Friendship News

Street Tree Removals to be done in Friendship

date January 10 2008	By Diana Ames   For years, Pittsburgh’s underfunded Forestry Division has operated in the crisis mode of management, and even emergencies don’t always get attention.  In 2005, in order to move toward more proactive care of our urban forest, the Pittsburgh Shade Tree Commission (PSTC) and City of Pittsburgh completed a comprehensive inventory of all the trees along the nearly one thousand miles of city streets.   Out of a total of 31,000 street trees, ten percent were either dead or in such poor condition they were slated for removal on a prioritized scale.   Over the next few weeks, trees in the neighborhood that were designated as Priority Two hazards will be removed, and Friendship will lose approximately twenty of its larger trees. While we hate to lose more trees, those that are being removed have been deemed to pose a hazard to persons and property. Trees judged Priority One hazards were removed previously. A seven-year management plan and budget for tree planting and care, in addition to removals, were created to address decades of neglect summarized in the inventory findings, but implementation of the plan is behind schedule due to lack of personnel and equipment in the Forestry Division. While PSTC continues to urge city officials to make the investment needed to sustainably manage its urban forest, the economic reality of the city’s current fiscal situation makes funding for tree maintenance a hard sell. You can help by advocating for our city leaders to allocate adequate funding to properly maintain trees in the future.  Also, please consider joining the new non-profit, Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest, and becoming a volunteer Tree Tenders.  For more information see:  <http://www.pittsburghforest.org/> Sidebar: Check the TreeKeeper online database to see what maintenance is scheduled for the trees on your street. Here's the link: <http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/html/treekeeper.html> There's an online tutorial "Sampler" to help people understand how to navigate the site. For more information about the inventory and the condition of Pittsburgh’s street trees, please read the articles in the Post Gazette, including one published in October called "Support Your Local Trees."   <http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07294/826893-109.stm>  "Support Your Local Trees" October 21, 2007            <http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05269/577862-53.stm>  "Pittsburgh's Tree Inventory's Finished and It's full of Surprises"  September 26, 2005   Diana Ames is chair of the Pittsburgh Shade Tree Commission and President of the Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest
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