Look at trees

When tree workers and homeowners only work with trees in urban places, the range of “acceptable” trees shrinks to only allow “perfect” trees to coexist with us. This is perpetuated by tree industry dogma, and tree-removal experts giving advice on tree care.

A pristine and “defect”-free tree is an unrealistic expectation. (We prefer the term ‘feature’, rather than ‘defect’). It is unchallengeable; when you spend time in a forest, you will see no tree is pristine for long. And that’s totally OK. Urban and suburban development may have removed most of the forest where we live, but the remaining trees’ biology and importance transcends the context they’re in. We can more fully see their resilience and tenacity by spending time in forests, or, by looking a little more critically at our own trees and the recommendations given to us by tree care companies.

Expanding our arboricultural imagination is important, and is preferential to the established arboricultural model of prune-prune-prune and remove. This goes for those working in tree care and those who aren’t. Careful and patient observation is tough when dealing with organisms that we only get to experience for a fraction of their lifespan. 

“Because the human lifespan is so short by comparison, it is not surprising that we hone in on functionality and amenity rather than values associated with the tree’s potential lifespan” - Neville Fay, fellow conservation arborist practitioner.

Seeing trees as critically important and complex organisms, instead of lawn ornaments, deepens and enriches our worldview. This perspective adds weight to the decisions we make with our trees. And it should.

Pictured below is an image that I share often with clients who have trees undergoing retrenchment.

This is the same oak undergoing an age-induced retrenchment of its crown. Retrenchment is a process that can, in some cases, take hundreds of years, but is a critically important one in a tree’s lifespan. I’ve written and spoken a lot about this phenomenon. This image wholly has improved my ability to communicate that this tree is an organism before it is an ornament. And we have to always remember that.

The fact is, trees are uniquely difficult to study because of our limited exposure to an individual specimen. Nor is it precedented to keep a tree in a controlled environment into maturity. It simply takes too long, and would require a lifelong investment of a group.

Be wary of confident, quick answers regarding your trees. Although the ISA’s Certified Arborist credential is touted as the gold-standard, it is far from it. Arboriculture is a slow growing industry, and is very slow to implement thoughtful practice.

All of that is to say:

Go look at trees. You often don’t have to go into a forest to find trees showing remarkable feats. Crown retrenchment isn’t the only cool thing old trees do, but it is an important one to emphasize because, when misinterpreted, sends trees to the chipper.

This is a white ash in a cemetery near where I live and work. This tree has been significantly damaged by emerald ash borer, and is undergoing ‘stress-induced’ retrenchment. It is easy to interpret (and sell) that this tree is terminally declining and it “has to go”. We’ve all heard that before.

But what’s actually going on is this. The tree is attempting to outgrow its problem. The ‘suckering’ is not some gross abomination, it is not a dysfunction of the tree. It isn’t “taking energy away from the tree”. It is the tree. It is a function, it is doing what it should under stressful conditions.

Failure to recognize not only this, but other, more basic tree functions, causes many trees to be wrongfully or prematurely removed. Sometimes simply knowing what trees look like goes a long way.

Alright, go to bed. Sorry about missing last month’s newsletter post.

Tree First