Comments From Urban Forester, Lou Sebasta

First, if you would like to review Lou Sebasta's green resolution and report drafted for Steve Gold on June 29th, click here.


Hi to all.

I'd like to mention that I've consulted with the City of Beacon on this very issue of saving larger shade trees in good condition that are heaving sidewalks and threatening pedestrian safety. I must stress that there are innovative, creative, environmentally friendly design solutions for modifying/replacing sidewalks to accommodate expanded tree roots and provide a more sustainable underground environment for them while minimizing pedestrian trip hazards. FYI, I have attached a copy of my recent report to Councilman Steve Gold on this very issue. I am a Beacon resident as well, and as always, I stand ready to provide any future consultations and technical advice and recommendations at the city's request. I work for the communities of the mid to lower Hudson Valley for free, as my salary is paid by the state.

Sorry I wasn't aware of the Mon. 9/10 council workshop meeting till returning to the office from field work to check my email earlier today.
I was in Binghamton over the weekend, but did speak with Steve Gold on the phone from there. He forwarded me a sidewalk specification design sheet that presumably is to be used in sidewalk replacement that was provided to Joe Braun by Lanc and Tully Engineering and Surveying, PC.
Goshen, NY. In my opinion, those sidewalk, tree grate and planting pit design specs and materials are NOTHING NEW- Just the same old, very tree-unfriendly "number 4 compacted foundation", wire-reinforced concrete, "stone dust and portland", etc. even under the narrow areas surfaced with brick. The tree pits are only 5' square, 3' deep, with "compacted topsoil" below the tree and "prepared topsoil" around the tree, typically topped off w/ an expensive iron grate in 2 matching halves which must be removed or continually broken out or torched away to accommodate the tree trunk as it expands. (IF it grows and expands- average life of a street tree in a small concrete tree pit situation is said to be 7 years. It's highly unlikely you'll be able to grow new street trees with any appreciable canopy of shade like we lost by the removal of those honey locusts. Not in those conditions and not in our life time. I fear that any new trees planted in those conditions will not thrive unless they are little "lollipop" varieties that can never grow large enough to provide much shade). Yes, they are calling for the replanting of 2 ½" caliper trees, which are a decent size, but this is a replacement design from an engineering perspective and not from a tree-friendly perspective. Note also, that I'm getting indications that large canopy trees will NOT be planted, only small to medium potential trees. The tragedy is that most of those honey locusts trees already cut on the west end of Main St. in the first wave of cutting before the moratorium kicked in were perfectly healthy and in good to excellent condition structurally. It is much more practical and environmentally friendly in my opinion to modify the sidewalk than to cut down good shade trees simply because previous sidewalk designs were not tree friendly, and therefore became broken and heaved.

I went out to look at the cut trees immediately after the Sept. 4 Beacon City Council meeting, but haven't seen if anything has been done since then. From my personal observations of the trees that night and from recent on- site consultations with Joe Braun, Anthony Tomaselli of DPW, and several business owners and residents, as well as the look of the cut stumps, most of those honey locust trees were in good to excellent condition and definitely NOT "diseased". Some trees on the south side along Main St., including a number of Norway maples, were or are in poor condition, mostly likely because of physiological decline from poor, compacted soil, restricted root volume, and inadequate water and nutrients, including air to breathe. As I noted, in my judgement, the sidewalk design for replanting plans will not be any significant improvement over what you've got out there now. The same sidewalk conflicts and heaving are likely to recur if you're ever able to grow big new trees there in the future. And those Bradford callery pear trees that were replanted some years back on the south side of the West end of Main St. after the previous big wave of tree cutting of other bigger canopy trees are not providing anywhere as much canopy shade now and probably never will, because callery pears are only a medium sized tree species. Also, the Bradford is a notoriously weakly branched variety that tends to break apart very easily on maturity. I've seen them split right in half after wind storms and heavy wet snows. Newer, structurally improved varieties of callery pears are now available. I can help in species choices if I'm asked to do so by the city.

Finally, particularly on the eastern end of Main St. there are some large, beautiful London plan trees in excellent condition, that in my opinion and in all my previous consultations with the city are very practical to save, given my strategies offered for repairing sidewalks AND saving trees. It would be a shame to lose any more nice shade trees, which we desperately need to moderate the blast furnace of heat we face on our summer streets. They help to preserve a higher quality of life and experience for general pedestrians and business patrons, who we want to encourage to enjoy our city on foot or pedal and not to merely drive through in air conditioned cars without stopping.

P.S. I plan to attend the upcoming Monday Sept. 17 city council meeting and offer my comments, services. Being DEC's urban forester for the region, I can also help you with any questions you have on the Tree City USA program as well as other urban forestry related resources and information.

Lou Sebesta
NYSDEC Region 3
Urban/Community Forester
Stony Kill Environmental Education Center
79 Farmstead Lane
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
(845) 831-8780 x316