Baltimore trees
Credit: Melanie Stetson Freeman
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — From his headquarters office, Erik Dihle drives into what has become one of the most monitored forests in the United States.
He begins to point out the trees: There is a tulip poplar, as big as the ones George Washington planted at Mount Vernon. There are the blossoming cherries, with a cotton-candy display that rivals their famous compatriots down the road at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. And there is a white oak, Maryland’s state tree, with its branches gnarling horizontally for yards.
“This is a good-size one,” he says, getting out of his truck to pace the area of shade created by the tree’s canopy. “I’d be surprised if it was less than 150 years old.”
A few blocks away, someone lays on a horn, and traffic begins to move along one of this city’s main arteries. Construction vehicles beep as they repair an […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
I sure wish we had an arborist in my city. The ex Mayor decided, along with the city council’s approval, that the city would plant “small” trees along many streets in the city. What they did plant was an assortment of sizes of trees and some of them (especially one of the two in front of my property) have grown to enormous size with no oversite of their growth. Do not get the idea that I did not approve of trees as I love trees, but they must be maintained. One of my trees shades my garden because it was the wrong kind of tree and grew too large and has never been pruned except by tractor trailers who run into their branches while trying to drive by them. Another one also produces a pod that gets very slippery when stepped upon, putting my family at risk of being sued by people who walk by. The city will not let us home owners touch the trees by pruning them or cutting them down and I am pissed about that. The rule about us not being allowed to prune or cut them along with the fact that they (the city) picked large trees (when they promised only small ones) leads us homeowners into a “catch-22” situation. One of my neighbors cut one of his trees down because it blocked the ability of motorists to see what was coming down the street and was causing a disadvantage which ended up making a car plow into a house because of the lack of view caused by the tree. I have never seen anyone (from the city) prune any of the trees next to my house or sweep up the debris scattered about our sidewalks. I wish they would have never put the trees in, rather than have our current, unmanaged/unmanageable situation. They should have had an intelligent arborist decide what kind of trees to plant so as to avoid the problems we face, and the city should allow homeowners to do whatever is necessary to make the trees suit our purposes (as well as everyone who drives by or walks by) since we have to put up with the potential problems; even if that means cutting them down. By the way, my neighbor who cut his tree down to avoid any more accidents, got a hefty fine and was made to replace it. Of course we have an absurd Mostly Republican city council who act just like Trump {“The Godfather of idiocy”}.