For more than 30 years, Arbor Age magazine has been covering new and innovative products, services, technology and research vital to tree care companies, municipal arborists and utility right-of-way maintenance companies
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/319014
14 Arbor Age / June 2014 www.arborage.com professionals, critical to environmental health, and taken for granted by our citizenry. The decision to remove or protect infested or at-risk trees is a hotly debated issue, and the information used to assess whether they can or should be saved is either poorly understood or missing altogether. Tree removal strategies do not address the underlying causes of these outbreaks, and represent an unsustainable arboricultural practice. Several tree canopy assessment tools exist that consider the value of tree canopy; including heating, cooling, stormwater man- agement, property value, and pollutant reduction, as well as the cost to treat or remove. We must use these resources in weighing our decisions and in the advice we provide to city leaders. With some new treatment products lasting two years, it has become signifi cantly less expensive to pro- tect the urban forest than to incur the immediate cost of removal and replacement (and the long-term changes that such removal brings to our communities). We must continue to educate the public and legislators, neither of whom can be expected to un- derstand the details of the challenge without our support. Of paramount importance is implementing changes to fi scal policy, which will help com- munities address the costs of invasive pests through contingency funds, bonding, public education and out- reach. To assure a successful response to invasive tree pests and diseases, we must accelerate efforts to break down silos in the arboricultural commu- nity, and we must demand better and more widely disseminated education, and a sharing of up-to-date, peer- reviewed research. We should neither fear the science nor its conclusions, regardless of the message, as personal opinion should have little place in the preservation of our shared urban forests. Rob Gorden is the director of urban forestry for Arborjet. His Forestry educa- tion and 32 years in both tree care and horticulture have prepared him to pro- vide practical support to municipalities and political leaders across the country who are evaluating treatment options for invasive pests. He is a frequent speaker to city arborists, public works directors, private arborists, extension agents, plant health care applicators, and master gardeners. 1 Siegert, Nathan W., D.G. McCullough, & F.W. Telewski. 2014. "Dendrochronological reconstruction of the epicentre and early spread of emerald ash borer in North America." Diversity and Dis- tributions, (Diversity Distrib.) (2014) 1–12 2 VanNatta, A.R., N.M. Schuettpelz, and R.H. Hauer. 2010. "Cost Analysis of Removal and Replacement vs. Treatment of Ash Trees Susceptible to Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) on the UW-Stevens Point Campus." Proceedings of the International Society of Arboriculture 86th Annual Conference. Chicago, IL, July 23 – 28, 2010. College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin–Stevens. Preemptive removal and replacement despite no EAB present (above) compared with no removal in the same neighborhood with no EAB present (below). TREE PEST MANAGEMENT TREE PEST MANAGEMENT