THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Topping not good way to prune trees; Muskogee, OK

MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK - THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Topping not good way to prune trees: Spring is on the way, and with it some homeowners feel the need to have a tree service prune their trees.

Sometimes, unfortunately, this results in the tree being topped. Tree topping is the severe cutting back of a tree’s canopy, leaving the tree disfigured, open to disease and insect damage, and unable to produce food for itself.

Guest columnist says Knoxville Utilities Board needs reasonable tree-trimming policies; Knoxville, TN

Guest column: KUB needs reasonable tree-trimming policies » Knoxville News Sentinel:
For the past four years, Knoxvillians have become increasingly concerned about the Knoxville Utilities Board's tree cutting policies.
Recent public discussion has renewed the debate as to what can be done to force KUB to adopt a reasonable policy that will stop excessive tree cutting and unnecessary removal of thousands of trees and other vegetation per week, destruction of private property, reduction of property values, and permanent disfiguring of Knoxville's most beautiful trees.
KUB Board Chair J. Thomas Jones, in a guest column in the Jan. 10, News Sentinel, asked, 'Should KUB trim trees away from electric lines?' He then proceeded to repeat KUB's latest rationale for its current policies.
He asked the wrong question and ignores many issues while defending KUB's position and its spending of at least $6 million per year.

Knoxville Utililities Board (KUB) appoints citizen panel to review utility tree trimming issues; Knoxville, TN

Moxley Carmichael - KUB COMMISSIONER SWORN IN AND BOARD APPOINTS TREE TRIM POLICY REVIEW PANEL:
KUB, a municipal utility serving Knox and parts of seven adjacent counties, provides reliable electric, gas, water, and wastewater services to more than 439,000 customers.
The Board appointed a fifteen-member citizen panel to review the policies that govern the utility's vegetation management program. Members of the panel were selected to reflect a diversity of viewpoints and experience with tree-related issues. The panel includes a number of citizens who have been critical of KUB and its tree trimming policies.

‘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.

City arborists say “stop topping”; Bismarck, ND

Bismarck arborists say “stop topping”:
“Topping” a tree — that is, removing 50 to 100 percent of the tree’s canopy or top, is extremely damaging, causing weak branching and in some cases the death of a tree, say Bismarck city arborists.
The city arborists say they have observed “topping” of trees in the community and want people to be aware of its hazards.
With at least 50 percent of the canopy being pruned out, the tree will rapidly produce shoots right below the pruned section to compensate for the lost leaves. Since these shoots are formed quickly and profusely, the attachment is not strong.
The wound left from topping can become a hazard of its own because of potential decay and rot issues. Since so many large stubs are left behind from topping, the tree is not likely able to callus over all of the open wounds. These wounds leave an open path for insects, diseases, and decay to form in the tree. Branch failure is prone to happen due to the added weight from the shoots growing off of a weakening branch stub.

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.

Rules on how much canopy can be pruned due for release; Manukau, Australia

Pruning rules expected Stuff.co.nz:
Manukau residents are being warned to be cautious with the pruning shears when new laws on trimming trees come into force on Thursday.
The revised Resource Management Act allows trimming of non-scheduled trees on private land from October 1 but it’s up to each council to decide what that means.
Manukau City Council is due to set out its rules this week.
But Auckland City Council has already decided what it considers appropriate trimming under the new laws. It says residents can trim tree canopies by 'no more than 20 percent of live growth' in any one year, in line with accepted arboriculture practice and without damaging the tree’s health.

Urban Forester Interview on Palm Tree Trimming and Tree Maintenance; Glendale, CA

Glendale, California Urban Forester Interview on Palm Tree Trimming and Tree Maintenance Conducted by the City | Sunroom Desk

Posted By: editor Conservation, Neighborhood Issues
A few weeks ago, I observed crews trimming fronds from palm trees lining Glenwood Road. The extra-long boom lifts sending brave men high into the air to trim the tall palms was a fascinated sight; I assumed it must also be a high-cost municipal budget item. After the fronds were cleared away, I contacted Glendale’s Urban Forester, Teresa Proscewicz, to ask some questions about Glendale’s policies on palms and other trees. She answered several questions via email, below

Trees v. houses round 2: houses win; Seattle, WA

Local News | Deal struck; houses to move in Madrona | Seattle Times Newspaper
A pair of nearly century-old houses will move this weekend from Madrona to Madison Valley after the movers reached a deal with local homeowners to trim some of the tree canopy.

By Jonathan Martin
Seattle Times staff reporter

After dark tonight, a pair of nearly century-old houses will begin a slow tango down a Madrona neighborhood street that is not quite wide enough to fit them.
Under a deal cut earlier this month with homeowners along the route, the 1,900-square-foot houses — traveling at ¼ mile per hour — will pass under a now-cut urban canopy and over a planting strip that used to be home to several trees.
The deal ended an at times tense conflict between a group of homeowners who felt pressured into giving up their parklike canopy and a house-moving company, Nickel Bros., which sought to save and resell two homes that would otherwise be demolished by today to make way for a school expansion.

Homeowner sees more than red after utility tree-trimming; Shreveport, LA

Homeowner sees more than red after tree-trimming | shreveporttimes.com | The Times
Gary Jaynes' backyard is an oasis. Shade-loving plants stand watch as chickadees, cardinals, the occasional woodpecker and others nibble on birdseed left on the Shreveporter's South Highlands driveway.
Until recently, a live oak gracefully spread its branches over the entire yard, providing protection for plants and respite for wildlife. The tree also offered Jaynes a shady spot to watch nature at work and afforded him the privacy he craves.
'The trees to me are what makes this whole area,' Jaynes said. 'They give it its whole character.'
But since tree crews working for Southwest Electric Power Co. chopped some 15 feet of the tree's branches away from nearby power lines, Jaynes not only has a view of his plants wilting in the sunlight that now floods the backyard but also of unsightly equipment once obscured by the tree's branches.

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.

Poor pruning, not storm, blamed for green massacre; Kolkata, India

Pruning blamed for green massacre - Kolkata - Cities - The Times of India: "KOLKATA: A day after cyclonic storm Aila uprooted trees like ninepins and left a trail of destruction, green experts said the imprint of the tragedy
that felled over 500 trees pointed more to the sly hand of man than the mighty punch of nature. Scientists, foresters and green activists have blamed the high green casualty on unscientific plantation, pruning and beautification drives.
'Given the force of the storm, some trees would obviously have fallen as winds tunnelled through city streets. But casualty figures would have been a lot lower had we taken a little care. One of the biggest reasons for such largescale uprooting is lopsided pruning that had left trees unbalanced,' said former forester Pranabesh Sanyal."

Utility arborists and commercial arborist at odds as to how to prune town's old trees; Summerville, GA

Old Trees in Summerville Need Special Care—Not Whack Job | WJBF:

It’s one of the most beautiful sections of Augusta, and Summerville residents want to keep it that way. Neighbors are worried about the old trees that are part of the Hill’s charm. WJBF News Channel 6’s Paige Tucker reports.
By Paige Tucker
WJBF News Channel 6 Weekend Anchor/Reporter
Published: May 20, 2009
Augusta, GA—A massive tree that just fell in Summerville is a personal loss to many who count the area’s trees as one of the neighbors. Part of Summerville’s charm is the tree-lined streets that provide curb appeal and a canopy of shade.
A certified arborist, Roy Simkins takes interest in the preservation of the trees and offense to the way they’re often treated. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to prune a tree. That’s one of the reasons you need an arborist. It’s easy to buy a chainsaw and send a guy up a tree to cut a limb, but it’s something else to know the proper way to do it,“ says Simkins.
A lot of that pruning is done by Asplundh, a sub-contractor of Georgia Power hired to keep its power lines clear. “It occurred to me some years ago that Asplundh loves to cut the max because the more they cut the faster the tree will resprout and the more work they have. It’s sort of a make-work business,“ Simkons says.

Private money needed to maintain public trees, but post-storm assessment demonstrates value of the investment; Fort Wayne, IN

City needs help with tree care | The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.: "Last updated: May 15, 2009 8:34 a.m. City needs help with tree care
Benjamin LankaThe Journal Gazette
Clint Keller | The Journal Gazette
Despite city crews’ cleanup work after December’s ice storm, piles of limbs remain along Lafayette Street.

Private money is needed to keep the city’s public-tree canopy properly maintained, Park Director Al Moll said Thursday.
In providing a summary of last winter’s ice storm damages, Moll said city trees that had been trimmed recently suffered far less damage than those that had gone years without pruning.
Because of budget cuts, the city has cut how frequently it trims 80,000 street and park trees. Moll said trees are ideally trimmed every five to seven years, but recently the city has been able to trim them only every nine years. When heavy ice and wind hit Fort Wayne in December, trees without a recent trim lost more limbs and created more damage, he said.
But getting more tax dollars to help with the maintenance is unlikely because of dwindling resources, Moll said. That is why the city will likely begin talking with foundations and other private donors to seek money for tree maintenance."