This was another weird strata request. A perfectly healthy red maple (Acer rubrum) had to be taken down. Except I am a tree hugger and privately I despise these projects. Unfortunately, at work our clients insisted and so my apprentice came in and did the dirty deed. I was his reluctant execution assistant.
To digress, this reminds me of North Korea where little kids go out on field trips to witness public executions.
Witch hunt
Two units shared this red maple and the two comments I heard justifying the removal were suspicious.
One, the tree drops too many leaves. Great. All deciduous trees do that. I love the fall colour on red maples. So much so, I included them in my plant e-book. And I never consider fall leaf drop annoying. I enjoy it.
Two, the tree was likely to destroy the house foundations and driveways. Really? I think this is a bit premature considering that the maple is surrounded by hardscape. Who knows if it would even survive long enough to cause damage.
In business projects like this generate tidy invoices for companies. And clients are happy. Additionally, our apprentice gets more experience and I can rant about it afterwards.
Privately you can offer several counter points. One obvious point are the free ecosystem services trees provide us with. Let’s not pretend you’re doing me a favour by removing one maple which was bound to drop a ton of leaves.
Free tree services
Let’s consider oxygen, shade and site cooling, wind speed regulation and aesthetics. And there are many more. . I love free oxygen and shade. Your happiness can increase just by looking at trees but evidently not if you also own a driveway. I never think of damaged driveways and leaf clean up when I look at red maples.
Simple steps
So here is what I learned from this tree execution. First, drop a line into the tree so you can guide the falling top from targets. In this case, two expensive homes. This was my job plus traffic control.
My apprentice made a quick notch cut and dropped the tree nicely into the cul-de-sac. While he cut I kept good tension on the rope and pulled the falling top towards the cul-de-sac. A bit later he removed the stump.
Next, we bucked the tree into pieces so we could haul it all away. This is where I got to practice using a chainsaw. While I’m getting better at it, I still consider chainsaw chains evil.
The very last step is debris clean-up. You should always remember to leave your work area in decent shape.
I lost the sick feeling in my stomach once we moved on to take down two dead sweetgums (Liquidambar styraciflua).
