TheTop 5 Reasons Why Urban Trees Get Chopped Down

The biggest problem faced by trees in the urban forest is the dreaded creature known as the human being.

Mind you, without the human being there would be no urban forest anyway, just forest.

The lives of urban trees are dramatically shorter than those of their natural forest grown cousins. Have you ever wondered why?

In addressing this issue I have come up with a list of 5 reasons why people remove urban trees. Breaking it down like this lets us see that there is a lot we can do to make it better.

Reason #1  Nuisance

• The nuisance category is probably the one that has the most creative "Reasons For Removal". Included here are:
•  Leaves that make the trampoline too slippery
• Complaints about debris and roots in the lawn
• Feral peacocks (yes, you read that right)
• Birds shitting on the car
• Also included in the nuisance category are some legitimate issues that are more challenging. Thing such as:
• Allergies
• Perceived pests such as wasps
• Views
• Neighbour to neighbour disputes

Reason #2  Fear

• All trees are hazardous. To some degree. The job here is to decide how hazardous is it. Just how hazardous is acceptable? (I wrote a post on Living in Fear of Trees)
• The challenge is to maintain fairness in making these decisions.
• Pressure for tree removals mounts as storm seasons approach.
• A television news story that shows a tree fallen on a house sparks panic.
• Sensitivities rise when children or elderly are involved. As if the people aged 19 to 72 are somehow less important.

Reason #3  Damage

• Trees get blamed for wrecking things.
• Clogging drains
• Flooding basements
• Cracking driveways
• Knocking down fences
• Destroying roofs
• Rarely do folks point to poor design or shoddy workmanship.

 

Reason #4  Construction

• This is perhaps the most tree aggressive category of all. Progress, in terms of development, means clearing forests in favour of new buildings, roads and facilities.

Reason #5  Decline 

• Of course trees live and they die. The problem is the rate at which this occurs in the urban setting. Imagine if it were people dying by the time they became young adults.
• Decline is natural, but usually the decline is human caused.
• Topping (Check my post on Tree Topping Brutality)
• Pest infestation due to environmental imbalances
• Bad pruning
• Root excavations
• Compaction
• Hydrology
• Neglect
• Vandalism
• Planting location
• Nursery grown root problems
• Soil grade alterations
• Competition
• Environmental poisons
• Mechanical damages

There are Solutions To These Problems

When we look at each area it becomes clear.

We can make a very big difference. We can save a lot of trees.

But someone has to draw the line.

Someone has to say

1. This nuisance is valid. That nuisance is not
2. Here is how hazardous a tree must be before it gets removed.
3. Damage is cause for removal only when there is no reasonable alternative.
4. New buildings can be modified, trees must be protected, solutions need to be found.
5. People must be prevented from causing unnecessary damage to trees.

You need to be aware that your City Hall has the power to do all of this. In fact it is happening in some places. Is your City doing what needs to be done?

We all need to work to make protection of urban forests a reality. It is too important to ignore.