Figure 6: Saved by the Surgeon's Knife. Now, I must
confess here that I am often carrying a knife … err… well,
in fact, I often have two or three knives on my person most
of the time as they are good at so many different functions.
One common reason to be armed-to-the-teeth in this way
is that I cannot stand watching urban trees being strangled
by their own tree ties. So, out comes the knife, the tie is
severed, and the post kicked away so it does not cause
abrasion damage to the stem of the establishing tree.
Sadly, in the UK, such neglect is very common on
commercial sites. Pictured is one of a row of silver birch
(Betula pendula) growing on an industrial estate in West
Lancashire, where I was formerly a tree officer. Planted
as part of the necessary landscaping conditions for the
factory, these trees were neglected by the owner.
When I saw this problem, the pocketknife came out almost
as a reflex action, and I went down the line severing
all the ties and releasing these throttled trees. As the
indentations on each stem were quite severe, there was
a significant risk that some of the trees might snap in the
wind. However, returning to site twelve years later, I saw that
all the trees have grown well and are maturing. A simple
action saved these trees from an otherwise dismal fate.
"One reason I carry a pocket
knife is that I cannot stand
watching urban trees being
strangled by their own tree ties."
urban-forestry.com 35
