Thank you Baristanet!

Last Monday Baristanet posted "Verona Residents Fight for Trees". Read the article here. Many people made interesting comments -one was nonsense crazy- And the following one in particular puzzled me:

"The owners of any property where trees were removed were all contacted ahead of time and given a choice of either having the tree removed by the town or taking on responsibility for the maintenance of it in the future."

Mr. Jim Helb, Town Engineer, explained during the last council meeting, that he can not give anybody an exact number of trees that need to be cut down until the sidewalk is exposed. According to Rutgers:

"Although trunk injury can kill trees, it is root injury during construction that is most likely to kill trees." Tree Problems Caused by People in Suburban Lanscape

Therefore the way digging operations are conducted is crucial for the survival of any given tree. And in Morningside a backhoe was used.

"Vibratory plows, chain trenchers, and hand tools do a better job at this than bulldozers and backhoes...If possible, avoid widening streets or sidewalks when they are replaced. If curbs are slated to be replaced, hand-form the curbs adjacent to tree roots, rather than excavating with machinery for mechanical forms. Excavation with machinery destroys major branch roots, even if the new curb remains in the same position as the old curb." Protecting Trees from Construction Damage, University of Minnesota .

I asked one of my neighbors at Morningside Rd. and she confirmed that she was given two specific options: accepting the removal or assuming liability over the public tree (potentially damaged by backhoe excavation during sidewalk removal). Is that common practice? The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) offers a logical solution:

"It is possible to preserve trees on building sites if the right measures are taken. The most important step is to hire a professional arborist during the planning stage... Your arborist and builder should work together in planning the construction. The builder may need to be educated regarding the value of the trees ... and the importance of saving them ... Get it in writing. All of the measures intended to protect your trees must be written into the construction specifications. The written specifications should detail exactly what can and cannot be done to and around the trees ... Fines and penalties for violations should be built into the specifications. Not too surprisingly, subcontractors are much more likely to adhere to the tree preservation clauses if their profit is at stake. The severity of the fines should be proportional to the potential damage to the trees and should increase for multiple infractions."