Arborist and protesters

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Robert Moses had a grand vision of cutting ny city into little pieces with expressways. People who live in a large city will understand. Eventually the people stood up and said no, this isn't what we the people want. The permits were all in place but the people shut it down and his grand plan was never completed. Also Grand Central Station was supposed to be leveled and new buildings and parking lots built. Permits issued- go ahead with it. People opposed leveling a magnificant historical , usable structure and the project was halted, the building renovated, and it is still in use today. Don't know all the details in Berkley but just because some bigwigs think it is a worthwhile or justifiable project their vision is not always what the people want. This is a state university? If so the people own it?
 
Q: What's red and orange and looks good on hippies?



A: FIRE!!

Sorry guys, but I really like that one.
 
Filthy Schoolchildren Stop Tree Removal!

There's a little town down the road from me with a huge pine tree on the main drag. I made an admiring comment about it to my arborist buddy a few months ago and he told me that it had been scheduled for removal about 15 years ago as the town coucil considered it to be a hazard. When the big out-of-town tree company showed up with a crane on removal day, they found a ring of schoolchildren, arms locked, surrounding the tree! God's truth! (How the children got organized to do this I have no idea--I only know the high points of the story). Naturally the tree company was sorely pissed, as money was pouring down the drain while personnel and big equipment stood around doing nothing. But ultimately they had little choice but to turn around and go home.

This quickly became a big local story, with lots of townspeople getting involved, the newpaper running stories, and so on. A local lawyer volunteered his services to help the preservation cause, and eventually the town reconsidered and hired several people, including my buddy, to reassess the situation. The arborists examined the tree from top to bottom, and even dug a big hole in the street to check the root zone. They recommended removing the top and several limbs to reduce weight and wind load.

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The tree company came back that winter to carry out the revised work order (presumably they were compensated for the aborted first day) and my buddy was on hand to watch and snap photos. I scanned in the above photo, and slightly brightened the area near the base so you can see the trunk better. When I have occasion to visit the town, I always notice the tree. Even without the top it is about 80 feet tall, and it measures about 4.5 ft DBH. I love that tree even more now that I know its cool story.
 
There is something extremely disturbing in every removel of healthy, large tree, no matter how legal the removal is. Some of the trees that I've cut down will haunt me for the rest of my life.
 
adam said:
There is something extremely disturbing in every removel of healthy, large tree, no matter how legal the removal is. Some of the trees that I've cut down will haunt me for the rest of my life.
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I completely agree. I'm no tree hugger, but removing mature trees without good reason?? A mystery to me.

I remember seeing a thread on here about a guy who wanted some mature oaks taken down in his yard. He said he didn't like raking the leaves. WTF?!?!
 
If he only had a brainnnnn!

Remember only you can prevent stupid!!!
 
White pine, topped out, surrounded by concrete? Never happen in my town. I wonder who accepts the liability? the schoolchildren?:dizzy:
 
It's not really surrounded--there is a big yard on one side. But I do wonder how there can be any significant roots under the street, and without roots under the street, what is keeping it from toppling away from the street?
 
beyond that, it looks like the tree predates the sidewalk. That means that roots were removed to get a nice flat sidewalk. removal of roots=decay. My point being sometimes public outcry can have disasterous effects. I do not believe this to be the case in the Berkeley situation, but your example is classic 'public wins over good common sense'. IMEEO (in my educated and experienced opinion):)
 
OTG BOSTON said:
beyond that, it looks like the tree predates the sidewalk...
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Good point about the sidewalk. The tree may even predate the town.

I'm no arborist and have zero competence to judge whether saving the tree was a wise course of action or not. While I love the tree, and am glad it still towers over an otherwise dreary block of buildings, one can only hope the arborists did a thorough job and came to a sound recommendation. I have no basis for an opinion.

I wish someone would comment on my question about tree roots going under the street. Are they there? Are they big and strong? Does putting salt on the streets in the winter kill 'em? Every time I see big trees in cities with about 4 square feet of open soil around the base, I wonder about the roots and the safety of the tree.
 
moray said:
I wish someone would comment on my question about tree roots going under the street. Are they there? Are they big and strong? Does putting salt on the streets in the winter kill 'em? Every time I see big trees in cities with about 4 square feet of open soil around the base, I wonder about the roots and the safety of the tree.
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Based on what appears to be granite curbing I would guess any roots that were growing on that side of the tree were cut, including anchor roots.

salt is bad for trees, especially white pine.

In Boston we require at least 24sq feet for a tree pit, 6x6 being optimum, 3x3 being more realistic/common.
 
I'll bet the bucket-o-feces could have been lowered on a rope. I suspect that it was free-tossed into a safe landing area somewhat close to the protesters !

Does anyone know why they didn't just hire the arborist to start cutting down the tree ? If he was in the tree, why didn't they go to work and do the job ?

Eventually, the tree huggers would have run out of tree to hug.
 
When I returned my friend's photo album a couple of days ago, from which I had scanned the photo a few posts back, he surprised me by handing me a big folder full of newpaper clippings from 18 years ago. Included with the clippings were both arborists' reports to the town on the health of the tree.

As OTG BOSTON correctly surmised, there were no roots under the street. But the tree had not been condemned as a hazard, as I incorrectly reported, but was being removed because it was slightly in the way of converting that whole side of the street to diagonal parking, part of a downtown revitalization project.

Both arborists independently inspected the tree and declared it to be about 150 yrs. old, in excellent health, and still vigorous. There was one hollow section of trunk about 40 feet up, probably the result of a long-ago lightening strike; the 1/3 reduction in the tree's height was meant to greatly reduce any wind load on that section.

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The ninth graders who staged the sit-in amazingly did it entirely on their own. They endured the expected catcalls and jeers, but got a lot more support than hostility. The school principal openly admired and supported them, but still sentenced each of them to 2 hours detention to make up for lost school time. The "Pine Tree Six" were later inducted into the historical society as lifetime members.
 
adam said:
There is something extremely disturbing in every removel of healthy, large tree, no matter how legal the removal is. Some of the trees that I've cut down will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Click to expand...

Yeah true here to mate. Legal just means the lawyers dont care. I simply dont do those jobs anymore, Im an arborist first, paid worker for nobody.
 
adam said:
There is something extremely disturbing in every removel of healthy, large tree, no matter how legal the removal is. Some of the trees that I've cut down will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Click to expand...

Extremely disturbing to remove a tree?
That misuse of words is like calling the office workers who died in 9/11 heroes. Soldiers who die fighting are heroes, fireman that die helping people are heroes, not office workers caught up in something they have no say in. Denigrates the English langauge. What about when a child is murdered, let me guess, extra extremely disturbing?

I have cut down lots of healthy trees, the people that were paying wanted them gone, simple. If they ask, I offer my opinion, I don't like to cut down big conifers without a good reason, but its not my tree, not my call.
 
clearance said:
I am not a police lover, but send them in, clubs swinging, dogs biting. I have had it with mutts who snivel about tree removal, it ain't your tree, so flock off. Been there enough, the same people who cry about you cutting down trees around powerlines are the same ones who cry when some p.o.s. tree they saved rips the line down and they are in the dark.

Maybe these trees shouldn't be cut down, perhaps the stadium shouldn't be built, but the permits are approved, suck it up.
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Excellent!
 

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