THE PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION OF URBAN TREES: LESSONS FROM THE FIELD FROM THE CITY OF NEW YORK

In the City of New York as elsewhere, planners and their architects are the professions that create, develop and construct new landscape features that include buildings and infrastructure. Large worthy and irreplaceable shade trees may inhabit those landscapes and if selected to remain, it is construction impacts that can irreparably damage, injure and destabilize those trees. With the best intended landscape designs on both private and public improvement projects inhabited by large shade trees and their wide-spreading root systems, the current players of construction projects (planners, architects, construction contractors etc.) have revealed to be minimally equipped with the forethought and strategic planning to introduce, delineate and enforce protection and preservation measures for established trees.
Research on plant root systems has provided much insight on the importance of root zones to trees and the need to provide optimal conditions that ensure tree health, longevity, structural stability and ultimately public safety. Aside from the emphasis on the horticultural importance of economic plant resources, studies of root zones have applications to the field of Arboriculture- the cultivation and management of trees within the landscape. It is the Consulting Arborist (CA) who is knowledgeable about above and belowground tree functions and who can provide the needed expertise for the protection and preservation of trees during construction projects.