Trees, Climate and People » Urban Forestry

Herald-Leader article

Tom Kimmerer — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:15:41 +0000

My article on trees, ice storms and power is available at the Lexington Herald-Leader. Comments on the article are welcome at Sustainable Kentucky.

You may want to see the first part of my slide show “Ice, Trees and Power” Part 2 will be available this evening.

Ice, Trees and Power, Part I

Tom Kimmerer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:35:08 +0000

The worst ice storm in Kentucky’s history struck the state in early February 2009, wiping out power to nearly 1 million homes and businesses. In urban areas, most power outages were caused by trees striking power lines. In my op-ed piece to appear in the Lexington Herald-Leader, I argue that most damage due to ice storms could be avoided with better urban forest management.

This slide show describes the damage done to trees by the ice storm. In the second part of this presentation, I will describe how future damage can be minimized by better forest management. (Note: For best results, please click the View Full Screen button at the bottom of the screen.

Ice, Trees & Power, Part 1

View more presentations from maclura. (tags: environment storms)

Urban Forestry cut from final stimulus bill

Tom Kimmerer — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:56:03 +0000

The $790 billion stimulus bill, now out in final form, does not include funding for urban forestry improvements that were in the original House version of the bill. The original bill included funding within wildlands fire management that could provide urban forestry funding:

$550,000,000… for State fire assistance hazardous fuels projects, volunteer fire assistance, cooperative forest health projects, city forest enhancements, and wood to energy grants on State and private lands

However, the final bill (available at the House Appropriations web site) now says:

$250,000,000 is for State and private forestry activities including hazardous fuels reduction, forest health and ecosystem improvement activities on State and private lands using all authorities available to the Forest Service: Provided, That up to $50,000,000 of the total funding may be used to make wood-to-energy grants to promote increased utilization of biomass from Federal,State and private lands…

Photo: Street trees in Lexington, KY. Photo by Tom Kimmerer

Urban trees can help reduce stormwater problems

Tom Kimmerer — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:49:34 +0000

Urban trees have many environmental benefits, from improving air quality and reducing urban temperatures to increasing feelings of well-being. Scientists at Virginia Tech have shown that roots of urban trees can penetrate compacted soils and allow stormwater to infiltrate better into soils. The work, published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, is part of a larger project to learn to use trees for stormwater management. The project emphasizes the the use of trees and structural soils to improve water quality and reduce impacts of stormwater runoff. In addition to Virginia Tech, the project includes collaborators from Cornell University and the University of California at Davis.

Can Urban Tree Roots Improve Infiltration through Compacted Subsoils for Stormwater Management? — Bartens et al. 37 (6): 2048 — Journal of Environmental Quality

Stormwater Management at Virginia Tech

Houston will plant a million trees in recovery from Hurricane Ike

Tom Kimmerer — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:50:20 +0000

Hurricane Ike devastated the urban forests of many southern and midwestern cities, none more than Houston. The city lost tens of thousands of trees, including many old, stately and highly prized trees.

Now, Houston has unveiled an ambitious plan to plant a million trees in the next five years, revitalizing Houston’s urban forest. Half of the trees will be planted on highway right-of-way by the Texas Department of Transportation. The rest will be planted by various state, county and city departments and the nonprofit Trees for Houston.

Protecting old and historic city trees

Tom Kimmerer — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:16:58 +0000

Lexington, Kentucky is home to a remarkable number of large old trees. Many, like the one in my back yard (pictured), are planted. My white oak is over 200 years old, but was probably planted in the front yard of an old farm. There are also many old-growth or presettlement trees. These trees, including bur oak, chinkapin oak, Shumard oak and blue ash, are open-grown trees that were left in place when the Bluegrass was first settled and farmed. The trees provided shade for horses and other livestock. Today, there are probably a few hundred of these old trees left, but many are in decline. Decline, due to soil compaction and root damage, can take many decades. But the developer’s bulldozer is much faster, and many of these trees have been felled as the suburbs expanded.

There are now few opportunities for these trees to reproduce, and it is rare to see young bur oak or blue ash in the Inner Bluegrass. Around the edges of the Bluegrass, along the bluffs of the Kentucky River or in the more dissected hills of the Outer Bluegrass, young trees of these species are more common.

Andy Mead has an excellent article in the Lexington Herald-Leader about attempts by Lexington to provide some protection for these Heritage Trees. A number of cities have regulations to protect large old trees. Now, the Lexington Tree Board, an advisory panel, is looking for ways to protect these valuable old trees. While many agree that protection is needed, debate centers around whether to create a voluntary registration program or a mandatory protection rule. The city currently requires plans submitted by developers to identify significant trees, but there is nothing to prevent developers from clearing trees before submitting a plan.

There is little information on how many large, old trees are still growing in the Bluegrass. Mary Wharton, a renowned botanist, found 199 trees in the late 1970’s, according to Andy’ article. I suspect that that is a significant underestimate. There have been no systematic surveys of old trees since then.

I am quoted in the article as defending voluntary protection plans but not mandatory plans. But I do think that an inventory of existing trees is needed, and that inventory could be used to persuade homeowners, perhaps with tax incentives, to preserve their trees. In the long run, it is equally important to create refuges for reproduction of these trees.

Sustainability in urban areas should include the long-term vigor and viability of natural communities. Part of that long-term view would include management plans for large old trees. This is especially true for the Bluegrass because many of our indigenous trees species are rare elsewhere, or have very restricted ranges.

Trees in this article:

bur oak, Quercus macrocarpa
chinkapin oak, Quercus muehlenbergii
Shumard oak, Quercus shumardii
white oak, Quercus alba
blue ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata

Lexington seeks to protect its oldest trees – Latest News – Kentucky.com

Dawes Arboretum loses trees in Ike’s winds, including 200 year old white oak

Tom Kimmerer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:19:18 +0000

The beautiful Dawes Arboretum in Newark, OH, lost many trees last weekend in the high winds at the edge of Ike. Winds up to 70 mph knocked down exposed trees, and when those trees came down, they took other trees with them.

Dawes lost 32 trees from their collection, including many sugar maples (Acer saccharum). A 100-ft tall white oak (Quercus alba), estimated at 200 years old, cam down, taking out several Silician firs.

In areas of the arboretum where proper pruning had been completed, there was much less damage.

Links:

Ike’s winds take down trees across the country

Tom Kimmerer — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:11:30 +0000

Hurricane Ike knocked down trees from Texasto Northern New York over the weekend. Here in central Kentucky, we had no rain, but strong winds up to 60 mph knocked down trees throughout the region. Falling trees knocked down power lines, leaving more than 39,000 homes without power, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

I looked at many downed trees and broken limbs this morning around Lexington. All of the downed trees that I saw had major stem defects and all of the broken limbs had significant decay. Although we often blame power outages on downed trees during storms, we really should blame downed neglected trees. In a major storm, like Ike in Houston, even healthy trees will be broken or uprooted. However, in more moderate winds, most of the trees that fall or break have major decay and other defects. The power outages and economic loss in many storm-damaged communities represents the long-term cost of deferred maintenance on city forests.

Update: According to Governor Steve Beshear, more than 550,000 Kentuckians were without power Sunday, including 90% of northern Kentucky customers of Duke Energy.

Cross posted at Sustainable Kentucky/Green Kentucky and Tree Trends.