Some really interesting details in here about tree failure patterns following Hurricane Helene, despite mixing up some details about hardwoods vs softwoods
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/09/asheville-trees-hurricane-helene-north-carolina
Dead trees walking?
All of these ghost-like trees are scheduled to be removed on 12th Street and 59th Ave. SE in Calgary. I counted 32 trees.
There is no reason given or project number on the City of Calgary signs.
#PaperBirchBooks is hosting #Trees In #McCauley, a talk and seed swap on March 11th (7-9 PM) about the past and future of McCauley's #urbanforest.
@dustinbajer.com will cover our neighbourhood's horticultural history and our plan to plant 1000 new trees. We would love to see you at the event and could use your help spreading the word.
register at https://lu.ma/k4ld65l6
Suffice it to say, there are dangers to being around large trees, but I personally would not want to live in a city or suburb that doesn't have large trees.
What needs to happen is what used to happen - we used to have robust public horticulture that cared for the trees and maintained them. It wasn't just outsourced to chainsaw jockeys. If knowledgeable people in sufficient numbers and with sufficient resources care for public trees = lower risk.
There is a complex web of issues here and while I've seen the occasional article talking about things right after a windstorm, I haven't yet seen a newspaper or journal article that really takes on the complex web of issues in street/public tree policy in the US.
Maybe the arborists are more aware of what's out there.
When I started studying carob, I studied street trees in my region that had been planted as far back as the 1920s. I walked a lot of streets & saw a lot of street trees, not just carob.
And I started to learn about how political choices over decades had affected how street trees are chosen and maintained and who does that maintaining.
https://www.davisite.org/2025/03/city-of-davis-misleads-public-on-24-million-wrongful-death-verdict.html #UrbanForest #DavisCA #Infrastructure #TreeLaw
A worthy cause --
these University of California Berkeley students are raising money to improve their #UrbanGardens.
If you have a few bucks, could you send some their way?
This maple has some girth. #ThickTrunkTuesday #Trees #UrbanForest #Minneapolis #Keewaydin
Threats to Urban Forests in the US.
There is a downloadable tool linked in the PDF. At least for me, it opened as an Excel worksheet in my browser, but with some errors so I'm not sure if it was intended to be Excel.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/nrs/pubs/Rooted-in-Research/nrs_rooted-res_45_december2024.pdf #UrbanForest @plantscience
"San Diego’s urban forest, 2017"
"A 2017 analysis of the urban forest in San Diego, California, reveals that this area has an estimated 4.9 million live trees across all ownerships...estimated to store about 289,000 tons of carbon...valued at $49.3M. In addition, it is estimated that these trees remove about 34,600 tons of carbon/yr..."
https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-RB-134 #UrbanForest #SanDiego #ClimateEmergency #UrbanHeatIsland
In Melbourne's hot summer with urban heat island boosting temperatures that are also increasing due to climate change, local and State Governments need to improve tree canopy shade over footpaths and bikepaths. It is a matter of heat health and social equity.
Ben Rossiter from Victoria Walks said all levels of government should invest in planting trees around footpaths to encourage walking.
"We need to prioritise tree planting particularly routes to school, routes to public transport and to local shops," he said. "Older walkers, people with disabilities, families with young children all tend to walk slower, they need shade because they'll be out in the sun longer," he said.
"In disadvantaged areas, people have fewer transport options so walking is really central and if walking is unappealing they lose options for social connections but also they can't get to schools, work and shops."
#Urbanheat #heatwave #TreeCanopy #heathealth #ClimateChange #UHIE #urbanForest #VictoriaWalks #ClimateAdaptation
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-15/melbourne-heat-island-tree-canopy-cover-banyule/101808170
Vegetation in built up areas of cities are responsible for a surprisingly substantial take up of city CO2 emissions, researchers have found, looking at the biogenic CO2 flux in greater New York. Up to 40% of anthropogenic emissions during summer days may be sequested in New York, which has a tree canopy coverage of about 22%, and grasses (lawns) another 12% of the area.
Provides reason for further enhancing urban greenery and urban forests as part solution to the #ClimateCrisis.
Lead author Dandan Wei said "This tells us that the ecosystem matters in New York City, and if it matters here, it probably matters everywhere else.”
Columbia Uni Media Release: New York City's Greenery Absorbs a Surprising Amount of Its Carbon Emissions https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/01/05/new-york-citys-greenery-absorbs-a-surprising-amount-of-its-carbon-emissions/
Study: High resolution modeling of vegetation reveals large summertime biogenic CO2 fluxes in New York City https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aca68f
