Ideas pitched to strengthen the tree bylaw; Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Ideas pitched to strengthen the tree bylaw - Brantford Expositor - Ontario, CA:
A small but hardy band of arboreal advocates came out Tuesday in a bid to strengthen the city's nine-year-old bylaw protecting trees in private woodlots.
About 40 residents, many of them involved in the original quest to get city council to approve the bylaw in 2001, attended a public meeting in the Mohawk Park Pavilion. They presented ideas to strengthen the bylaw against the possibility of wholesale cutting, expand the city's tree canopy, and extend its provisions to include 'heritage' trees not necessarily in woodlots.
It was clear from the comments of many that irresponsible developers remain the biggest enemy, just as they were in 2001.

Weird Numbers Part 2: The Natural Heritage Strategy Tree Replacement Equation or ‘Two Tens for a Five Anybody?’; Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Weird Numbers Part 2: The Natural Heritage Strategy Tree Replacement Equation or ‘Two Tens for a Five Anybody?’ « Royal City Rag:
The Draft Natural Heritage Strategy includes a tree replacement policy that contains two components. The first compenent establishes that any trees removed must be replaced and introduces an equation to calculate the replacement value of a given tree. The second, introduces the concept of cash in lieu of trees.
Unfortunately, the first component is nonsensical while the second is meaningless.
The current draft policies require that if a tree is removed trees totaling an equal diameter must replace it. The example below will demonstrate the absurdity of this mathematical reasoning.

The city replaceth what the utility taketh away; Tampa, FL

Seminole Heights gets more trees:
Four 'little gem' magnolias are taking root on the front lawns of homes on East Fern Street in Seminole Heights. Over on Miami Avenue, more than 10 magnolias, red maples and winged elms are the newest landscape eye-candy.
The greenery, within the city's right of way, is from a free city-sponsored tree planting program promoted in the neighborhood with a little help from the nonprofit Old Seminole Heights Preservation Consortium.
'It's a nice partnership,' said Peter Spanos, the consortium's tree committee chairman.
Spanos said he hand-delivered about 100 letters asking residents if they wanted trees. About 20 people responded. An email elicited even more tree requests.
In the next weeks more than 80 homes will receive about 100 trees.

In September many residents were horrified as swaths of tree canopy were cut away by contractors with Tampa Electric Co. TECO officials said it was a public safety issue to get tree branches away from overhead power lines.

Expect delays on Vineyard Boulevard while workers remove a tree at botanical garden; Honolulu, HI

Expect delays on Vineyard Boulevard while workers remove a tree at botanical garden honoluluadvertiser.com The Honolulu Advertiser:
Motorists should expect delays tomorrow through Wednesday while workers remove a decaying Parkia tree at Foster Botanical Garden.
Removal work will begin tomorrow on the tree that is near the road on Vineyard Boulevard between Nuuanu Avenue and the Maunakea gate, officials said.
An independent arborist determined that the tree has substantial decay. The findings were confirmed by the state Urban Forestry Division's horticulturist and arborist. The tree's canopy overhangs all six lanes of Vineyard Boulevard and city Department of Parks and Recreation offices.

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.

Village of Ada to seek aid in removing ash trees; Ada, OH

Village of Ada to seek aid in removing ash trees:
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has announced that federal grant funds are now available to assist northwest Ohio communities in removing hazardous ash trees along public right-of-ways and replacing them with other trees. The Emerald Ash Borer was identified in Ada last year.

Ada Assistant Village Administrator Eric Martin, who was instrumental in inventorying the ash trees in Ada, and then developing a management plan for those trees, said he was not surprised to see these funds become available.

'I thought that something might show up,' said Martin, noting that a similar action had been taken by the DNR in Michigan. 'Yes, we will apply,' he said.

Martin indicated that there are over 95 ash trees in Ada right-of-ways and in Railroad Park. Naturally, there are other ash trees in the back yards of residents, at Ada War Memorial Park, and on the campus of Ohio Northern University."

Google Street View Catches illegal Tree Cutters!; Vanvouver, BC

eCanadaNow » Google Street View Catches illegal Tree Cutters:
Three people in Vancouver are charged with illegal tree-cutting, and the case against them has the option of using pictures taken by a Google Street View camera which happened to be operating in the neighborhood and recorded the scene. The Google Street View shows the truck and workmen on the site, which was littered with tree debris as well as the fresh cut stumps along the property’s fence line.
Charges filed against the land owner, Margaret Burnyeat, her daughter, Elizabeth Burnyeat and Michael Saffronick of Saffronick Tree Care Ltd. claim they exceeded the terms of their permit to remove two trees and violated the old tree bylaw by allegedly cutting down 23 cedar, cypress and evergreen trees on a residential lot. After the neighbors filed complaints, the city of Vancouver’s legal department investigation discovered the Google Earth pictures.

Solicitor slugged $18k for jacaranda removal; Ku-ring-gai, Australia

Solicitor slugged $18k for jacaranda removal - Council - News Cumberland Courier:
A PYMBLE solicitor is out of pocket more than $18,000 for illegally removing a large jacaranda tree from his Telegraph Rd property.
Steven Stefanic was fined $10,000 for the offence and ordered to pay $8075 in legal and court costs.
The prosecution followed an investigation by Ku-ring-gai Council after a report by a neighbour.
Mr Stefanic had claimed the tree was a dead stump and pleaded not guilty to the offence.
However the council had obtained photographic evidence of the tree being removed by contractors.
Mayor Ian Cross welcomed the conviction and said it showed courts were willing to impose significant.

Cathedral to fell more than 100 trees along riverbanks; Durham, UK

Cathedral to fell more than 100 trees along riverbanks (From Durham Times):
MORE than 100 trees on Durham’s riverbanks could be felled in a cathedral scheme aimed at securing the woodland’s future.
Durham Cathedral officials say the felling would allow new, healthier trees to grow and more native species to be planted.
The Very Rev Michael Sadgrove, the Dean of Durham, said: “I think the woodland is a real gift to Durham – one of its most special assets.
“This is a world-famous environment of incomparable beauty and we want to do all we can to keep it that way.”

Town to replace Bradford pears planted in the 1990;s due to breakage, damage; Mooresville, FL

Broad Street tree canopy to be replaced:
The Town of Mooresville and its beautification committee will begin a tree replacement project next week to replace Bradford Pear trees along Broad Street downtown.
First planted in the early 1990s, the trees have become a safety hazard and must be removed.
In 1989, the Mooresville Beautification Committee began a tree planting project to create a decorative border along the railroad and Broad Street. Over a period of two years, the citizens of Mooresville donated funds to purchase 59 Bradford Pear trees. The majority of the trees were purchased in memory or honor of a loved one.
Although one of the most popular landscape trees in the Southeast, Bradford Pears have a weak limb structure and vigorous growth. After approximately 20 years the trees become hazardous during storms and break easily.

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.'"

Mature trees fall due to $11-million stimulus infusion - replanting to occur; Amherstburg, Ontario

Amherstburg, Ontario gets $11-million stimulus infusion – Daily Commercial News:
Archer described Laird Ave with its historic and expensive homes, and having a thick tree canopy, as a “jewel.” But there were a few problems with the layout.
Parking was ill-defined. “It could become just a mass of vehicles during special events,” he said.
As a result of the improvements, diagonal spots are clearly marked with decorative borders along with median bull noses that will contain planters. New curbs and gutters were also installed where ragged grass strips trailed-off into broken pavement.
The entire street had to be sunk two feet. The median was excavated including foliage along with some larger trees, provoking some public criticism.
Archer said the street had to be dropped “significantly” to alleviate water draining on to private properties at the north end. Some of the removed trees will be replanted but much of the new foliage will be young and small.

City arborist denies blog writer list of scheduled work as Commissioner investigates removals; Washington, DC

Missing the notice for the trees - Greater Greater Washington:
A leafy canopy makes a street far more desirable and valuable. It's no wonder, then, that residents get very upset when their government removes trees. Sometimes trees have to go; disease can kill them, and if a tree falls, that impacts the homeowner immediately and even literally.
At other times, however, arborists can disagree about whether a tree has to go. We have a honey locust tree in our backyard that lost a limb after another tree fell on it (and the house's previous owner's car) during a storm. About half the aborists we talk to say the tree should come out, since it might fall over one day. The other half say that these trees are nearly indestructible, and unless it starts dying, we have nothing to worry about. We like the shade. What to do? For now, we're keeping it. We hope we're right.
That tree is on private property. But if it were a street tree, DDOT's Urban Forestry Administration could simply decide to take it out. DDOT has policies that they should notify homeowners, and the Council has considered laws to require notification. But those aren't always followed.

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.

Exemption is used to skirt city's tree rules; San Antonio, TX

Exemption is used to skirt city's tree rules:
When City Council members approved an ordinance in 1997 to protect trees from urban sprawl, they had a deceptively simple goal: Make sure the rules applied to developers who often own large tracts of land — not homeowners who want to get rid of a few trees on single-family lots.
But at least one lobbyist has figured out developers can bulldoze trees on a large property, as long as it has a house.
In 2007, lobbyist Ken Brown told a commercial client, Skinner Nurseries, it could clear trees on a rural tract of land without worrying about the tree ordinance, said Charles Skinner, a real estate agent for the Florida company who is related to the owners.
Because the 19-acre property on Somerset Road had a house, Skinner Nurseries was able to use the homeowner exemption as a free pass to get around the tree ordinance and its potential mitigation costs.
Nearly every tree on the property was bulldozed to develop a tree-nursery business.

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.

Clackamas County may ban urban clear cuts; Clackamas County, OR

Clackamas County may ban urban clear cuts:
After a brief explosion of interest and nine months cooking in a task force, the county has finally come up with the meat of a tree-cutting ordinance to prevent clear cuts of properties in the urban area.
Urban Green, a group of local advocates for tree protection, rallied after a parcel with 200 old-growth trees was cleared, Chips Janger told the Clackamas Review last year. When the county said it couldn’t do anything, Urban Green put together a proposal for a tree ordinance, which has been hashed over with staff and other community partners since.
What has emerged is a compromise, meeting the group’s concerns and offering some protection while taking into account an important issue for the county.

Previous topping results in creation of hazard and pending removal of historic trees; Tuscon, AZ

Commission votes to endorse cutting of 80-year-old tamarisks www.azstarnet.com ®:
Tucson Region
Commission votes to endorse cutting of 80-year-old tamarisks
By Megan Neighbor
For the ARizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 09.10.2009

The Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission voted unanimously — albeit reluctantly — Wednesday to endorse the removal of more than a dozen historic trees near the Manning House downtown.
The non-native tamarisk trees, which are at least 80 years old, were described as a safety hazard in Tucson Urban Landscape Manager Irene Ogata's presentation to the commission.
'When these trees were pruned, they were topped,' Ogata said. 'Once you top a tree, you weaken the structure of that tree.'

Letter to the editor calls for tree planting budget to be restored in face of threats to UTC due to DED, EAB, and maples losses; Oak Park,IL

Tree planting budget must be restored:
At no time since Dutch elm disease devastated the American elms lining village parkways in the 1950s and 1960s has the health of our urban forest been so threatened. The Forestry Commission is recommending that the board restore the entire 2009 tree planting budget of $100,000 for a fall planting program.
The village removes on average 150 to 250 elm trees a year. The number of elms dying this year has increased substantially, necessitating the removal of many of the largest tree canopies in the village.
Emerald ash borer has been identified in some of our largest ash trees. It's likely that most of the 2,600 parkway ash trees will require removal over the next 10 to 15 years.
The village can also expect high losses of mature maple trees due to the end of their natural lifespan. The combined totals of threatened American elm, ash and mature maples represents 35 percent of the village's total parkway tree inventory.
Prior to emerald ash borer, about 400 trees were removed annually; but those numbers could potentially reach 600 to 800 trees or more.

In Galveston, dead trees see new life as art; Galveston, TX

In Galveston, dead trees see new life as art Houston & Texas News Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:
GALVESTON — The Dalmatian sitting outside the Galveston Central Fire Station isn't your ordinary mascot. This one is made of wood, carved over the weekend from a tree killed by salt water when Hurricane Ike inundated the city a year ago.
The sculpture is the first of dozens that the city's citizen Tree Committee hopes will grace parks and street corners throughout Galveston in an attempt to salvage beauty from the destruction of an estimated 40,000 trees.
“This helps heal that wound,” said Tree Committee member Donna Leibbert, referring to the outpouring of grief from the public over the destruction of at least half the island's tree canopy.