Tree links: 20-something arborists and tiger habitat
- Feature story and video yesterday in The New York Times about a parks project that is training the next generation of “green-collar” jobs:
In New York, a city where tree climbing in public parks is officially considered disorderly conduct, the art of hauling yourself skyward, branch by branch, may be endangered for children and adults alike. Add the modern diversions of mobile gadgets and video games and, as Idiongo Okoro said, “you never really notice the trees.”
- Do not mess with the native habitat of Siberian tigers in Russia, reports the World Wildlife Fund last Friday:
A resident of Russia’s far east was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for having chopped down trees necessary for the preservation of the massive Siberian tiger.
“It’s extremely rare that a person is sentenced to prison in such a case,” said a WWF representative in Amur, Russia‘s Primorye region, in remarks cited by the Ria Novosti news agency.
- The D.C. area and much of the East Coast are suffering tree canopy losses due to heavy snow, reports The Washington Post last week.
At his 2 1/2 -acre wooded lot at his office near Dulles Airport, arborist Jeremy Baker said he lost about 30 mature trees. “I would call it widespread and severe,” he said, “but not catastrophic.”
- It’s not too late to prune fruit trees, says Ciscoe Morris for The Seattle Times.
Most experts agree that the best time to prune fruit trees is in August. Having said that, if you didn’t get around to it last summer, or even if you did and find that your tree is still crowded in the middle or taller than desired, there’s no problem pruning now before it breaks dormancy.
–Toshio Suzuki