A key element of tree surveys, whether in connection with development or safety, is to identify the trees which make a contribution, compared to those which are not. However, I am increasingly appreciating the importance of highlighting how the trees of value do make a contribution. I write these thoughts towards the end of May. The weather is gloriously warm and sunny. It is also hot! I travelled through my adopted town of Hereford yesterday, with the roads, houses and infrastructure reflecting the warmth in to the already warm air.
Then I passed a small amenity area bordered with some mature trees. These happened to be Lime trees. I also inspected a substantial oak tree to assess for remedial works. In both situations, the trees were providing really valuable shade, which I appreciated. I reflected that the maturity of these trees is not easily reproduced with landscaping schemes, even when they include planting large replacements. A newly-planted tree can take a decade to become established.
There is an important task in emphasising why a tree is important. It is not because the tree consultant says so. The importance should be justified. There is the aesthetic. For me, the smooth bark and spreading branches of a mature beech tree are a joy. I am presently sitting at the train station in Newport en-route to a meeting. To one side is a row of houses. To the other side is a row of seven mature London Plane trees. They provide a valuable and welcome screen for a nearby office block built for function over aesthetics.
However, these trees are more than a screen. Being London Plane, their bark and foliage will be intercepting particulates from the air, improving it and making it healthier. Releasing moisture in to the atmosphere as part of evapotranspiration, they will be cooling the air, especially valuable later today as the temperature rises. The trees re-connect those able to see them with the natural environment, which is important for our general well-being. Trees and other vegetation are known to help reduce stress.
These particular trees are not individually outstanding. Collectively, they are locally valuable. I don’t know their history or the thought process which resulted in their being planted, maintained and retained. However, I appreciate that someone selected them and they have been maintained. They provide a valuable patch of green in an otherwise expanse of buildings, paving slabs and railway infrastructure.
There is little purpose in retaining trees which are not making a contribution, or whose condition is so poor that they are unlikely to retained within the next decade or so. To design a scheme around such trees is, in my view, ill-considered. I had this experience working on a regeneration project in Monmouth last year. A large Field Maple, an attractive and visually prominent tree, had been identified for retention. Retaining it would require designing a new access road to follow a different route. On close inspection, I noted the dead wood already present in the tree and some structural weaknesses. I was able to provide a landscaping scheme, planting some dozen London Plane trees alongside the preferred route of the road. They would make a greater long-term contribution.
It is important to explain the thought process, and why one tree may be important, special and of merit, whereas another is not. Making the decision is part of my judgement call as an arborist, tree care specialist and consultant. Explaining it will help to inform others