Preserving Trees in Suburban Areas

[Boldylocks]

A co-worker of mine is looking into buying a large home in my part of Pennsylvania. I was dissapointed when she remarked how if she gets the house, she wants to hire someone to cut all the trees down in the back yard. "The trees are too old" she says.

I asked her if the trees were diseased. She said , "No, I dont think so, but they're too old and need to go". I suggested she just hire someone to prune them so they look attractive but she thought it would just be easier to hire someone to cut them down. She doesnt intend to replant any trees there in their place.

This is the sad attitude alot of Suburban Americans have. They take what little trees we have left in our Country for granted, and they fail to realize their value in helping the environment, air quality, home for wildlife , shade, temperature stabilization, etc. They look upon trees as a modern nuisance. Many people will cut down a tree because the "annoying birds" in the trees were "crapping" on their cars.

How sad that people have this attitude . If we are lucky enough to have a yard on our property, we should use that land to the best of our ability to give something back to the Earth.. plant some trees and perennials. If you're like me, make your yard into a little nature habitat.

Give back where other humans take away.. The animals and the rest of Nature will be grateful for that.

[Mario Vaden]

It's nice when the tree lovers can find the homes with the trees already mature so they get some big ones ready to go, and the others who like sunshine and open air find homes with a clean slate. One city here - Lake Oswego - wouldn't really matter. If the trunk is over 6" DBH and there is nothing wrong with it, going to be a hard sell to get a permit to cut it down. Probably one town where the people think twice to make sure they pick a home with the right amount of canopy from the get go.

Our new home was a bit over-planted with trees. We saved half - so we are moderate. Not sure why they stuffed Douglas fir and Spruce in a narrow spot to hover over the driveway. But for the 4 we removed, 9 were planted as replacements in better positions. Vine maples, Purple Beech trees and Japanese maple. Will keep the Douglas Firs and Deodar Cedar in back; about 70 tall. Have to keep an eye on the Grand Fir - lower limbs sparse, but the top looks fine. Not a long life species so I've read.

[Kouta Räsänen]

Boldylocks,

The same attitude occurs largely in Europe. Many people want to have decent lawn with some small bushes and now also more and more asphalt or pavement. No nature.

Kouta

[Boldylocks]

Kouta Räsänen said:

Boldylocks,
The same attitude occurs largely in Europe. Many people want to have decent lawn with some small bushes and now also more and more asphalt or pavement. No nature.
Kouta

I think with the threat of Global Warming, some people are starting to wake up and when they cut a tree down, some are trying to replace them with baby trees. I would rather see only sick or dying trees cut down and the healthy ones merely pruned modestly.

Mario, that's really cool that you tried to save what you could. It is true that the former owners should have used more wisdom in what they planted.

Kouta, I guess that attitude is all over the World. It's even hard to get the people living near the tropical rainforest areas to value what they have over there instead of clear cutting.

What I am doing every year now is buying a little potted pine tree and taking care of it in my home all Winter long. When Spring comes, I'm going to plant it and pray for Divine wisdom on where it should be planted.

I hope to do this every year and plant these little trees in sparse wooded areas...while continuing to pray for wisdom on where to plant or where not to.

I am not going to have a cut Christmas tree, but just small or medium sized LIVE christmas tree in a pot..which gets planted each Spring., and where I will hang seasonal ornaments (even Valentines, or Easter ornaments) until Weather is ready for planting.





Hugs
Boldy

[James Parton]

Boldylocks,

Too many people have this attitude. They buy a place and the first thing they do is cut down the trees. Naturally I am for planting new ones but I also promote keeping established healthy ones.

Check out this post on the ENTS list. It describes fully how I feel about trees.

http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/3af3a...

James Parton

[Kouta Räsänen]

James,
Exactly. My mother bought couple of years ago a building lot of almost 2 acres in Finland. It was former a part of field, but the long lakeshore was with naturally grown 30 years old woods (birch, alder, rowan, cherry, willow). Everybody, who saw the builing lot, said all the trees should be removed. My grandfather said even that the woods could be burned! But luckily my mother has more natural attitude, and only two "holes" have been made through the woods. A section is a "strictly protected area", where nothing will be made. It is interesting to observe how the area will develop naturally.
Kouta

[Boldylocks]

Kouta, please give your mother a great big HuG from us!!.. me especially! God bless her, she's helping the planet in her corner of the World by preserving these trees, and helping the Wildlife as well. She can have fun planting ferns and mosses , and wood violets throughout the wooded area now. It will look beautiful!

Barry, thanks for that link. I went over to read it and feel very ticked off at those landscaping chainsaw happy jerks over there with that golf course... grrrrrrrrrr We have folks like that at my "neck of the woods" as well. Maybe one day they will wake up... hopefully in this lifetime.

I did meet one guy this past Summer who used to be like those chainsaw massacre guys that golf course hired. He told me that he is trying to mend his ways now.. He said he's been looking at life differently this past year and realized what he did to his yard. How he mutilated the land. Now he's going to be making an effort to replant . I met him at an outing our local State Park was having this Summer.
It was good to see that some people can change thier ways.


hugs
Boldy

[James Parton]

Kouta,

If only more people thought as your mother did, the world would be a better place to live.

James Parton

Kouta Räsänen said:

James,
Exactly. My mother bought couple of years ago a building lot of almost 2 acres in Finland. It was former a part of field, but the long lakeshore was with naturally grown 30 years old woods (birch, alder, rowan, cherry, willow). Everybody, who saw the builing lot, said all the trees should be removed. My grandfather said even that the woods could be burned! But luckily my mother has more natural attitude, and only two "holes" have been made through the woods. A section is a "strictly protected area", where nothing will be made. It is interesting to observe how the area will develop naturally.
Kouta

[Boldylocks]

On my way going to church Sunday morning, I noticed a truck pulled in front of one of our neighbors at the end of our road. There were freshly cut logs of an old healthy tree I recognized all freshly chainsawed in front of the house with some young men in front of the truck. I felt sick seeing this because I recognized that tree.. it was beautiful and only needed some pruning on the top. The root system went in deep and it was no danger to the houses there. A tree contains life, and unless it is diseased with no hope in restoring it, or if the root system is shallow, ripping apart one's septic tank, or if any gust of wind may blow it over endangering people, the tree has a right to life.

There is a family owned tree cutting business nearby called "Busy Beaver", and Im always hoping that they don't get too busy ...that maybe one day they would consider replanting and landscaping native growth to give back what they take away from our Earth.

On my way back from church later, I slowed down right in front of the truck to get a better look and the two young guys were wondering who I was slowing down in front of their truck. I was so upset that I just stared at them through my window ready to cry seeing the beautiful tree slaughtered with the chain saw. I shook my head at them ... They know I was disgusted and that I must be one of those tree huggers.

When I got in the house, I felt to pray for those who don't have any consideration for these majestic plants that do so much for this Earth.

[Aleta M.]

Yes I have been amazed at the ability of people to believe they have improved their little piece of earth by created a turf monoculture and removing varied beautiful old specimen trees. Messiness seems to be the bane of the American suburbanite. But anyone with a sense of aesthetic beauty would be hard pressed to live in most of the suburban neighborhoods I've seen anyway. So it follows that those living there that think they've arrived, with their vinyl covered house with token bricks and mostly garage on the front, would view trees as an abomination. They aren't, as you said, anywhere near the point of thinking about the environmental services of those trees, let alone their beauty. They know they have created a beautiful landscape when they've got all the mower tracks visible in neat diagonal lines on the lawn. At least some of us have indeed realized that perfect turf is poison to the planet, not a manly accomplishment. Unfortunately, I don't think we are reproducing as fast as the turf crowd is.

[Boldylocks]

I couldn't have said it any better, Aleta!