#treedom project

WHAT MAKES A TREE GUARD, GREAT?

Some nice looking tree guards went up recently at a construction site on the corner of Olive and Orient in Williamsburg. These tree guards stood out next to a lot of the tree guards I see for a couple of reasons. This brings up the question: "what makes a tree guard, great?" Let's discuss. 

These particular tree guard specimens are excellent for three reasons. First of all, structurally, they provide a tall and sturdy frame for the trees that will guard the trunks from construction crews, vehicles, tools, and other heavy machinery that enter and exit the site. They are going to build a high- occupancy, luxurious, fancy-pants building on this site that will undoubtedly see its fair share of earth movers, bull dozers, dump trucks, cement mixers, supply semis, in addition to other diesel-fueled engines (with the tendency to idle) pass through the main gates.  Secondly, the durable plastic webbing will help prevent trash from entering the tree pits. This is beneficial to maintaining healthy root systems. Construction sites are notorious for being dumps full of trash. I am very pleased to see the builders took this in to consideration when guarding the trees. This level of precaution covers what the frames do not and I am darn relieved to see them as part of the guards.  Lastly, look closely and you'll notice the webbing is bright cautionary orange. This serves as a visual alert and reminder. It's says: "HEY IM OVER HERE AND IMPORTANT, DO NOT MESS WITH ME!" I suspect the orange might fade over time depending on the length of the project, but its good to see the precedent being set.

QUEENS RESIDENT KIRSTEN DUCKETT IS A TREE HERO. BELOW IS HER STORY ABOUT ENLISTING THE HELP OF A MYSTERY MAN IN A BAT MAN SHIRT TO FREE A LONDON PLANE TREE ON HER ASTORIA STREET.

(Before)

How long had you noticed the chain around the tree?

When I moved to a new apartment in Astoria, I had a new commute and on the way to the subway station everyday, I would see a plane tree with a big chain around it. It was clear that someone had been using it as a parking spot because there was a second, padded chain through the first and both were fixed at about the height of a moped. As I passed by, I noticed that the chain was digging into the bark. It had been there a long time and it made me sad for almost a year as I passed back and forth. In the end, this story has a happy ending because a man in a Batman T-shirt helped me to free the tree!

What made you think to remove it?

The chained tree was not dead, but how long could it withstand this confinement? I suspected that the dry cleaners or the restaurant just in front of it were responsible for the chain, and I thought about asking them to remove or to loosen it so that the bark could heal and the sap could flow. As I passed by every day, I kept a watch and I never saw a vehicle attached to the chain. There were delivery vehicles next to the tree, but not attached. So whose chain was it?

Later, I was sorry that I had been so slow to talk to the personnel in the two businesses directly.  I needn't have been nervous because they were perfectly reasonable. They didn't know anything about how the chain got there and had no stake it its staying.  According to them, the chain had been there as long as they could remember. I told them that it was hurting the tree and that it needed to be clipped off. They gave me their blessing to do it. The dry cleaner and I had a good chat about plants and trees.

The next stop was the local hardware store where I explained the problem and asked for help in solving it. Surely they had bolt cutters. But I ran up against some resistance there. I couldn't decide if I was unlucky or mistaken. After the second unsuccessful trip there, I decided I needed some outside support.

Had you previously heard about The Treedom Project? How did you learn about Treedom Project?

At the same time I was canvassing the neighbors, I got in touch with the Treedom Project.  In Greenpoint, I had seen a laminated sign attached to a rusty bike which was in turn attached to a tree. The sign was a notice that on a particular day, the tree would be unchained and anyone claiming the bike should take it before then. "How cool is that?" I thought, and noted down the website. I had never seen Treedom active in my neighborhood, but maybe there were sympathizers nearby. When I contacted Treedom with an address, a description and pictures, they were happy to help, but it was out of their way and it would take a few weeks to get out to Astoria. Because of personal travel plans, I was impatient to see that tree unchained so I tried again at the local hardware store.

(After)

How easy was it to convince the hardware store to loan you the bolt cutters? How long did it take to clip the lock? 

My approach with the hardware store was to ask for a volunteer to clip the chain.  It was a chain similar to the one I had bought from them to lock up my bike. I was told I should speak to the locksmith. I was told I should speak to a specific person who wasn't there. The words 'community service' were not giving me the warm welcome I had hoped so after my second trip I tried to figure out what my budget was for paying them to walk two blocks and help undo human damage, but I would ask for pro bono assistance one more time first. Three's the charm because on my third trip to the hardware store, the locksmith was present and in discussion with another young man, the guy wearing the Batman T-shirt. When I presented my request as cheerfully as possible, the locksmith said cautiously, 'You want me to do it for free.' At the same time, the customer/friend piped up, 'If you lend me the bolt cutters, I'll do it for free!'. My hero! Lending material pro bono was within the scope for the hardware store. Batman loped the two blocks with me the the tree and within 5 minutes, the tree was breathing easy again and the bolt cutters were returned to the store. It took two snips by a strong man. I stopped off at the deli and got the guys something cold to drink to thank them for their efforts. 

Did any passersby ask what you were doing?

My interaction with the neighbors was really talking to the shop owners in front of the tree. I did mention that do volunteer work for Parks and on my second trip I had armed myself with an outreach flyer from Million Trees NY but that was probably not even necessary as everyone was super nice. I tried to teach Batman about tree health and the role of the phloegm, but he already knew about it!

So Treedom Project Day 2013 came and went and it was a great success, check this out:

We freed 15 trees from wires, chains, bike locks and nylon webbing

The items on 8 identified and tagged trees had been removed

We received emails from 4 people asking not to clip their items and that they would remove and re-locate them

We spread awareness to passer-bys throughout the course of the day about girdling, laws surrounding New York City trees and other bits of knowledge pertaining to our urban forests

All six of us had a super fun and memorable day together

We even freed a tree on the back patio of Caracas where we had a necessary and tasty arepa lunch

All in all we are going to call that 27 trees, not bad. Not quite our goal (50 trees) but not bad. 

(ABOVE: One of the locks we clipped BOTTOM LEFT: A girdled tree RIGHT: rinky-dink piece of twine removed from tree)

  One of the main reasons we did not hit our goal was an interesting ethical question that arose regarding the thin line between 'organized group of conscious citizen tree pruners' and 'bike thieves'. Let me explain...as much as it infuriates me to see bicycles locked on trees as a long-term parking solution, I am not a cop, and I do not have the authority to remove other people's stuff because I don't like the way it looks.

Even though it is illegal and even though nearly everyone we spoke with or emailed has a distate for trees as bike racks and even though many of these bikes appeared to have been there for quite some time I am not a cop and I am not a thief. Locking bikes to trees sucks, theft also sucks. 

As a  TreesNY Certified Citizen Tree Pruner, The New York Parks Department grants the authority to remove "guy wires or other things that are girdling trees". However, none of the bicycles we had identified were imminently girdling the trees. 

We considered creating criterion. If the bicycle was unrideable that weighed in favor of clipping it. If the bicycle had more than one lock on it that suggested ownership. If it was imminently girdling a tree it definitely gets cut. 

This lead us to what we deemed a 'morally grey area'.

On the one hand I went out and tagged a bunch of bikes on trees as a courtesy and a polite warning.  In most instances I gave a grace period too of at least 21+ days. The Derelict Bicycle Removal Program conducted by New York City Department of Sanitation gives a seven day warning. 

On the other hand, when it came time to actually clip perfectly good bikes off of trees something about it just felt off. As one wise member on the team put it, "it's like calling the cops on someone for smoking pot". 

So we erred on the side of caution and left the bikes (for now). Besides, the bikes were not harmfully girdling any of the trees (see above) the way many of the other metals were. Our objective for Tredom Project became crisper, honed. If tree girdling is happening, we are going to stop it. 

I feel Treedom Day 2013 laid great roots for the future of the project. We are most certainly going to keep an eye on the trees we have already identified and continue to keep an eye open for new trees to free on Treedom Day 2014.

I've already seen a new tree and added it to the master list. We ask the same of you, if you see a girdled tree in New York City please let us know. 

Rob Birdsong

(Treedom Fighters: Sarah, Rob, Sam, Rufus, Josh, John)

Keep up with all #treedomproject tree taggings at:

There is a lot of useful tree information in this video...like this fact: "New York City's urban forest alone removes 154,000 tons of CO2 [from the air] annually"