Ice Storm Damage: Know when to hold em

[guymayor]

Broken trees here have many scrambling for advice. When they go to ISA or universities, they often see something like:

• If more than half of a tree’s limbs are damaged, the tree is highly unlikely to recover andshould be removed. If only small limbs and twigs are damaged, the tree will likely make a full recovery. The more large branches are broken, the less likely the tree is to recover.

• If the central leader (trunk) is broken, the tree should be removed.Some trees, such as pines, have central leaders that extend all the way to the top of the tree. When the trunk on these trees fails, they will not recover.

Anyone who works with trees and pays attention to trees knows better than to believe these Rules of Dumb.
Give Trees a Chance!

 

[KTSmith]

With tree injury from ice and snow, taking care of immediate safety needs for people, structures, and utilities is an easy call. After that, don't be in too much of a hurry for removal or radical pruning. A lot of the trees people like are character trees that gained their character from such storms! My little research group continues to follow a set of trees in the footprint of the regional ice storm of January 1998. Some ash and beech lost 100% of their crown and recovered nicely. Yes, that research study looked at forest trees. Wood quality and economic value interests supported that work. A few products from that are available for download:
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/45483
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/47677
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/6643
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/9408

That's not all of them, but probably all you need from our perspective.

 

[guymayor]

the 2015 piece for Ontario is only 2 pages?
It would be cool to see more pictures.

Many of your observations support our approach--thanks!

 

[KTSmith]

Yes, the Ontario one was only 2 pages, that's all they wanted. As more of a qualitative than quantitative worker myself, my unit forester Ken Dudzik and I take a lot of photos. Most are not particularly artistic, but are data of a sort. Just the photos are not so useful, providing the context and the underlying story is what takes the time!