Friday, April 21, 2017

Parks keeps butchering trees at Old Hickory Park

"For the third year in a row the trees that line the edge of Old Hickory Park have been cut back to nothing but trunk. These trees used to provide a barrier between the neighborhood and the tunnel. However the views of the billboards above the tunnel entrance seem to outweigh the value of our park. This horror is going on today and will probably continue into tomorrow. I have photos of the destruction as well as the city permit. This stinks of corruption." - Anonymous

12 comments:

JQ LLC said...

Made for NY unless you are poor, old, or a tree. And there is supposed to be such an abundance of liberal idealism and environmental concern in our elected and appointed offices.

"The world is changing, I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air"

"Side? Nobody is on my side, little orc. Nobody cares for the woods anymore"

Treebeard, Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King

R185 said...

I'd like to hear from a professional arborist if this is a good practice or not. Maybe is encourages New growth; I don't know.

(sarc) said...

Bonsai trees...

JQ LLC said...

@R185

If you venture to broad channel, on cross bay blvd in gateway national park, similar pruning/butchering was done to a majority of trees on the southbound road years ago, probably for power line remediations, and the branches have not grown back.

But they did put on a sleek new bike path, even though there was already an ample one on the road, but that's another story.

Anonymous said...

Is this a prelude to cutting them down? How does taking every leaf off of a tree make any sense? Were they infected?

Joe said...

I forgot the name buts that's a special type of prune those type of trees like.
Just watch, they will "POP" right back out in a couple weeks, the results are real cool looking.

Anonymous said...

I read Joe's comment.

I am skeptical. There are no buds at all on those trees. Does the city hire a professional horticulturalist for this? Are they responsible for all 5 boroughs?

Seems to me like a hack job by a city employee.

It reminds me of the picture of highway lines being painted and it curves into the roadway around a branch because is was easier than picking the branch up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2458073/You-job-Hilarious-pictures-shoddy-workmanship-world.html

It's the third pic.

Countervail said...

It's actually a completely normal pruning method for trees. Done more in Europe, and it seems extreme, but totally fine. It's called "pollarding."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollarding

Gary W said...

From that Wiki

Although people who came to the United States from Europe continued the practice, in the 21st century, experts believe pollarding harms the tree. The smaller limbs grow from wood that is not as strong, and the weaker trees will not live as long and can be more easily damaged by storms.

So in other words, more crap ideas from Europe we don't need.

Anonymous said...

I hope we have a followup to this post in a few months, to see if the trees have popped back or not.

Anonymous said...

They do this in Sea Cliff every year along the whole strip along the water. What Im told its its a form of "birth control" for trees. From what I understand the trees don't "bare fruit" and drop "messy crap" (that sometimes looks & smells like s_it) all over the ground.
A pollard pruned tree puts its energy into foliage & regeneration, less work & sweeping all spring/summer.
(that's what I been told anyway)

JQ LLC said...

Nah, I think the citizen reporter is right. The photos tell it all with the billboard clearly unobstructed. And the last two trees look like they have been sawed in half.

The trees I mentioned in Gateway on Cross Bay Blvd have not improved or budded. They used to be big and beautiful and now are skeletal and decayed.

We will also see in a few months if there are ads promoting luxury real estate or festival concerts, or even an ad for re-election for our corrupt mayor.