Scott Bloomquist 09/21/2011 English 216 Prof.

Novakovich

Backgrounder: Urban Tree Risk Management

Photo, courtesy of Scott Bloomquists everyday life.

Trees in the city, or a city in the trees

You can probably remember your last trip to a forest, and it probably wasnt anything like life in a city. But as difficult as it may be to notice at a glance, the forests, from all directions around Montreal, extend right into downtown. In fact, a walk from any destination to another in Montreal is a walk through an urban forest complete with most of the plant propagation and animal habitation that one might find or expect further from downtown. The only difference between the forest there and the forest here is that we have made quite an impression on this neck of the woods.

The risk urban trees present

An all-too-often overlooked risk of spending time in any wooded setting is falling trees and branches. No tree is perfect, and, like people, they develop and accumulate flaws from the stresses of their environment during their lifespan. Such timely flaws are usually the reason a tree might fall or lose a limb or two in its life. Important to consider is that lots of trees live for many hundreds of years and some of those grow for their entire lives. So if an urban tree grew large enough, and went unchecked for long enough, a falling branch could be the size of a small tree all by itself, putting lives and property that lie below in serious jeopardy.

The current state of urban tree risk management

Urban tree risk management is a municipal undertaking to reduce the danger of property damage and the loss of life due to falling trees and branches through routine assessment and trimming of the urban forestry. Like many city services, urban tree risk management has a history that is still unfolding today as cities are developing new forestry management techniques and policies. Every year people and property are affected by falling tree matter and many more are at risk in unassesed areas like private or unmaintained properties. Since new trees are springing up all the time while the already established ones are not getting any younger, the public endeavor to manage the risk of new and aging urban trees always has work in the future.

What urban trees provide for us

Of course, no one would recognize a forest without the trees, and thats the greatest asset the urban forest has to offer our own habitation here. From the Norway and Silver Maples that fill the parks to the Honey Locust and Little Leafed Lindens that line our sidewalks, the trees that make up the urban forest provide countless benefits from air quality to shade to noise reduction. However, even as the trees of Montreal lend so generously, connotation reminds us that in any forest lurks unseen dangers, some hidden in plain sight or just above our heads.

Bibliography

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