Stumpsprouts
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Asheville
Ah! It is you. Saw you from the ground that day. Y’all, this climber is a badass and we are tackling a hot mess this weekend together, wish us luck.
Helene
- Thread starter oldoakman
- Start date
Stumpsprouts
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Asheville
Really good article in The Guardian today about the recovery in our area- nuanced and well researched. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news.../hurricane-helene-north-carolina-fema-rebuild
A lot of hurtles to long term recovery here. Logistics and culture play a big part.
This journalist is really cool. I drove her and the photographer around for 7 hours a couple weeks ago and she really knows her stuff. She's going to do an article just about trees in a couple weeks that will highlight some research I'm doing. I'll share that when it comes out.
A lot of hurtles to long term recovery here. Logistics and culture play a big part.
This journalist is really cool. I drove her and the photographer around for 7 hours a couple weeks ago and she really knows her stuff. She's going to do an article just about trees in a couple weeks that will highlight some research I'm doing. I'll share that when it comes out.
davidwyby
Branched out member
- Location
- PNW to SoCal
Is there still a need for volunteer tree people?
Stumpsprouts
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Asheville
No, thanks for asking, but there’s fresh need for that in KY and VA as of this weekends catastrophic flooding there.
Stumpsprouts
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Asheville
The article came out today, feels pretty surreal to be in the paper! Really good article that lays out the challenges ahead here.
www.theguardian.com
I also posted a reel for the masses with some of my findings on Ig. This is the description:
“I conducted an initial survey of tree failures from Helene which I documented in a previous reel. A lot of folks asked what the general species composition of trees in the area was, so I took a control survey so we could see if some trees really did better than others.
-Much more likely to fail: Red oak group, White oak group, Hickory, Sourwood.
-Somewhat more likely to fail: Pine, Norway spruce, Black cherry, Black locust.
-Somewhat less likely to fail: Hemlock, Sycamore, Black walnut.
-Much less likely to fail: Maple, Tuliptree (aka Poplar).
-An increase in diameter essentially correlates with an increase in likelihood of failure.
Heavily saturated soils and tropical storm force winds are always going to lead to tree damage, but Western North Carolina has no record of such extensive tree damage as this. Buncombe County lost 17% of our forests, Mitchell County 48%, so this is a truly enormous quantity of downed trees.
Some working theories for why maples and Tuliptrees did so well – they had less drag, having shed some leaves prior to the storm. They’re also more deeply rooted and have less mass. Oaks and hickories are extremely heavy. White pines have become the dominant pine species in our forests (14%) but only 60 years ago were not that common at all – Shortleaf pine is a better bet. Norway spruce is introduced.
While this was a very rare storm, changes in climate will continue to drive these abnormally extreme storms (you can blame geoengineering, let’s agree it’s human driven). Large oak trees should be professionally assessed in the landscape, even if they’re defect free. Tip weight reduction can reduce their likelihood of failure. For younger trees, thin competition and leave low limbs to increase taper and keep center of gravity low. Plant a diversity of native trees in the right places with plenty of room to grow. And care for the trees you have.
I’m writing a research paper on this data with Jenna Rindy that will be published shortly.”
Tree loss from hurricane leaves Asheville vulnerable to new climate shocks
Damage to trees in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene was ‘extraordinary and humbling’ but urban areas face particular problems
www.theguardian.com
I also posted a reel for the masses with some of my findings on Ig. This is the description:
“I conducted an initial survey of tree failures from Helene which I documented in a previous reel. A lot of folks asked what the general species composition of trees in the area was, so I took a control survey so we could see if some trees really did better than others.
-Much more likely to fail: Red oak group, White oak group, Hickory, Sourwood.
-Somewhat more likely to fail: Pine, Norway spruce, Black cherry, Black locust.
-Somewhat less likely to fail: Hemlock, Sycamore, Black walnut.
-Much less likely to fail: Maple, Tuliptree (aka Poplar).
-An increase in diameter essentially correlates with an increase in likelihood of failure.
Heavily saturated soils and tropical storm force winds are always going to lead to tree damage, but Western North Carolina has no record of such extensive tree damage as this. Buncombe County lost 17% of our forests, Mitchell County 48%, so this is a truly enormous quantity of downed trees.
Some working theories for why maples and Tuliptrees did so well – they had less drag, having shed some leaves prior to the storm. They’re also more deeply rooted and have less mass. Oaks and hickories are extremely heavy. White pines have become the dominant pine species in our forests (14%) but only 60 years ago were not that common at all – Shortleaf pine is a better bet. Norway spruce is introduced.
While this was a very rare storm, changes in climate will continue to drive these abnormally extreme storms (you can blame geoengineering, let’s agree it’s human driven). Large oak trees should be professionally assessed in the landscape, even if they’re defect free. Tip weight reduction can reduce their likelihood of failure. For younger trees, thin competition and leave low limbs to increase taper and keep center of gravity low. Plant a diversity of native trees in the right places with plenty of room to grow. And care for the trees you have.
I’m writing a research paper on this data with Jenna Rindy that will be published shortly.”
The Green One
Participating member
- Location
- Frenchtown
Thank you for sharing this valuable insight.The article came out today, feels pretty surreal to be in the paper! Really good article that lays out the challenges ahead here.
Tree loss from hurricane leaves Asheville vulnerable to new climate shocks
Damage to trees in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene was ‘extraordinary and humbling’ but urban areas face particular problems
I also posted a reel for the masses with some of my findings on Ig. This is the description:
“I conducted an initial survey of tree failures from Helene which I documented in a previous reel. A lot of folks asked what the general species composition of trees in the area was, so I took a control survey so we could see if some trees really did better than others.
-Much more likely to fail: Red oak group, White oak group, Hickory, Sourwood.
-Somewhat more likely to fail: Pine, Norway spruce, Black cherry, Black locust.
-Somewhat less likely to fail: Hemlock, Sycamore, Black walnut.
-Much less likely to fail: Maple, Tuliptree (aka Poplar).
-An increase in diameter essentially correlates with an increase in likelihood of failure.
Heavily saturated soils and tropical storm force winds are always going to lead to tree damage, but Western North Carolina has no record of such extensive tree damage as this. Buncombe County lost 17% of our forests, Mitchell County 48%, so this is a truly enormous quantity of downed trees.
Some working theories for why maples and Tuliptrees did so well – they had less drag, having shed some leaves prior to the storm. They’re also more deeply rooted and have less mass. Oaks and hickories are extremely heavy. White pines have become the dominant pine species in our forests (14%) but only 60 years ago were not that common at all – Shortleaf pine is a better bet. Norway spruce is introduced.
While this was a very rare storm, changes in climate will continue to drive these abnormally extreme storms (you can blame geoengineering, let’s agree it’s human driven). Large oak trees should be professionally assessed in the landscape, even if they’re defect free. Tip weight reduction can reduce their likelihood of failure. For younger trees, thin competition and leave low limbs to increase taper and keep center of gravity low. Plant a diversity of native trees in the right places with plenty of room to grow. And care for the trees you have.
I’m writing a research paper on this data with Jenna Rindy that will be published shortly.”
It gives us some very good foresight for future plantings, ect.
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