At Arborfield Tree Care, we know that trees bring immense value to our communities. But when construction projects require removing or impacting trees, it presents a difficult situation. As tree care experts in Reading and the surrounding areas, we want to guide you through this process to preserve your trees whenever possible.
Construction activities can significantly damage or even kill trees if proper protective measures are not taken. As caring arborists, we want to guide you through the process of preserving your trees when building projects encroach on them. With some planning and care, we can maintain the health of your valuable trees throughout construction.
How Does Construction Damage Trees?
Various construction activities can injure and destabilise trees. Digging trenches for utilities severs critical structural roots that trees depend on for water and nutrient uptake. Removing these essential roots leaves trees struggling to survive.
The heavy equipment used for digging, hauling materials, and traversing the site also compacts soil. This crushes the tiny air pockets that tree roots need for gas exchange, effectively suffocating the roots and impeding their growth and function.
Trucks, cranes, bulldozers and other construction vehicles can snap off lower branches or scrape off outer bark and cambium, opening the tree up to damaging infections. Construction also often involves leaked fuels, motor oils, and chemicals that contaminate the soil and disrupt the biological processes occurring in the root zone.
Even small changes to drainage and grading around a site can alter moisture levels in the soil, negatively impacting the roots. And excessive dust coating the leaves from construction activities inhibits photosynthesis.
All of these factors combined put immense stress on trees, evidenced by symptoms like wilting leaves, yellowing, lack of new growth, and thinning of the canopy. Construction can even cause outright tree death if the damage is too severe.
Assessing Trees Before Construction Begins
Before any equipment arrives or ground is broken, it is crucial to have a professional arborist thoroughly assess all trees near the project area.
The arborist will evaluate factors like the tree species, age, current health status, and structural condition. This provides insight into the tree’s relative resilience and indicates any pre-existing stresses. The tree surgeon will also carefully identify the location, spread, and depth of the root zone, as well as evaluate the arrangement and condition of the branches.
Combining knowledge of the tree’s traits and growth patterns with an understanding of the specific construction plans allows the arborist to pinpoint risks the project poses to that individual tree.
For example, a young, healthy oak with roots concentrated away from the site of a proposed trench line is at less risk than a mature elm with surface roots sprawling through the entire site.
This data is critical for guiding appropriate tree protection measures.
Protecting Trees During the Construction Process
Using the findings from a thorough tree impact assessment, we develop and implement suitable precautions to safeguard your trees throughout the construction process. A fundamental protection is designating exclusion zones delineated by barriers that prevent heavy vehicles and equipment from traversing and compacting the soil over the root area.
Mulch can also be applied around trees to maintain moisture and aeration to the roots. For trees along the perimeter of the activity, it may be necessary to wrap the trunks to prevent bark damage and prune back hazardous branches overhanging the construction zone.
If damage occurs during construction, soil amendments or supplemental irrigation may be needed to reduce stress to impacted trees.
Clearly communicating designated tree protection zones to construction personnel is also key. It is ideal to have a consulting arborist monitor protected trees regularly and re-evaluate risks throughout the project timeline, adjusting safeguards accordingly.
Alternatives to Tree Removal
If at all possible, alternatives should be pursued before any protected tree needs to be removed entirely. In some cases, building plans can be adjusted to avoid intruding on a tree’s critical root zone.
Transplanting trees to another suitable location on the property is another option if reconfiguring the building plans is not feasible.
For trees that need to remain in place near construction activity, techniques like cabling, bracing, aggressive root pruning, and judicious canopy reduction can be implemented to facilitate their preservation.
However, the feasibility of these alternatives depends on the tree’s species, age, condition, and site constraints.
Choose Sustainable Development Practices
Ultimately, responsible construction means minimising environmental impact through thoughtful landscape preservation. Making tree conservation a priority allows projects to maintain lush greenery that benefits the community for generations to come.
At Arborfield Tree Care, we specialise in sustainable tree care and construction impact mitigation. Contact our ISA Certified Arborists today at 0800 074 1886 to discuss your upcoming project and how we can responsibly protect your valuable trees.
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