RECREATIONAL TREE PRESERVATION

[freemanruss]

what if a group of arborists got together with the owners of nice large trees in need of a little hazard reduction to
1. have nice trees to climb and 2. to make things a little safer for the treeowner and their guests. It's a win-win for everybody, and if everyone treads lightly, there will be minimal negative impact on the tree. If pruning was limited to deadwood, there would be only a small pile of already to go firewood, that anyone could deal with. no chipper needed.
I know that climbing trees in town isn't the same as trees in the woods by any measure, but it is a nice way to get into those trees we all drive by and see huge deadwood looming over someone's driveway, and then in six months see topped off to half-height because the car was smashed and they hired the cheapest "tree service" to get rid of the problem. It could be considered recreational tree preservation.

 

[Dan_House]

Sign me up! It takes very little motivation to get me aloft in a nice tree. And hey if we can say to for the good of the tree then all the better.

I read lately about a Florida champion Taxodium distichum that was planned to be climbed until the Rangers put the nix to the climb. I hope that some day we can obtain a permit to climb limited to a certain geographical area and by submitting to both a gear check and climber skill certification. If we can get a researcher like a Phd in Botany to come along, then how can they deny the event if it is for canopy research?

I know I may be too optimistic but I am willing to try. After getting busted along the Bogachiel river I think we need to work with the authorities and make them some guidelines that we all can live with.

See you at the top,
Dan House

 

[Yoav]

You need to contact the Marie Selby botanical gardens, in sarasota, I believe. They have been a big force in epiphyte and canopy research around the world, and would be an excellent place to begin asking around about contacting a local researcher.