If you were traveling along 35th Ave SW the Friday before last, you probably noticed a ton of activity in the trees lining the street. Troop of misplaced monkeys? Migrating flamingos? Nope, even better. Arboriculturists.
A stretch of trees before the pruning
Approximately 30 Arborists from 12 local tree care firms that are members of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) were donating their time to prune SDOT street trees along the road from SW Roxbury to SW Morgan. Despite the cold, pouring rain the event was a success and everyone was in good spirits. A whopping 236 trees were pruned and one large partially-failed European hornbeam was removed. A big thank you to the Parks Department for providing shelter at Camp Long and an even bigger thank you to all the Arborists who participated.
In addition to improving the condition of 236 trees along a major arterial in SW Seattle, this event improved and expanded the knowledge and work practices of local arborists who commonly perform street tree maintenance in the right-of-way. These private firms obtain direct oversight from experienced SDOT arborists and get experience setting up a temporary lane closure on an arterial that conforms to City of standards.
SDOT Urban Forestry will pay the International Society of Arboriculture TREE Fund $10,000 for the work that was performed. “The TREE Fund provides research grants, scholarships and educational programs to advance knowledge in the field of arboriculture and urban forestry. With this knowledge, arborists and citizens will be better equipped to ensure that healthy, mature trees remain an integral part of the urban and suburban communities of our future.”
The trees after ISA's good work (and a view of the wet weather)