Toppling Trees
Trees have been falling more than usual because of wind, insects, and flooding. Boston has avoided this threat, but strong winds are still a growing concern. This year, more trees have been falling due to rain water logging the ground, heavy wind, and trees keeping their leaves.
Robert Mulcahy, director of Parks Care, said, “I’m not sure more trees are coming down in general, but we’re experiencing much stronger wind events consistently throughout the year. When those come, we really can’t predict what will happen with trees, even with all the preventative care taken in the parks.” City officials agreed that there wasn’t necessarily a trend of more trees falling. Nevertheless, the city is already moving to update its planting and maintaining trees as the threat of climate change looms. Boston’s Urban Forest plan began the process of setting guidelines this fall and hopes to begin implementing its goals in the Spring of 2022. The plan will cover the coming two decades, calling for more trees planted and more funding for trees already present to combat climate change.
Trees tend to fall over during storms when fewer pedestrians are on the streets, but they have many hazards beyond directly crushing people. In addition to knocking out power lines, falling sidewalk trees often crush parked cars and slam into buildings in crowded urban environments. The danger is compounded by which trees are most at risk. Trees in parks have room to spread their roots and are easily accessed to check for damage. Trees lining streets, however, have much less space to anchor themselves. They often see heavier foot traffic around their base, and it’s simply not practical to peel away roads and sidewalks to check on the health of their roots. That means the more activity around a given tree, the more likely it will come crashing down.
Overall, trees have been falling more than usual because of erratic changes in weather such as strong winds, insects, and flooding. Boston’s Urban Forest made plans last fall to prevent trees from falling, along with planting more in hopes to begin implementing its goals in the Spring of 2022. This is important because trees have knocked out power lines, crushed parked cars, and slammed into buildings.
