Crow’s Nest: Hazard and ash tree removal

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.

As a follow-up to the previous post about ash trees, we took down a bunch more of them this week, where they were located near the road or utility lines (which is why we use an experienced contractor).

We have kept track of each ash tree we want to remove along the roadsides and so far have able to take down almost 200. We started before emerald ash borer arrived in this area, once we realized it was inevitable that they would get here and likely kill all our ash trees.

Unfortunately the work has become more difficult as the trees have begun to die. The wood is more brittle, the trunks hollow, and the trees are not safe to be scaled, which is what the arborist might normally do to narrow the canopy to minimize collateral damage before dropping the trunk back between other trees in the woods. Most of these trees will remain in the woods to serve as nurse trees for the next generation of forest, returning the nutrients to the soil there. Pulling them out would damage even more trees and create a disturbance that would result in a greater number of invasive species becoming established.

You can see from the photos why we would want to keep these trees from falling on the roads and the wires.  I have 44 left on my list that we will need to get down soon.