this is so fuckin rediculous.
The state of trees citywide is being jeopardized by ill-advised planting and maintenance methods resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted greenery.
This charge, by Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest, results largely from the work of private interests, but the city does not consistently enforce standards on public rights of way, said Danielle Crumrine, executive director of FPUF.
If it’s only money that matters, at $400 to $500 per tree, investors should have incentive to make sure their trees are pruned and mulched properly, she said. Money aside, “trees aren’t ornaments. They are part of the city’s biodiversity, its web of life.”
In recent months, the city has been under fire for cutting down old trees it deemed hazardous.
But a more pervasive problem is misplanting and abuse of trees, said Ms. Crumrine. Examples are “all over the city” – rootballs still in burlap, their bases cinched with rope; Christmas lights wrapped too tightly for the tree’s proper growth; training braces and wires not removed in time; the girdling of trees in iron guards and entombing of root systems by grates and concrete. These conditions are notable along Downtown streets and in developments that include South Side Works, Oxford Center Downtown and UPMC Shadyside.
Some of these practices – choking by Christmas lights, for example – don’t fall within the city’s purview. But the size of the root well and pruning methods do.
The city requires a root well be at least 3 by 10 feet – a dimension some arborists say is barely sufficient – yet hundreds of young trees throughout the city sit in circles the size of a basketball. It also requires that anyone who alters a tree has a permit.
“We have the rules on the books, but they are not being enforced,” said city Councilman William Peduto.
“What worries me is not the five we know about but the 15 or more that we don’t,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, because in the past five years we have made a lot of strides to catch up on the proper maintenance of our urban forest.”
Mike Gable, deputy director of public works, said the city has cited people for years for cutting trees without permits and has been “getting the word out via the city’s Web site” of new standards and procedures.
The city in January hired an urban forester, Lisa Ceoffe, to work with developers and community groups to ensure proper planting and care of trees.
She said that none of the projects she has started is yet in the building phase.
Keeping tabs on what anyone might do to a tree in the city is “a monumental task,” said Mr. Gable. “When we see violations, we cite people; we need calls to 311 to be made aware of it.”
He said the city is considering whether to cite a contractor of Lamar Advertising for topping three trees on Court Place at Grant Street.
“That job had permission, but it was permission to prune, not top the trees,” said Mr. Gable. “We have made the contractor aware” and may cite or require the contractor replace the trees.
Tom Baxter, director of Friends of the Riverfront, said his organization and other environmental groups have “had a lot of input with the city. We are meeting with the Department of Public Works to make sure riverfront guidelines are being followed.”
In East Liberty, a neighborhood with relatively fewer trees, about two dozen trees planted around the perimeter of the Home Depot parking lot have been topped. Power lines do not interfere above. The trees also have been volcano mulched – mulch that is piled too high around the base of the tree – which is destroying bark tissue, said Matt Erb, FPUF’s arborist.
Park conservators and arborists have for years advised against volcano mulching. Mulch should ring the tree, not too deeply, but leave space around the base.
"When you see this kind of thing happening to trees on their [Home Depot’s] property, someone might think, ‘Oh, this is supposed to be how you mulch,’ or ‘Topping is OK,’ " said Ms. Crumrine. “When you say you have trained professionals in your garden center, it’s hard to believe you would treat your trees like this.”
A Home Depot spokesman in Atlanta said she could not confirm whether the trees belong to Home Depot.
Nathan Wildfire, the sustainable policy coordinator for East Liberty Development Inc., is overseeing a long-term greening strategy for neighborhood projects, but the East Liberty Chamber of Commerce did not know about this initiative last fall when it started sidewalk improvements on Broad Street.
Growing Greener grants from the state required that the money be spent before the end of the year, so concrete work came first, to beat the cold, said Lars Olander, president of the chamber. This spring, 20 hawthorns planted just before an early heat wave were as brown as copper two weeks later.
Ms. Crumrine, who works nearby, said the trees were not watered. Covered with grates, their bases also were wrapped tightly in burlap and rope.
Mr. Olander said the contractor explained to him that the ropes will be removed. He met with Department of Public Works officials last week and said they were satisfied with the scenario.
The Broad Street improvements cost $682,000. Of that, $250,000 was state money. Local merchants raised $100,000 and the Urban Redevelopment Authority matched with $200,000. The trees and grates cost $30,000, he said.
“The trees have new growth and they are now on a watering and maintenance schedule,” said Mr. Olander.
“This will be a case study,” said Mr. Wildfire. “Everyone will agree this was a learning experience.”
these fuckers are out of their fuckin minds. this city is literally crumbling and these fuckin brainwashed psychos are worried we are abusing trees… TREES ARE FUCKIN RENEWABLE!!! you plant news ones!!! the hills of PA are LOADED with nothing but TREES!!! they need to be stopped!
trees that are hazardous need to be removed for public saftey and these fuckers wont let them… case in point… i’m watchin the news last night and i see a tree that fell on a car and killed the man… they showed a view of the tree from its roots and it was hollow… its was a diseased tree that should have been gone but wasnt and it cost a man his life. FUCK THESE MOTHERFUCKERS. this shit makes me purposly want to go out and 187 a few trees…
that’s 6 or 10 more dump/plow trucks in the winter. no doubt can be used for multi-task other shit during the other seasons