20080811cutting

20080811 Cutting

Monday the 11th of August local residents were alarmed when personnel from the Park Department were seen preparing to fell another mature tree just outside the Memorial Garden.

After the a number of residents have congregated Julian the secretary of the local TA manage to get hold of Rosie Dobson the Council arboralist responsible for the tree care of the Park.

She very considerately agreed to come down and discussed with us the forthcoming plan for the space.

It includes the felling of dead and damaged trees but also the replanting of robust saplings to replace and increase the tree population.

Two mature maples will be going, the one in the middle of the park and the one outside the Memorial Garden a dead crab apple tree on the Alvey Street and a smaller tree inside the Memorial Garden.

Here the tree how it was with some residents and the Council arboralist assessing the situation. The tree suffered fire damage some years back when some rabbish was set alight under it. the blackening and the scars left on the bark are still clearly visible.

Here is the tree as it was with the workmen starting "heavily pruning" it. Eventually they will return to fell it.

A closer look at the base of the tree. Note the big fissure and the cavity at the base.

A close-up of the base. See the damaged junction of the main two branches and the basal decay. The wood pulp was so soft that could easily be scooped with the bare hands. The wood rot extended well into the root of the plant. The blacken bark is the consequence of the fire.

The picture of the basal cavity.

The measuring tape gives the dimension of the opening depth. In an healthy tree all of it would have been solid wood. The tree is at risk of falling in heavy wind, especially considering the relative spread canopy.

On the background is the other tree that will be felled at some point. The tree suffered seripous bark damage when some ten years or so ago it central secrion was streepped of bark by miscreants that tried to break it.

It survived it but the combined cation of wind and infections on the trunk in areas where it had been bent caused a part of its phloem to fail.

Part of tree has died and the cracks in its trunk are both a sign of probable deep rot and possible fracture points under strong winds.

The crack are clearly visible in this close-up of the middle trunk. One cannot see a way of saving it.

This is the dead tree inside the Memorial Garden. To be felled together with the crab apple tree on the West side of the park (closed to the entrance next to the memorial garden)

It is not clear what caused this and the crab apple to die but both had been vandalised as saplings.

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