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September/October 2021
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
VISION
Davey Resource Group (DRG) completed a tree inventory
of the Monroe County Parks and Recreation trail system
surrounding Bloomington, Indiana. The goal of the project
was to assess hazard trees along 9.6 miles of the county
parks' trails, develop a list of concerning trees within a
targeted window of failure and record them in TreeKeeper,
and then recommend a work plan and how the areas
should be managed.
The project was supported by the U.S. Forest Service's
Urban and Community Forestry Grant program and the
Indiana Department of Natural Resource's Division of
Forestry. Aren Flint, senior associate consultant, DRG,
HIGH-RISK TRAIL TREES EXAMINED
FOR INDIANA PARK SYSTEM
served as project manager and helped the county develop
the grant narrative and then led the inventory team assisted
by James Rocke, senior inventory arborist, DRG.
"The new management plan gives the county a foundation
for developing strategies about how to better manage high-
risk trees along trails and allow the trees to be the healthiest
they can be in a semi-urban environment," Flint said.
SAVING WOODPECKERS IN FLORIDA
When the City of Tallahassee account
crew arrived to remove a dogwood
tree that had fallen onto a neighborhood
power line, the homeowner came out
and told them to use caution. She had
been keeping an eye on woodpeckers
that had taken up roost in the tree,
including fledglings she could hear
chirping from somewhere inside.
Ricardo Howard, foreman, and
Nicholas Crum, trimmer, carefully cut
into the dogwood with a chainsaw,
slicing off small pieces until they
Ricardo Howard and Nicholas Crum help
save two baby woodpeckers from a downed
dogwood tree in Tallahassee.
found the cavity and nest inside. A
pair of baby woodpeckers were placed
inside a shoebox until the limb removal
was completed, and then placed back
inside a small section of the trunk
that was left standing for the mother
to find later.
"We were glad to find them inside
the tree. They were cute and the
homeowner was thankful we could
save them," Crum said. "She called
us later and told us the mother
had returned."
In total, 448 trees among five different trail systems were assessed by
James Rocke and Kellee Edington for the Monroe County Parks and
Recreation Department with most falling in the Extreme to High risk
category of the International Society of Arboriculture's risk assessment.
Many of the trail system's ash trees had dead or dying branches, and
the sassafras and black cherry trees had decay and/or cavities.
