Crow’s Nest: More hazard tree work

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager

If you’ve been to the preserve lately you may notice a couple more new stumps. Last week we removed eight trees that were either dead or declining and located in places where it would be a problem if they fell—near roads, wires, or buildings.

We’ve had a hazard tree management plan for about 20 years now… I noticed in this blog entry from 2006 that I had recorded 49 trees removed over the previous ten years. Now it is up to exactly 100 recorded trees. While that sounds like a lot, that means we’ve only been removing about five per year, on 600 acres of land… so not so much at all.

All trees will die, and if they are located near a target, we would prefer to determine when and where they will fall. If they are are away from a target, then they stand as habitat trees until they rot and fall on their own, where they will continue to feed the forest soils.