A Bit More Detail

[There] are among at least 20 victims of falling tree limbs in Toronto in the past seven years, according to a Globe and Mail investigation that found the city has paid out more than $2-million in liability claims.

In addition, countless others have had close calls, saved by a few lucky moments that kept them out of harm’s way or by their ability to hear the cracking of a branch and sprint to safety.

The toll raises difficult questions about whether the city is doing enough to prevent such mishaps by adequately maintaining its 4.1 million trees – one-fifth of which are in fair, poor or even worse condition – and protecting people from the rare but sometimes catastrophic damage they can cause.

[. . .]

Toronto, which bills itself as “a city within a park,” is facing sweeping challenges in caring for its trees, with pressure from all sides. With a chronic budget crunch, the city admits it is not pruning public trees as often as its own experts recommend and acknowledges that it relies heavily on residents to report possibly dangerous trees.

At the same time, Toronto’s park, street and ravine trees have been hit hard by the destructive emerald ash borer, the 2013 ice storm and summer droughts, which can all weaken trees.

Despite this, officials are under pressure to increase the canopy and the significant benefits that trees provide to cities, including cleaning the air, cooling neighbourhoods, conserving energy and increasing property values. In addition, many residents have strong attachments to trees and vehemently oppose cutting them down.

There are seven billion ash trees in North America, and within the next few decades, the beetle could kill most of them—a die-off ten times bigger than the one caused by Dutch elm disease.

In big cities, where ash species account for up to a quarter of trees in public spaces, planners must consider the environmental consequences of the massive die-off—liability hazards, an increase in stormwater runoff, and the simple problem of disposing of millions of dead trees. And officials don't have time to waste.

Eight years after the initial discovery of the beetles in an area, about 50 percent of the ash population will die—all at once. The rest die within another two to three years. In the Kansas City metropolitan area, where Lapointe works, 6.4 million ashes are on track to die as early as 2015—unless they receive insecticide treatment.

Chad Tinkel, who inherited an EAB problem when he became the city arborist of Fort Wayne, Indiana, didn't have the luxury of early identification or a big city budget for prevention. Of the 18,000 ash trees that once shaded Fort Wayne's sidewalks and parking lots, only about 1,300 remain alive. Tinkel now speaks about EAB to municipalities across the country.

"If you know that it's coming, be proactive," he says. "Get your plan in place. Get your budget set. Too few decision-makers realize that trees are infrastructure—just like a city bench, just like a streetlight—and they pay back more than they cost to put in."

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