I drove over to Port Washington yesterday for an oil change. Along the way I passed this parking lot for Hempstead Harbor Park, and was stunned to see the huge piles of tree trunks and tree limbs filling up one of the parking lots. I was just blown away by the amount of debris stacked 20 to 30 feet tall. They have machinery in use turning this wood into wood chips, and there are huge piles of chips as well. I mean, I know a lot of trees were blown down in Sea Cliff, but this was just a stunning sight to see! It looks as if they will be working for months to clean up all of this.
What was stunniing to me in seeing the piles and piles of downed trees that had been sawed into enormous chunks and stored on the side of the roads, is that so many of the trunk parts looked perfectly healthy. There were a few here and there that were obviously hollow, but so many that came down during Sandy were solid trees with poor root systems. So even if a tree expert comes to inspect a tree and declares it healthy, there's really know way to determine if its roots are far and deep enough to keep the tree planted during a high wind storm. It's a scary thought for anyone with trees near their home. Take down what appears to be a healthy tree that's too close to the house? Or take a chance and suffer the consequences if you've guessed wrong? We can't live in fear, but we need to think about prevention, especially if it means extensive damage or saving lives. Anyone?
ReplyDeleteThere is now a discussion going in a number of towns on Long Island that have had stringent laws regarding the removal of trees on private property. After Sandy, some towns want to reduce restrictions on removing trees for people who feel the trees are a threat to their homes. Other towns are not budging - they have said "If you want no trees, move to Queens and enjoy all the concrete." My take on this is that there was a randomness to trees that fell, and trees that survived, and it would be nearly impossible to guess which trees might fall. I am not cutting anything down around here!
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