Development tree surveys to identify assets and constraints.
16th December 2011Nature’s endless employment of beauty to achieve its utilitarian ends
8th January 2012‘Cracking Up’ Response Published in Chartered Forester Magazine
In the autumn edition of Chartered Forester magazine I had a short opinion piece published, ‘Cracking up’, which looked at the issues surrounding urban trees being removed due to subsidence claims and highlighted how the issue seems to make the tree industry so emotive. The piece provoked considerable interest and a few critical responses (generally from tree consultants who make a living from dealing with tree related subsidence claims). The latest issue of Chartered Forester featured a letter from Michael Lawson and my response which I have copied below.
Response to Michael Lawson’s Letter:
My motivation for writing the short opinion piece ‘cracking up’ was to encourage cooperation between tree professionals and I thank Michael for his additional points. I agree that insurance is, on the whole, a good thing and I’m sure people discussed trees and subsidence prior to 1976. As to being a ‘British Affair’ I referred to Radevsky (2000) who showed that faced with similar subsidence damage, foreign householders will, in general, have to cover the costs of repair themselves, with the result that tolerance of cracks is much higher. Perhaps a similar minimum level of crack damage would be a good idea in the UK?
Peaks in the number of claims do relate to periods of drought, yet since 1981 the incidents of tree related subsidence have increased exponentially during every drought period (Mercer et al 2011), and future claims will inevitably rise with the predicted increases of extreme drought years.
I agree that there are currently more serious and wide ranging threats to the urban forest than subsidence, yet while a future ‘blistering barren landscape’ is a scary thought, it was highlighted only as a possible future scenario that future generations wouldn’t thank us for, and one that with each batch of large mature trees removed due to hairline cracks, we move incrementally towards. The stakes are potentially very high and genuine moral difficulties can arise.
Adam Winson
References
Mercer, G,. Reeves, A,. and O’Callaghan, D,. (2011), The Relationship between trees, distance to buildings and subsidence events on shrinkable clay soil. Arboricultural Journal, Vol 33, pp.229-245 AB Academic Publishers
Radevsky, R. (2000). Subsidence – a global perspective. General insurance research report 1. Association of British Insurers, London, UK.
Adam
I'm a Chartered Arboriculturist at AWA Tree Consultants Ltd. As well as detailing our recent tree survey and arboricultural consultant work, this blog includes wide ranging arboricultural musings, including tree facts, opinion and anecdotes on trees in human culture.
