On July 16, with the temperature in the 90s, trees shaded the bike lane on Marion Street S.E., making for a pleasant ride despite the heat.
These hot summer days once again show how useful it is to have lots of big trees along our streets. Mature trees make travel on foot or two wheels bearable and even pleasant by shielding us from the son’s searing rays.
This was brought home to me once again on a recent bike ride through parts of southeast Albany.
With the thermometer climbing into the mid-90s on July 16, I was heading south on Marion Street, where tree canopies overhanging the bike lane provided welcome relief from the heat of early afternoon. If I remember right, the trees were planted when that section of Marion was rebuilt in 1997.
My route took me south and then east toward Waverly Drive, where I stopped to check on the tree situation on 21st Avenue and 22nd Place just west of Waverly.
There, developers had planted street trees in the late 1990s. Early this year, the city cut down 35 mature sycamores on 22nd Avenue and 22nd Place. The reason given was that their roots were likely to cause damage to the sidewalks. (When I looked in January, I didn’t see any sidewalk damage.)
In any case, new trees were planted there to replace the sycamores. When I came by on July 16, the new trees looked to be suffering from drought even though they had plastic water bags tied around the base of their trunks.
The pavement there, on that hot day in mid-July, was sizzling as you would expect. Those brand new trees were in no position to help.
Nor are they likely to do much good against summer heat if they survive this year and eventually reach their mature size. Labels identified them as Vanessa Parrotia persica, a variety of Persian ironwood. The image on the label makes that species look tall but not particularly wide, maybe not wide enough to shade the street in mid-summer.
\
Protecting sidewalks and pavement from roots is the usual is the usual reason for cutting down big old shade trees, which are then replaced with puny varieties, the kind of tree they put in parking lots of malls.
But in summer we need trees that are full of leaves, with canopies broad enough let people get under them and enjoy the shade. If that means repairing a sidewalk now and then, it’s the price of preventing heat stroke in the middle of those hot days in July. (hh)
On July 16, the trees planted to replace mature sycamores on 22nd Place looked parched.
Yeah, up on Gibson Hill they’ve downed several LARGE old trees for another housing track. Personally, I prefer the trees over the coming residents. I can’t for the life of me understand why they can’t plan to build around in the design stage. I guess it’s just easier to destroy all those years of growth.
Thanks for this follow-up. Yeah we in the Periwinkle neighborhood are burning without the mature trees that were cut, a foolish move in these hot dry summers. And even more distressing that the city plants young trees with no apparent plans to water and maintain them as is needed in extreme heat. I hope some lessons were learned and future decisions will take into account the very present benefits of tree coverage vs. “potential” future sidewalk disturbance.
I’m happy to dodge a branch here and there. Love the tree lined streets, makes for an enjoyable ride
We lived on Marion when the put the new street in. Less then 6 months they pulled the trees because they would hurt the sidewalks. They cost alot of money. The second planting with in 5 years the roots lifted the sidewalks. Only in the city billed as the city of trees. Glad we’ve been gone for 13 yrs.
There are many small trees and other plants in the city that are too small to handle the heat. Planting trees and any other plants in the middle of hot pavement makes it necessary to take care of them until they are large enough to have a root system to survive hot weather. Some need it every summer no matter what. The city should plan to water them for the short time they need it. Taking better care of what the city already has would be cheaper than all the other big projects the city does trying to make Albany more attractive. When you drive through Corvallis, the older streets that are maintained well and have beautiful trees are far more welcoming than our new homes/apartments and the increasingly bare, damaged streets of Albany.
In addition, the bags slowly deliver water to the trees, thus making the grow outward and into the sidewalks. The trees need lots of water in one amount so that the water goes deep and thus the roots go deep. Also, we have 4 trees on 21st Ave already dead. They were planted 3 years ago. It seems that whoever is making the decisions on which trees to plant and how to care for them doesn’t have enough plant knowledge.
Concerning new housing, Albany plants new trees, usually in the hundreds, along the streets. Might be new housing will get more trees than from before. Also old trees rot and need to be replaced, anyway.
Thanks for the follow up on our trees. I think as time goes by we are going to need a lot more big trees to mitigate the rising temps.
We should be planting more trees, not cutting them down.
The trees they planted on North Albany road from Hickory to Gibson Hill are all dying due to stress. They have never been taken care of properly!
If I remember correctly, most of those trees have a watering pipe that I think might help get the water to a deeper level. When they were younger, I used to see the city watering using the pipes. Haven’t seen that in awhile. Maybe they’re going for the bag method, which another commented adds the water at the wrong level.
Just wait. They are planning on cutting down the big trees on Washington Street. They need to have “Tree City USA” removed from Albany. Not to mention all the trees removed for the “NEW” park. What a waste. We need trees. Any complaints contact the City Parks Department, Rick Barnett
Good luck getting anyone from the city to do anything about helping! Try taking a look at the tree in front of the duplex in the 200 block of Oak Street NE. It has wrecked the sidewalk and the parking gutter area and the “city” won’t do anything about it! Front end damage on cars parking along the street? Apparently “not the city’s problem!”
What’s wrong with people? Don’t you know we need trees not more cement to consume carbon dioxide and produce more oxygen. Perhaps moving trees further from the sidewalk or narrowing sidewalks.
Not only do HUMANS enjoy trees but trees are critical to our ecosystem. I recently read that every day a 40 foot tree takes in 50 gallons of dissolved nutrients from the soil, riases the mixture to its topmost leaves, converts it into 10 pounds of carbohydrates and releases about 60 cubic feet of pure oxygen into the air. Cutting down mature trees just because they MIGHT damage the sidewalk is foolish.
As well as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Article concerning trees in the city:
“Heat affects everyone. Due to the heat island effect, people who live in cities are more at risk than those in suburban or rural areas. What’s more, some areas within a city are often hotter than others. These neighborhood-level hotspots are called “intra-urban” heat islands. Intra-urban heat islands are caused by the uneven, inequitable spread of landcovers in the urban landscape, leading to more heat-absorbing buildings and pavements and fewer cool spaces with trees and greenery.
Residents of intra-urban heat islands are more likely to experience heat-related illnesses and even death. Related negative effects include worse air quality and a higher cost burden of air conditioning bills”.
This one and other articles discuss how cities neglect the areas that suffer from excessive heat. The increased use of water, electric and even medical bills during the months of excessive heat.
We need the big trees not sidewalks, they can be moved!
What are the criteria to become and maintain the “Tree City USA” moniker? I believe Albany hasn’t been a good example for this label. Maybe Hasso could prepare an article on the subject? If there hasn’t been any in recent history.
Earlier this year, Albany was named a “Tree City USA” by the National Arbor Day Foundation (for the 29th year in a row) in recognition of our stewardship of our Urban Forest…