Woes in the Urban Forest

As I trek through our great American cities, my eyes are struck by both the beauty and horror of the created landscape. Showy flowers grace trees destined for death, or at best, decine - like an early funeral. We pay lip services to the importance of trees in the humanscape and, indeed, stick a few in the ground to show we 'care' about the environment. Then we treat them like homeless individuals, barely providing a regular meal, once in a while cleaning up a broken limb, or casting abuses in the name of care and culture.

While the latest fashions adorn our streetscapes, the living objects best equipped to aid in our comfort and enjoyment stand naked, crippled, dead, and dying. They are low-balled, then forgotten. Highly praised, yet relegated to solitary pits.

Passionately protected in the wild, regularly neglected and ignored at home. What could be the magnificent centerpiece of an artist's creation ends up the embarrasing afterthought formed by neglect or uneducated caretakers.

American Forests periodically asks cities about their trees and tree care programs. Last I heard, on average, downtown trees live to the ripe old age of about 13 years while trees in the 'burbs make it into their 30's. Seems that we don't do much to encourage old growth close to home - we'd rather Governement did that somewhere far away.

Our boulevards are either a nursery or a nursing home for trees: new plantings required by new codes next to decrepit century-old relics of a simpler time. The young vital specimens lovingly selected by the designer today may never grow to their potential for lack of proper care. Sounds like the lead-in to a bad joke about public schools, but in reality, it's much worse. To care for children professionally requires background checks, licensing, certification - some proof of competency. Care of trees and landscapes requires, seemingly, nothing more than a pulse, tools, and transportation.

So how do we change any of this? You can train a monkey to do something but you can't educate him as to why it should be done. Education can transfer knowledge, but how do you transfer passion? Stay tuned as I explore these issues and more. I will post the good, the bad, and the internaly rotten.