Tree proposal sprouts opposition; Montclair, NJ

NorthJersey.com: Tree proposal sprouts opposition:
A tree trunk lies along a Frink Street driveway. A municipal advisory group wants to require residents to obtain permits before removing trees on private property.
The Township Council could require Montclair property owners to seek approval before cutting down trees on their land.
A tree preservation ordinance proposed by the Montclair Environmental Commission is making its way through legal review. If approved by the council, it would then establish regulations for tree care on public and private property in Montclair.
As drafted, the ordinance requires homeowners to pay for permits to cut down trees on their land and participate in a tree replacement program, according to commission member James Sherman, the commission’s point person for the tree ordinance.

STAFF PHOTO BY ADAM ANIK

Tree ordinance move grows into resistance; Chapel Hill, NC

The Herald-Sun - Tree ordinance move grows into resistance: "A move to strengthen the town's tree ordinance hit a snag Monday, drawing criticism from both residents and council members for being too stringent.

As a result, the council sent the draft ordinance back to the drawing board and directed staff to return May 24 with a kinder, gentler version that addresses concerns voiced by council members and citizens during a public hearing on the matter Monday.

'I really wonder after reading this if we've kind of over-baked it,' said Councilman Gene Pease, who acknowledged his role in pushing the town toward the ordinance while serving on the Planning Board a few years ago.

As proposed, the ordinance would establish minimum tree canopy coverage for lots and individual tracts and standards for tree removal activities on residential property, excluding routine maintenance activities.

Removing trees in some instances would require a permit. Property owners would have to demonstrate that a lot will continue to meet minimum tree canopy coverage after trees are removed and replacement trees are planted."

Tree Protection Rules Come Under Fire; Chapel Hill, NC

1360 WCHL - Chapel Hill-Carrboro's News, Talk, and Tar Heels Station:
At Monday’s public hearing, planning consultant and Chapel Hill resident Scott Radway told the Town Council that while he often supports the town’s initiatives, he can’t stomach the new tree protection guidelines.
The proposed changes aim to protect the town’s tree canopy as a whole, instead of focusing on individual trees. Property owners would be required to maintain a percentage of canopy coverage based on the size of their lot. If trees are cut down, those larger than 36 inches would need to be replaced with species that grow to a minimum height of 20 feet to replenish the canopy.
Applicants would have the option of paying a mitigation fee of up to $1,000 per tree instead of replanting. The plan would apply to both residential and commercial property, though most small one and two family lots would be exempt from the regulations.

Ancient trees felled at Dole Wood; Thurlby, UK

Ancient trees felled at Dole Wood - Rutland & Stamford Mercury:
Published Date: 11 February 2010
A TRUST has defended its decision to fell ancient trees by stating that it will allow a wood to flourish.
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust owns Dole Wood, Thurlby, and this week felled 18 trees on the request of Natural England.

The move has been meet with disappointment by Joyce Stephenson, of Obthorpe Lane, Thurlby, who had campaigned for the retention of the 200-year-old trees.

Last year Miss Stephenson collected 327 signatures for a petition to save the trees at the wood – which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Workers began felling the trees on Monday and were finished the following day.

Would-be sledders complain to city officials that mason's private property tree planting on slope is ruining their fun; Alexandria, VA

Sledders find obstacles on popular Alexandria hill - washingtonpost.com:
For as long as anyone can remember, in relatively flat Alexandria, as soon as snowflakes begin to fall, there is only one place to go for the perfect sled ride: the steep hills that fan out around the George Washington Masonic Memorial.
The often terrifying roller-coaster slide has been a rite of passage for generations of children, so much that it has been immortalized in drawings by local artists and on postcards.
So this winter, it came as nothing less than an insult to would-be sledders that instead of wide-open lawns, they found hundreds of freshly planted saplings and what they said appeared to be granite gravestones sticking up all over the hills.

‘Ugly’ trees have locals hacked off at utility pruning; Frenchs Forest, Australia

‘Ugly’ trees have locals hacked off - Local News - News Cumberland Courier:
TREES lining Kens Rd in Frenchs Forest have been cut back so severely by Energy Australia that they resemble telegraph poles, local residents say.
On Thursday contractors for the energy company hacked at trees up and down Kens Rd and surrounding streets to clear branches from the powerlines.
“They have made them look like telegraph poles,” resident Peter Tweedie said. “They’ve lopped off all the branches so they might as well have cut them down and planted new trees.”
Mr Tweedie said the work had left the street with ugly skeletons of trees.
“You would have to see it to believe it,” he said. “It is pretty unsightly and looks as though it was not done properly.”
A spokesman for Energy Australia said the work was carried out to prevent power outages caused by tree branches coming into contact with overhead power lines.

Does coppicing promote biodiversity? Officials say yes, neighbors say "NO!"; Bexley, Kent, UK

Bexley Times - Residents fear forest devastation:
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners claim a stay of execution was granted to an ancient woodland facing 'savage' devastation.

Residents near Bexley Park Wood were so alarmed by the council's plans to coppice large swaths of the ancient wood that they formed a lobby group, winning a promise from council bosses to delay the project for one year.

In the latest meeting, members of Friends of Bexley Park Ancient Woods (FOBPAW) met with environmental officers on Monday at Bexley's Railway Tavern to try and safeguard the site's long-term future.

ConnDOT Commissioner takes Tree Alliance's complaints about Merritt Parkway tree-cutting under advisement; Wilton, CT

Tree Alliance joins fight against Merritt tree-cutting - Wilton News - Wilton Villager - Wilton's Newspaper: "The Norwalk Tree Alliance has joined the effort to get the state Department of Transportation to trim back its tree cutting along the Merritt Parkway.

The Tree Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote Norwalk's urban forest canopy, expressed its position in an e-mail to ConnDOT Commissioner Joseph F. Marie and other state officials. Marie has taken the conservancy's concerns under advisement, according to the alliance.

Dave Tracy, the president of the Tree Alliance, told Marie that 'the irreparable cutting down of trees is removing the defining elements of the parkway,' according to a statement released by the alliance.

Tracy asked ConnDOT to work with the Merritt Parkway Conservancy and 'professional consultants to replant the appropriate trees and shrubs to restore the parkway's unique bucolic character which he reported has already been damaged in Fairfield and Trumbull.'"

Lowcountry residents allege trees needlessly "butchered, decapitated and chainsawed" by utility; James Island, SC

Lowcountry residents upset by city snipping tree canopy The Herald - Rock Hill, SC:
Utility workers say arborists helped with health plan
By Brian Hicks - The (Charleston) Post and Courier JAMES ISLAND -- James Island residents say the trees along Harbor View Road look like extras in a slasher film — they've been butchered, decapitated and chainsawed.
And they blame SCE&G for the slaughter.
Along the road, trees have been cut back at least 10 feet from power lines.
In some cases, oaks, crepe myrtles and even pecan trees have been cut into a less-than-appealing “Y” shape, as if they are perpetually dancing to the Village People.
Some people say it is downright ugly, others fear it's going to kill the trees.
“It's horrendous, and I believe there is a more conservative way to do it,” said Margaret Fabri, a local attorney. “They have ruined the canopy of these trees.”
Contractors for SCE&G have been on the island in recent weeks as part of the utility's routine trimming to keep the power lines clear.

Neighborhood Watch: Fenty Intervenes in Palisades Tree Massacre; Washington, D.C.

Neighborhood Watch: Fenty Intervenes in Palisades Tree Massacre - City Desk - Washington City Paper:
The Issue: As summer began giving way to fall, idyllic life in the Palisades was shattered by a dose of cold, cruel reality from D.C. electricity provider Pepco. To improve electrical reliability, Pepco wanted to cut down about 400 trees in the neighborhood as well as (gasp!) 16 others along a few blocks of MacArthur Boulevard.

Washington, DC’s Palisades Citizens Association takes on Pepco with Mayor Fenty; Washington, DC

Washington, DC’s Palisades Citizens Association takes on Pepco with Mayor Fenty:
Last night, the Palisades Citizens Association (PCA) held a community meeting and voiced their long-standing concerns in front of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh about their battles with Pepco to preserve the Palisades neighborhood tree canopies.
The Palisades is situated towards the northern edge of Georgetown, adjacent to the Potomac River in the upper Northwest quadrant. It is a quiet area that has managed to resist “urbanized” advances to maintain its “small town” feel; as well as remain a neighborhood with one of the highest concentrations of green spaces and foliage in the city – to include legacy trees several decades old. Earlier this year, Pepco had launched the “Palisades Enhanced Reliability Project” to improve electrical reliability performance in the area. Unfortunately, this project involves removing trees and/or trimming them down heavily into a “Y” shape, which not only damages the tree but the overall aesthetics of the landscape as well.

Activists say "no way, Jose!" to proposed developer mitigation and fight to save mature trees instead; Miami, FL

The 41st Street Oaks Live to See Another Day:
On NE 41st Street, in the heart of Miami’s Designed District, two majestic, 80-foot-tall Southern Live Oaks, estimated to be nearly 100 years old, narrowly escaped the chainsaw last month thanks to two Biscayne Corridor residents tired of witnessing the destruction of Miami’s sparse tree canopy.
On August 26, Miami's Code Enforcement Department posted a sign on a vacant lot at 28 NE 41st Street announcing the approval of an application to cut down the two stately oaks. The applicants, art collectors Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz, hoped to make room for several more vehicles in a soon-to-be-built parking lot on their property, across the street from their new museum, which will showcase their world-renowned collection of contemporary art.

Palo Alto pitches new 'tree policy' after California Avenue uproar; Palo Alto, CA

Palo Alto pitches new 'tree policy' after California Avenue uproar - San Jose Mercury News: Responding to an uproar over the sudden removal of 63 trees on California Avenue, Palo Alto officials have drawn up a new 'tree policy' that would require community meetings and citizen commission approvals every time the city cuts down a tree.
New training sessions for city staff, a checklist of criteria for future tree removals and an 'urban forest master plan' are also part of the city's plan to prevent a repeat of the public relations blunder.
In a letter to the city council, resident Robert Smith called the trees' removal "one of the saddest events that the city has done in my 40-plus years here." Noting that he follows city matters closely and hadn't heard anything about the plans, he called the tree removal a "rogue action by a city department that has too much budget and not enough supervision.

Sycamore subject of new Rob Reiner film gets real trim while adjacent tree gets virtual removal to address citizen concerns; Ann Arbor, MI

The Ann Arbor Chronicle » Ann Arbor Park Gets Movie Stimulus
Virginia Park trees trimmed in prep for Reiner movie 'Flipped'
By Dave AskinsJune 27, 2009
The sycamore trees were trimmed enough to get blue sky separation between the canopies. The tree on the right will be digitally removed in the film. (Photo by the writer.)On June 18, neighbors of Virginia Park, located just north of W. Liberty Street in Ann Arbor, received a letter from the city. The note from parks and recreation services manager Colin Smith alerted them to the filming of the Rob Reiner movie “Flipped,” to take place towards the end of July. Construction of the set, according to the letter, would begin as early as June 22.
Part of the set construction involved trimming some branches on two of the park’s sycamore trees – a task that was begun the same week as the letter sent from the city.
But the trimming was interrupted, and wasn’t completed until this last Friday morning – under the scrutiny of an Ann Arbor police officer, locations staff from the movie, Craig Hupy (head of systems planning for the city), Kerry Gray (coordinator for urban forestry and natural resources planning), Kay Sicheneder (city forester), plus a half-dozen interested neighbors.

Mott Haven residents: No street trees, please!; New York, NY

Mott Haven residents to city: No trees! Just leaf us alone!:

BY Tanyanika Samuels
Daily News Staff Writer
Monday, June 8th 2009, 9:36 PM

Now, it's NIMFY -- Not in My FRONT Yard.
Some Mott Haven residents are fuming over city plans to plant trees on their block.
The problem, they say, is that the tree roots eventually crack their sidewalks, leaving them stuck with the repair bill.
"If they want a green Bronx, just look in our backyards," said Marion Rivas of 434 E. 144th St. "We already have trees there. We don't need them out in front."
The trees are part of Mayor Bloomberg's MillionTrees campaign to plant 1 million trees in the city by 2030.
The Department of Parks and Recreation is planning to plant 12 street trees along E. 144th St. between Brook and Willis Aves.
But residents there point to city trees planted across the street that already have ripped up their neighbors' sidewalks.

"Going green" has some N.J. residents seeing red; Hamilton, NJ

"Going green" has some N.J. residents seeing red | 6abc.com Green Living - 6/01/09 - Philadelphia News - 6abc.com
HAMILTON TWP., N.J. - June 1, 2009 (WPVI) -- Planting shade trees has led to anger, protest and one arrest in Hamilton Twp.
"I said I don't want any and I wound up with two," said James Lombardi.
Lombardo is one of many township residents upset with the state for planting shade trees on their streets even though they don't want them.
"It uproots the sidewalk and everything else, and then you're responsible for it," said Lombardo. "They're telling me I'm not, but they won't put it in writing. I just don't want it. I should have the option of [not] having a tree there."
About 300 trees have been planted as part of a Department of Environmental Protection community forestry project to build up the tree canopy in developed areas.
But along Elmore Avenue, residents like Mary Kate Cammarata are worried not just about raking leaves, but what tree roots could do if they grow into the underground pipes.
"God forbid if anything happens with my water or gas line," she said. "I'm responsible for it? They're not going to come fix it. Or what if my sidewalk lifts?"

Woman temporarily stops city crews from chopping down tree, gives up under threat of arrest; Santa Ana, CA

Woman temporarily stops city crews from chopping down tree | tree, city, trees, amato, fichus - News - OCRegister.com: "Thursday, May 14, 2009
Woman temporarily stops city crews from chopping down tree
Huntington Beach police tell woman to leave or she would be arrested
By JAIMEE LYNN FLETCHER
The Orange County Register
HUNTINGTON BEACH– A woman today was threatened with arrest after she stood in front of a nearly 50-year-old tree to stop city crews from chopping it down.
Carmela Amato, 45, leaned up against a fichus tree in the 5600 block of Heil Avenue hoping the city would think twice before ripping out the massive tree that canopies the sidewalks and homes."

Kailua tree removals protested; Honolulu, HI

Kailua tree removal protested | HonoluluAdvertiser.com | The Honolulu Advertiser: "Posted on: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Kailua tree removal protested
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer
KAILUA — The city has temporarily suspended the replacement of 17 poinciana trees near Kailua District Park after a flurry of protests from residents this week.
Residents are calling for proof of the problems and say that if the trees need to be replaced, royal poinciana should be used. The city says the trees are damaged and need to be replaced, and will continue the project once residents have been fully informed."

East Gippsland, Australia; 1/13/09

Australia: Arrests in Another treesit campaign, this time in E ...Police have climbed two 35-metre trees in a Victorian forest and arrested two protesters locked to the canopy. Victoria Police confirmed four search and rescue officershad flown to the area on Tuesday. The protesters claim Stoney Creekand its state forest, located adjacent to the protected Snowy River,is an unusual example of a dense rainforest that includes stands ofboth mountain ash and alpine ash trees. “It is better, in the face ofclimate change, to maintain the integrity of the parks system so it isnot fragmented and nature can be more resilient with species able tomove, water flows more intact,” Ms Reynolds said. She said the Laborstate government had broken a 2006 election promise to protect 41,000hectares of old-growth and iconic forests in East Gippsland.