up free compost and some of them may end up with pieces of the official Christmas tree,” Liz Sullivan, a spokesperson for the department, said in an email. The tree outside Halifax’s city hall has a similar fate. After being up since Nov. 19, Halifax’s tree comes down on Jan. 7, depending on the weather. From there, the tree is put through a wood chipper and turned into mulch…
Hawaii officials want to deploy a wasp throughout the state to combat another type of wasp that threatens a species of native trees. A biological control plan issued by the state Department of Agriculture and Department of Land & Natural Resources calls for the use of wasps named Aprostocetus nitens, The Maui News reported Monday. No specific timing was planned for their release, which would supplement another species that is already protecting the wiliwili trees statewide. The black and metallic green Aprostocetus nitens are related to the Eurytoma wasp that defend the trees from a third wasp species. Swollen, tumor-like growths called galls left by Erythrina gall wasps damage and kill thousands of wiliwili, along with other types of trees, officials said. The Eurytoma wasp, called “a gall wasp gladiator” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was first released in Hawaii in 2008 to destroy the galls in the native trees…
Lawton, Oklahoma, Constitution, January 2, 2020: Tips for planting trees in the new year
This new year is a perfect time to plant a tree. Trees can be planted at a resident, a park, a business or along a busy roadway. Trees have that calming effect on most people no matter what the circumstance. When planting a tree start with digging a $200 hole to put a $100 tree in. Unfortunately planting trees around here is usually in clay or poorly drained soils that can make establishment very difficult. Proper planting is the key to the tree’s survival. Planting begins with the right selection of trees that are adapted to the site and climate. For example, blue spruce will not grow well here because of our extreme weather. For information on the right species for this area, contact the county OSU Extension center, local nurseries, or observe other areas of the city that have mature trees…
Hamilton, Montana, Republic, January 1, 2020: Dirty fingernails: Be patient with young apple trees
Q: Why didn’t my three-year-old apple tree make fruit? It should be old enough, shouldn’t it?
A: Maybe. Maybe not. Young trees do not all grow at the same rate, and yours may need another year or two to store more energy in its root system. That is a big job for any tree; young trees do not even attempt fruiting until they have a surplus of food stored. How many years that takes depends primarily on how many leaves they make. Trees which grow faster make apples sooner. Some apple varieties naturally grow faster than others. That applies to the bottom as well as the top of the tree. All apple trees are grafted, and some rootstocks produce faster top growth than others. Furthermore, no matter which rootstock and which top variety make up your tree, less than ideal growing conditions will influence the number of years your tree needs to make its first apple. Montana’s growing conditions will never produce apples as fast as the orchard country of central Washington. You can help your tree to grow, and therefore fruit quickly, if you give it good soil, no competition from weeds, enough water, plenty of sunlight, and a little fertilizer. If you are not sure about the soil, mulch the tree every year with an inch of compost. Spread the circle of mulch wider than the circle of branches, since the roots extend widely underground. Mulch also will discourage weeds. If necessary, mow around the tree all summer. Inch tall weeds are less competition than two-foot ones…
Tree and Neighbor Law For Homeowners and Professionals 