The stories of the needless loss of beautiful old trees, some first hand and some through the grapevine, keep rolling in. Countless accounts of old-timey tree “experts” who troll through neighborhoods convincing people their tree is going to fall on their house. Of course, they get a “friendly” price and, yes, he tells you, he’s “insured.” Then there is the woman who wept after seeing the stark and awful difference the removal of, turns out, a perfectly healthy old oak caused in her life. There is also the couple who had a beautiful cherry removed because it wasn’t native.
How do you calculate the value these trees bring to these homes? How do we tally the annual unnecessary loss of such trees caused by irrational fears?
Routinely, seemingly more frequently, I see large trees cut down. I seldom know the homeowner’s reasoning, but I can tell by looking that many of these trees were at no risk of falling.
Large trees are beautiful, give homes and neighborhoods ambiance, significantly increase quality of life, and provide huge amounts of ecological services. It can take thousands of sapling trees to equal the benefits of one large tree. Such magnificence should be preserved whenever possible. This generation has been the recipient of previous generations’ gifting of large trees. We are obliged to pay it forward by planting the tall trees of the future. Trees which will shade and benefit our children, their children, and beyond.
A tale of two neighborhoods. One, modest homes with incredible trees, the other features more expensive homes baking in the sun. In which do you suppose the neighbors better know each other?
So is it legitimate to worry about large trees falling. Indeed, it is. Sometimes tall trees do fall. Sometimes they damage property when they do and, sometimes, people are killed. So, despite the fact that you are 22 times more likely to die from an accident at work than from a tree, it is something to think about. Fortunately, at a fraction of the cost of a removal, even at “friendly” off-the-books-prices, you can have your tree inspected by real experts who have the knowledge, the tools, the experience, and continuing education to give you a truthful assessment as to whether your tree is a hazard. They are called International Society of Arborists (ISA) TRAQ (tree risk assessment qualification) Certified Arborists and they have pledged, as a requirement of their membership and certification, to provide honest and truthful reports.
Legitimately dangerous trees need removal. Period.
Is this a commercial for the International Society of Arborists? I don’t know. Is it ever bad advice to recommend that people have experts assist them with important decisions? I don’t think so. Full disclosure, I am a member of the ISA and an ISA Certified Arborist. That said, I am not TRAQ qualified and I do not work independently, so I really have nothing to gain by recommending that folks have their large trees properly assessed by professionals. Aside from the ISA, there is also the American Society of Consulting Arborists. I do not know much about them, but here are the websites for both organizations:
https://www.isa-arbor.com/
https://www.asca-consultants.org/
It could be argued that this Pinus densiflora umbraculifera is too close to the corner of the home. Yet, it is healthy, beautiful, and no threat to anyone. A valuable and rare specimen such as this not only deserves to stay but should be given the best of care.
It’s too easy to overlook the countless benefits big trees make to our lives. I like to point out that a drive through a newer McMansion neighborhood on a hot, sunny day where trees are small, young, and, more often than not, ornamental selections that will never achieve size anyway, often feels like a neutron bomb went off–not a single human being anywhere in sight. They chose to live in the suburbs at a home with some land, but lack the vision to make it the Eden they expected. Meanwhile, under the same weather conditions, a drive through an older neighborhood with a large and diverse tree canopy will be teeming with people taking walks, talking with neighbors, hosting gatherings, and you will see real human children actually playing outside. Although there are easily 100 other points one can make as to why we need more large trees, that alone should suffice. So take care to preserve your big trees and also plant the big trees for tomorrow. There are few things you can do with your property that will create such lasting value.
Plenty of space on either side to run a pipe to the house, and yet they chose to trench directly through the root zone of a beautiful beautiful, old beech. The plumbers surely said it would be fine. They were wrong. This tree went from healthy to a hazard in a single day. When it comes to trees, don’t listen to plumbers or any other profession other than arborists.
Before construction, have a certified arborist assess potentially impacted trees and create a plan on how to save valuable specimens.
Agreed that large specimens need to stay. But is it acceptable for a tree to “touch” your house? Every year my painter comes to pressure wash the house and tells me limbs need to be headed back. He says he’s trying to “save” my house. Is there a radius that needs to be tree-free?
Hard to say, but limbing back can be beneficial to your tree (and your house).
Agree 100%. I’m always ranting on this. I just contacted with a certified arborist to take care of all my trees, even the smaller ornamental ones that I used to do myself. The last time I tried it looked like ODOT ( Ohio Dept of Transportation) pruned them.
We had a high wind go through town a few years ago with many big trees coming down.
Then folks were spooked and many healthy trees were removed.
I just lost the old maple in my hell strip. It was dying, a big branch came down and loosened the power line. Thankfully it was the city’s tree, so they paid for the removal. The city arborist was pleased that I asked for a hop hornbeam to replace it. But now my shade garden will need tweaking. And at 69, I won’t live to see it get big, nor the oak I planted at the other end of the hell strip.
I amuses me when people who buy expensive McMansons plant cheap, little trees.
Cheap little invasive trees like callery pear. No illegal to sell in Ohio. Hurray!
So many large oaks have been cut down in my neighborhood, but no one plants any replacements. I am almost at the point where I am going to ask people if I can plant a tree in their yard. Some were unhealthy, some came down due to fear of such large trees, and some people just didn’t want to deal with the leaves! Now they have to deal with the hot south-west sun on their house.
Bravo, Scott.
Preach it, brother tree lover. When answering any homeowner questions that come to me about trees, I always recommend they seek help from ISA certified arborists and no one else. We have so much emotional and financial and environmental issues tied up in caring for trees. It breaks my heart and my brain to see all the poor pruning that goes on in my area-stripping out the interior of trees and limbing them up so far they look like cocktail umbrellas instead of trees, then when the high winds come, with the weight on the ends they get blown up and away and cause more damage that we all get to pay for in higher insurance premiums. Argggghhhhh!
At the price of removing a tree here, I would think people would make sure it needed to go. We had a lot of trees taken down in our neighborhood after several houses were wrecked by tree falls. I took down an big old mulberry after the arborist I called to inspect, when it kept dropping limbs, saw it was hollowing out. Most of the trees I have seen cut around here were in similar condition. My son’s neighbor’s tree blew over onto his house and fortunately did not break through where his kids were sleeping, althought the ceiling was cracked. Also took out a tree in his yard, which he made into a crows nest platform where you can go up and relax. I did not cry over my tree. My garden harvests are much larger now, even though before they were pretty good before (my whole backyard is an organic garden, complete with chicken coop). Also got a huge pile of wood chips for mulch that will last me quite a while, and I also left part of the trunk to grow squash over. I see mushrooms peeking out of it that may be ediible.
I am sharing this article with my native nursery customers who seem to be reluctant to plant large trees. Heck, they think black gum/black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) is too large. I have a post partly written promoting tulip poplar (80 to 120 feet at maturity) and will add a link.
I wish everyone who fancies themselves a landscaper/tree service/pruning master would see this article and think 3 times before recommending or facilitating pruning or removal of mature trees. Ditto the owners who don’t contact someone truly qualified to address potential problems. I mourn, almost daily, the butchery of ornamental trees in my area…many simply don’t know the basics of pruning, so you end up with a trunk and 3 main branches…all other material sent to the dump. In the last years I’ve seen the removal of a beautiful Magnolia stellata, a lofty mature Auraucaria ,several bearing cherry trees and innumerable manglings of ornamental plum trees. None of these were diseased nor did they pose any threat to houses, wires, etc. (Of course, this area was once covered in redwoods, now extant in remnant populations only). With increasing temperatures, the need for shade increases as well, and beyond their utility to humans, I feel we owe regard and respect for trees and other species not dissimilar from what we extend to people. To paraphrase Robin Wall Kimmerer ” What if the trees had an equal voice in the decision-making process?”
Amen. This subject deserves a rant at least once a year to keep people aware. Loved the comment about ODOT. They “pruned” our chestnut tree a few years ago. Sadly it’s no longer with us.
my jurisdiction (fayette co ky) has an ordinance that requires the homeowner to replace any tree removed in the right of way with an appropriate (city approved) tree, but this ordinance is not enforced so the cutting continues —no shade. no privacy, no bird nests……
I have some dead trees that I had planned to take down when the ground was frozen, as many spring ephemerals are underneath. PS: Didn’t get it done this winter, so postponed and will just remember NOT to walk in that area when the wind is blowing. Your article didn’t mention the many saplings that we need to leave, to replace the old trees that will eventually come down. So many people want to clean the understory. I know I need help with coming to terms about which saplings to leave and which to take out. Always a struggle. Thanks for your thoughts on the topic.
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Thank you for writing this! I live in Atlanta where developers are allowed to cut down even the most majestic, old trees with impunity. At most, they get a tiny fine that they just add to the cost of doing business. Our city’s beautiful and vaunted tree canopy is fast disappearing, with all the benefits it brings us. The city’s tree ordinance is a pathetic joke, eve when it is enforced (which isn’t a given). We ourselves nursed a huge old white oak in our back yard with help from certified arborists for at least a decade past when it might have died naturally; what finished it off was a next-door neighbor who decided he just had to have a completely flat, level back yard, regraded it, and filled its original gently sloping grade with tons of soil, right over the poor tree’s root zone. Architects, builders, and developers have a lot to answer for in the ongoing destruction of big trees. Right now, Atlanta is in the middle of zoning “revisions” that will dramatically increase the amount of density developers can build “as of right”, which will mean even more destruction of our beautiful trees, many of which are found on private property in homeowners’ yards and gardens in residential neighborhoods. The developers could be building on the many vacant lots here including many that were paved over decades ago, but they can make more money building luxury housing in the tree-lined neighborhoods that make Atlanta special. The city enables them. The ongoing loss of big trees directly affects Atlanta’s water problems with flooding and runoff, and we’ll suffer more from climate change without the trees canopy.
We still have a huge water oak that we tend carefully. I’m well aware of the damage that a huge tree can do if it falls; a different neighbor’s giant white oak fell on our house 27 years ago. Fun fact: our century-old house is so solid and well-built that it actually held the tree up. Every builder that came to bid on the reconstruction job told me, “Lady, if this had been new construction, that tree would have torn off the back of your house.” Much of what is being built in our city now is big and flashy but cheap. I’ve planted a white oak sapling in our back yard that I hope will long outlast our time in this house. It is far enough back from the house that I hope it survives any future owner’s ambitions to expand.
Okay, rant over. I hope you’ll keep writing about this issue.
I love tall trees, but would advice some necessary caution: Last July, a storm took down hundreds of trees in my town. A tulip poplar fell in my backyard, took out the fence, a lot of my plantings, some other trees in its way and a tall lamp post on a public path. As it turned out, that 100 foot tall tree had roots that were less than two feet deep. It couldn’t root in the clay soil that’s so dominant in the area where we live. And had that three fallen in the other direction, our house (with my husband and me in it) would have been split in half. So, yes, big trees, by all means. But watch out for the ground you put these trees in. A tall tree needs to be able to send its roots deeply into the ground. As for my husband and myself, we are planning to remove one more of these tall poplar trees growing too close to the house, and no doubt with absolutely shallow roots… It’s just not worth the risk. But I will make sure to plant a replacement tree (better adapted to that kind of soil), even when I will never see it reach full height.
Scott, thanks for telling the truth. I rely on certified tree experts to give me their honest appraisal. If they say, it’s a goner (death is imminent or likely to topple), out it goes. The 6 O’Clock evening news doesn’t help much. I cringe when they show cars and homes buried under the weight of a fallen tree. Most often a slow news day. Viewers are left thinking, “Holy crap, it’s gonna happen to me!” I asked my insurance agent what the actuarial likelihood of a tree falling on my house might be. She said it’s not a statistic that is even measured. Let’s plant and maintain more trees.
It does happen, especially if you are like my sister who doesn’t want to take down ANY trees on her property, even dead or dying ones. Her “grandfather” tree fell on her car, with her in it (missing her, thank goodness) as she sat at the end of her lane reading her mail. The tree had been weakened for years, then rains and wind gave it the final push. I advocate for old trees and for safety, too. We have several old white pines that are close to the back of the house that we monitor closely. Someday they might have to come down but till then, one still has the tire swing the kids used 20 years ago and it shades the dog pen in the summer. If we’re around, we’ll plant more white pine…away from the house.
Hooray for this rant! So true. Trees are especially valued in my prairie landscape where it’s a struggle for any tree to reach maturity. However, watching all these new developments go in with houses cheek to jowl there is no room for any size tree let alone a shrub is very concerning. As temperatures climb the value of tree shade will become priceless.
We just had ex-tropical Cyclone Gabrielle pass through the north of New Zealand, following record-breaking rain a couple of weeks before.
Arborists in Auckland removing storm-felled trees found that their log pile was mysteriously growing in the night: someone had taken the opportunity to fell healthy mature pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa).
The city council is investigating and one arborist has recommended prosecution, as the loss of such trees contributes to the increasing number of slips in the city. Slips that killed two firefighters this week – each leaves behind a wife and small children – and made many others homeless.
Big trees are not just ornamental nice-to-haves. They are ent-like allies in the struggle for resilience in the face of increasingly destructive weather patterns. It sounds melodramatic to say that a large tree’s impact could be the difference between life and death, but it can be – indirectly, or directly, as a haven to climb into when the floodwaters reach the rooftops. And don’t get me started on forestry slash.
With all due respect, the supposed correlation between “older, heavily treed, modest/middle income” neighborhoods and neighbor interaction is not an accurate generalization. It certainly doesn’t apply in my part of the country, and in fact is the reverse: Those heavily treed neighborhoods are the most expensive (upper middle to high income) and are those in which the residents are much more insular. The average lot size here is from 1/8 to 1/4 acre; 1/2 acre is considered large, and anything over that will cost you $1mil or more. A 40-foot oak doesn’t belong in neighborhoods with 40’x60′ lots, utility lines running from street poles to each house, and cesspools and buried heating oil tanks in almost every front yard.
Scott,
Love your rants the best, as your topics are always relevant and spot-on.
With your great and far-reaching audience, how about a rant regarding homeowners being responsible and doing their part removing woody invasives, especially along common property lines. I have a rant going with my neighbor who refuses to remove three of the finest(not). I’m talking about buckthorn, Japanese honeysuckle, and common mulberry. They are one foot from our common property line and I have offered to remove(while they can still be dug)and replace with desirable species plants, all to no avail. So, all I can do is remove branching heading towards and over onto my property. Some people just don’t get it!! Please rant away on this topic at your earliest convenience, our perhaps you already have…
I dream of the day that a fly by night knocks on my door offering their tree topping services. It’s happened on our small road several times the last few years. With over 100 trees planted here at home I’m pretty sure I can walk around with them for at least threes hours getting them all excited and then another three hours trying to talk some sense into them!!!
Tree toppers should have their limbs amputated.
Thank you for a wonderful public service!
Love our tall trees. Red maple and gumball are some of the strongest trees. (Can’t say i would miss the gumballs)
They tower over our yards and provide much needed tall shade in our hot summers.
Can’t imagine living in a full sun neighborhood.
When it comes to tree valuations we have two systems in the UK: CAVAT (Capital Assessment Valuation of Amenity Trees) and ‘The Helliwell System’. Neither are 100%, although CAVAT is reckoned to be more precise, but they’re useful when it comes to insurance claims, developments and disputes. However a valuation system only works if there is a desire to assess the value of the tree to its larger environment; most tree problems come from a lack of knowledge and, even worse, a lack of interest. Better understanding would get people more on board with trees in the built environment (because let’s be honest here, we’re talking primarily about trees in built up places), but also improvements to building techniques and practices could play a big part in reducing the conflict between trees and buildings. We are, sad to say, up against a sizeable wedge of ‘panic propaganda’ when it comes to big trees, and how we get to homeowners who are legitimately worried about property and liability before dodgy tree surgeons do is a big question.
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Too big to fail, is a term used to describe companies or institutions that are considered too large or important to the economy to be allowed to fail. It does not apply to homeowners, as they are individuals, not institutions.
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