Many of these small communities are faced with major challenges in respect of the management of their public trees; on one hand they must ensure public safety, yet they will often face heavy criticism for removing trees unnecessarily. Regrettably, much of the budget gets used up dealing with problems that result from bad or inappropriate work in the past, and, with limited money available, problems often get addressed with bad or inappropriate work as a remedy!!! With tight and restricted budgets the need for replanting and maintenance of replacement trees takes a back seat.
Frequently though, small towns lack the resources and budget to hire their own arborist or city forester with the expertise to accurately assess the condition of their trees, and frequently the responsibility is given to the city engineer, the public works director or the highways departments foreman; who may not have the necessary expertise to make the best decisions for the long term well being of the trees, while also addressing concerns regarding liability issues.
Small municipalities need to address tree problems in their parks, often caused by soil compaction, improper work performed on them in the past, vandalism or natural over maturity. In the streets we see frequent problems with root issues, creating trip hazards in sidewalks or cracking in the vehicle right of way, perhaps root pruning would resolve the problem; but would it cause the tree to become unstable? We do not believe in simple answers or across the board solutions, we believe that trees exist as individual trees and should be treated as such.
With increasing litigation and massive increases in awards made to settle claims and increasing environmental awareness within communities, there is a need to take a more proactive course in respect of tree management issues.
Ideally we would recommend greater funding for preventive measures rather than remedial work, however we realize that, in many cases the damage is already done.
We offer our services to assist in such matters. We are available to undertake tree inventories, prepare management plans, undertake tree inspections and write specifications for necessary work. These services are offered on an annual, bi-annual or as required contract basis. Why not let us be your city arborists?