News
City accused of abusing its trees
The state of trees citywide is being jeopardized by ill-advised planting and maintenance methods resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted greenery.
This charge, by Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest, results largely from the work of private interests, but the city does not consistently enforce standards on public rights of way, said Danielle Crumrine, executive director of FPUF.
If it's only money that matters, at $400 to $500 per tree, investors should have incentive to make sure their trees are pruned and mulched properly, she said. Money aside, "trees aren't ornaments. They are part of the city's biodiversity, its web of life."
In recent months, the city has been under fire for cutting down old trees it deemed hazardous.
But a more pervasive problem is misplanting and abuse of trees, said Ms. Crumrine. Read More
Ash borer found in Mercer County
The state Department of Agriculture says the emerald ash borer has been found in Mercer County.
The invasive beetle was discovered in Butler and Allegheny counties last summer. Officials are surveying this year to gauge whether the insect has spread.
Mercer joins Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties in a quarantine prohibiting the movement of ash nursery stocks, green lumber and firewood.
The emerald ash borer is a wood-boring beetle native to China and eastern Asia. It has killed more than 30 million ash trees in Michigan since 2002 and millions more in Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia and Illinois.
Emerald Ash Borer Dectected in Pennsylvania
PITTSBURGH -- Don’t be alarmed if you find purple boxes hanging from trees in the area. These boxes, resembling fly traps, are there to stop the spread of the emerald ash borer.
The beetle-like pest is native to Asia and feeds on ash trees. This process damages and eventually kills the tree. Tens of millions of ash trees have been killed since 2002
PA Department of Agriculture has imposed a quarantine in Butler, Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence Counties to help slow the spread of emerald ash borer. Read More
A Sapling Turns into a Giant; The Streets Around It Change, Too
It may have been a sapling, but it looked like a stick. Diane Dillon, for one, was fairly skeptical that the branch her elderly neighbor stuck in the ground in front of his Cobble Hill brownstone one day in the late 1960s — a twig, no thicker than her finger — would ever amount to much. She was pretty sure the wind would just blow it away.
But the neighbor — Ms. Dillon remembers him only as Mr. Greiner — must have had a feeling about that stick. As the neighborhood around it was transformed, from a rough-edged enclave of immigrants to one of the most sought-after ZIP codes in the city, with the prices of houses climbing from the low five digits in the 1960s to millions today, the twig grew as well.
The tree, on Kane Street near Tompkins Place, became a giant, with branches that reach across Kane, roots that have torn apart the sidewalk, and a trunk wrapped in vines that leans into the street like an old man warning cars away.
“This is what it has become,” said Ms. Dillon. “This little tiny branch we thought would never survive.”
In recent weeks, though, residents who live appreciatively in the mulberry’s shade feared the tree faced a new threat: a city chain saw. In May, a note on green paper appeared in the mailbox of the Melameds, who live in Mr. Greiner’s old house, announcing that a city inspector had determined the tree was facing removal pending review because it was diseased. Read More
Coalition says buffers needed for clean water
Thursday, June 19, 2008 By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A diverse coalition of organizations and businesses, joined by a bipartisan group of state legislators, is urging the state to restrict development in a 100-foot-wide buffer along streams and rivers to reduce pollution.
The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water launched its "Buffers 100" initiative in Harrisburg yesterday, hoping to influence the state Department of Environmental Protection's ongoing regulatory review of water quality regulations, which include no general stream buffer requirements.
"About 12,500 miles of streams in Pennsylvania are already degraded by pollution. Buffers can help restore many of these streams to health and protect the rest from harmful pollution," said Myron Arnowitt, state director for Clean Water Action, a national environmental group.
The proposal, which would not affect existing developments or agricultural uses, was endorsed by 110 environmental groups, municipal organizations and businesses, and 25 state senators and representatives.
The major impact of stream buffer restrictions would be felt by sprawling new residential and commercial developments, Mr. Arnowitt said. The proposal would require developers to preserve a strip of land at least 100 feet wide, keeping the land in its natural state with native vegetation and trees. Read More
Why Shade Trees? The Unexpected Benefit
Davis, CA (November 1, 2007)- We would all prefer to walk down a tree-lined street to one without trees, but did you know that the street itself prefers to run under trees? This report examines the cost-saving benefits of having shaded streets. All other factors equal, the condition of pavement on tree-shaded streets is better than on unshaded streets. In fact, shaded roads require significantly less maintenance and can save up to 60% of repaving costs over 30 years.
After more than 100 years of road and highway building, the United States is now criss-crossed by nearly four million miles of roadways. Add in all the parking lots, private roads, driveways, and road shoulders, and the total amount of paved land comes to approximately one percent of the total area of the contiguous United States. The cost of maintaining this asphalt can be lowered through urban tree planting.
Asphalt streets are a combination of filler materials, known as aggregate, and a binder- asphalt cement- on top of one or more layers of gravel and compacted soil. As pavement temperatures rise, the binder evaporates and breaks down and the pavement begins to harden, making it easier for cracks to form. Tree planting along roads provides shade, thereby improving pavement conditions. According to research conducted by this study, 20% shade on a street improves pavement condition by 11%, which is a 60% savings for resurfacing over 30 years. Read Tips for Street Shading Trees
Trees cleared on golf course
Residents, activists criticize city for cutting down healthy trees
Friday, June 06, 2008
Some Mount Washington residents are questioning why the city let a condo developer cut trees in Grandview Byways Scenic Park, and Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest are criticizing the cutting of oaks in Schenley Park to benefit golfers.
"Shocked would be a better word," said Ken Stiles, a board member of the urban forest group. "Cutting down 100-year-old healthy trees? Because they were getting in the way of golfers?"
Danielle Crumrine, the executive director, said she visited the site where about 10 old oak trees were to be removed. She said she asked the contractor if they were healthy and he said all but a few were. Read more!
Group Protests Cutting Down Of Schenley Golf Course Trees
UPDATED: 6:14 pm EDT June 3, 2008
PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh officials said several decades-old trees that are marked to be cut down inside Schenley Park at the Bob O'Connor Golf Course are diseased, but a local environmental group claims not all of them are.
The environmental group Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest claims eight healthy oak trees averaging 90 years old are among those being cut down in the golf course to accommodate golfers.
"There are such limited resources and such a great backlog of tree removals around the city, trees that pose an immediate threat to the public," said Danielle Crumrine of Friends of Pittsburgh. "Why is the city removing trees to benefit the golf course?" Read more!
Rescuers take to the trees at Flagstaff
Sunday, May 18, 2008
It was a rope-rigging, high-climbing, bell-ringing, target-aiming, rescue-simulating time at the Western Tree Climbing Championship on Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park.
The Penn-Del chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture hosted the spirited competition that challenged the skills of employees of tree service companies in Pennsylvania and Delaware. More than 30 workers from companies that perform tree removal and pruning services competed yesterday on tall oak trees in sunny, breezy and chilly weather. Read more!
Town rallies to save old Ginkgo
Sunday, April 13, 2008
By Daniel Malloy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When a young woman tripped and broke her wrist on the Main Street sidewalk of this Bedford County borough last year, the roots of a large ginkgo tree were to blame, as they had buckled the sidewalk into a hazard.
But both the tree -- which has stood sentry over the center of Everett for the past century and a half -- and the residents of this two-stoplight town have shown a stubborn refusal to give up their roots.
Faced with the prospect of losing the 65-foot landmark, the Everett Free Library, which owns the property on which the tree stands, circulated a petition that quickly gathered more than 600 signatures, nearly a third of the borough's population. Read more!
Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine
Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive beetle that destroys ash trees, has been detected in Pennsylvania. Read the news release here
Take Action to Save Urban Forestry Programs
Washington, DC (March 13, 2008)- The Alliance for Community Trees is joining together with 15 national organizations in opposing the drastic cuts proposed for the Urban and Community Forestry Program (U&CF) in the President's FY 2009 federal budget. The proposed 82% cut would leave the national U&CF program with only $5 million in funds for FY 2009 to deliver assistance to all 50 states and territories.
Many forestry programs experienced sharp cuts in the President's budget, but U&CF was among the greatest. Forestry advocates have been more vocal this year than ever, urging Congress to fix the way that the federal government funds fire suppression, which has eaten into the agency's technical assistance programs and research capacity. Read more
Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest has signed on to this advocacy effort!!!
Call or write Congressman Mike Dolye to let him know that you oppose these cuts!
401 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: 202-225-2135 Fax: 202-225-3084
225 Ross Street, Fifth Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Phone: 412-261-5091 Fax: 412-261-1983
e-mail address: rep.doyle@mail.house.gov
Step Away From the Clippers
New Laws to Protect Trees Complicate Homeowners' Lives; Saving the Persimmon
December 21, 2007 - Wall Street Journal
By Sara Lin
As the number of trees declines across the country, new pruning and removal regulations are causing problems for homeowners.
Efforts range from stringent new laws that define excessive trimming as "tree abuse," to tighter restrictions on what people can and can't do to the greenery in their own yards. This month, the Bellevue, Wash., city council began requiring homeowners with major renovation or teardown plans to preserve at least 30% of the trees on their property. In Ringwood, N.J., residents must now apply for a permit to remove even a single tree from their property -- and prove to a town inspector that there's a good reason to do it. And in Arroyo Grande, Calif., city officials passed an ordinance in September that makes severe pruning a misdemeanor. Read More
Q&A with Sandy Feather: Too much mulch around trees can cause rot
The Next Page: Support Your Local Trees
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Artwork by Stacy Innerst / Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh's tree trouble is no secret. In response to decades of deferred care, and repeated reductions in the city Forestry Division's budget, Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School conducted a study of Pittsburgh's urban forest in 1995. The findings, published as "Pittsburgh's Urban Forest: Planting For the Future," painted a bleak picture. It declared...read more
National NeighborWoods Month was created by the Alliance for Community Trees to celebrate the benefits of trees in the places people live. ACT encourage tree planting events and tree care, creating tree canopies that increase the health and livability of neighborhoods for us all. Friends is an active member of ACT and will host several events throughout the month of October to celebrate National NeighborWoods Month.....read more.
Why kill a tree to grow a flower?
State losing protection for mulch
Oct. 9th 2007 - Baton Rouge, The Advocate: Re: “When did swamps become ‘ours’?” Letter to the editor, Sept 21. The cypress swamps may not be ‘ours’, but we all certainly deserve the storm protection they provide....read more.