BRIAN PAIGE
Tree RECEIVES Care : Preserving BEACON Mature AWARD Trees During Landscape Construction Projects
BRIAN PAIGE
Tree RECEIVES Care : Preserving BEACON Mature AWARD Trees During Landscape Construction Projects
Jill Odom , Senior Content Manager for NALP
Certain species are more sensitive to root disturbance , including oak , beech , white pine , hemlock , black walnut , and sugar maple . Others are more tolerant , such as honey locust , river birch , red maple , sycamore , and white spruce .
Local regulations dictating the type and size of trees that must be preserved may also exist depending on your area . Think through how the removal of one tree may impact others on the property and strive to retain an assortment of species to safeguard against losing a collection of trees to disease or insects .
Mature trees are incredibly valuable to properties as they provide shade , capture stormwater and absorb air pollution . While you can plant younger trees to replace mature trees that were removed during a landscape construction project , there are methods to preserve your client ’ s established trees .
Obviously , it ’ s easier to work with a blank slate , but client requests , historical significance , and other factors can all require planning an installation process that considers mature trees .
Failing to protect mature trees during the construction process can result in soil compaction and physical damage to roots , limbs , and trunks . This can cause the tree to decline , especially as older trees are less able to recover from construction stressors .
Identify Trees to Preserve During the design process , conduct a tree inventory and discuss with your client which trees can be preserved and which should be removed . Consider the location , current size , future size , species , health , cost of preservation and cost of removal for each tree .
If you don ’ t have an arborist on staff , hiring one to assess all the trees on the property can help determine which trees are worth preserving and which are in a poor location or unlikely to survive . Keep in mind that a tree can be very healthy but have poor structure because of decay or be very unhealthy but have good structure because of a lack of decay .
When observing the structural safety of trees , review the condition of the root system , trunk wounds , amount of deadwood in the canopy , signs the tree has dropped large branches in the past and if there are abnormal branching habits or severe leans .
If you have to preserve historic trees , taking cuttings prior to construction can also serve as a worst-case scenario solution in case the tree declines after construction .
Once you have come to a consensus with the involved parties about which trees should be preserved and which should be removed , outline the protective measures that will be taken . In some cases , curving a path or changing the angle of a building during the design phase can help preserve the root space of a beloved tree .
Prior to construction , conduct an on-site walkthrough with those who will be working on the property . Numbering and field tags can help your team avoid cutting down the wrong trees .
Preservation Methods No matter how resilient a tree is , construction projects are stressful for them so make sure the selected trees are as healthy as possible by watering regularly leading up to the installation work and prune any dead , diseased or hazardous branches .
Damage typically occurs through injuries caused by equipment , compaction and grade changes , and excavations .
To prevent trees from being scraped , bumped or having broken branches , erect physical barriers . The size of the barricaded area will vary on the tree species and size . For recently planted trees one to four years old , barricades to the dripline should be adequate . Trees older than four years benefit from barricades extending beyond the dripline . For each inch of trunk diameter , extend the protection area an additional foot .
Adding wood chips over tree roots outside the protection areas can also help . Increase the depth
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MALP Newsline | Summer 2024 15