Month: April 2014

Last month, two bald eagles found themselves stuck together in a Portland tree for several hours. Officials from the Audubon Society and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived to help free them.

While seeing one, let alone two, bald eagles in your tree may be a rare occurrence, the environmental problems associated with urban sprawl are an inevitability unless something is done about it.

Fortunately, urban biodiversity initiatives appear to be growing in number. For instance, the University of Virginia recently launched The Biophilic Cities Project, dedicated to integrating nature into urban life in the U.S. and abroad.

So, what’s all the fuss about?

A 2010 report stated that the population of 17 percent of North American bird species are in rapid decline, in part due to urban development. Urban areas were estimated to triple in its share of our planet’s surface from 2000 to 2030. Since we’re halfway there, it’s time to take action to help conserve wildlife in urban settings.

To counter the problems associated with urban development, conservation groups are promoting urban initiatives to nurture a healthy bird habitat. Part of that means picking the right trees. For instance, public officials in Baltimore, Maryland have stipulated that 80 percent of trees in the county have to be canopy trees, and half of those need to be oak. Why? Because oak trees attract well over 500 species of caterpillars, an important food source for birds.

Trees are so important for birds, for so many reasons. They provide shelter, food, water, and a nesting area. While public initiatives are taken to nurture our feathery friends, there are things you can do on your own to conserve wildlife in urban settings.

Plant a fruit tree. The buds on fruit trees are a spring food source for birds. While birds can eat the fruit directly, since they also attract insects, it offers multiple ways of feeding them.

Consider conifers. Coniferous trees are important for northern birds because they are an essential food source, but also provide winter shelter since they are evergreen trees.

Don’t forget deciduous trees. While they lose their leaves in the winter, spring fruit, flowers and buds are great for birds. Even the leaves that hit the ground in the fall are a food source for ground-feeding birds.

Go for diversity. Each type of tree or shrub has its own benefit to birds. If possible, diversify and plant a little of each to have the best of all worlds.

Need Help Planting A Tree?

At Urban Forest Professionals we have years of experience working with trees. We can help you select the perfect trees for your yard, especially if you are looking to help conserve a home for birds and other wildlife in your area. Our tree planting services are offered to past customers or people looking to conduct other tree work and want to adding tree planting to their work request. Contact our office for more information.

This post first appeared on https://www.urbanforestprofessionals.com

Mature trees are some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring natural features on a piece of property. Their sheer height and multitude of gnarled, curling branches never fail to capture the attention of passersby.

These trees can be fairly sensitive to changes in the environment surrounding them, so they require a high level of care. Their requirements for pruning, watering and protection from disease are different from younger trees. Improper watering and pruning could make a mature tree much more vulnerable to deadly diseases.

Perfect Pruning

To ensure the health of your gorgeous mature trees, it’s important to remove the parts that have died or become diseased. You should also have a professional arborist perform what is known as an end-weight reduction. While it’s only performed on evergreens, this involves reducing the amount of weight carried on each branch in order to prevent the branches from breaking off (and potentially hurting someone). If performed improperly, these pruning techniques could actually starve the tree by leaving too few leaves attached or damage it in some other way.

In addition to pruning the tree itself, you should remove all plants that are competing with the tree for resources. The number one pesky plant that loves to steal trees’ resources is ivy. You can do a lot for the health of your tree by pulling all the ivy off it. It’s best to get going on this early, since ivy will attach pretty firmly to a tree once it gets a foothold.

Well-Placed Watering

Mature trees need their water levels to be just right. If your area isn’t getting a decent amount of rainfall, you should give your trees a deep watering on a monthly basis. You should consult with professional arborists to find out how much water your tree needs overall.

Defense Against Disease

As a tree grows older, its ability to defend itself against pests and diseases wanes. Certain pests that can harm your tree include whiteflies, aphids, thrips and scales. Diseases to watch out for include the fungal diseases anthracnose, oak root fungus, powdery mildew, and verticillium wilt as well as the bacterial disease fire blight. If you believe that your tree has a disease, you should consult a professional arborist for advice and treatment. Removing competing plants, mushrooms and excess soil build-up from the base of the tree can help keep these blights to a minimum.

As big as they are, mature trees are fragile. It’s important to pay close attention to their health. A professional arborist can keep you in the know regarding watering, pruning and disease prevention.

With proper care, your trees may stay standing long enough to be historical relics.

This post first appeared on https://www.urbanforestprofessionals.com

Urban Forest Pro’s arborist’s are excited for the opportunity to prune trees surrounding our local schools.

We would like to reach out and provide a learning experience for the students by showing different tree care methods.  We will also be providing a tree ID scavenger hunt with the Portland Timber’s Timber Joey.

Above is a tree at Rosa Parks we will be pruning as part of the event.

Saturday April 19th 9am-5pm

@ Rosa Parks University Elementary 8960 N Woolsey Ave

Pruning of school trees starts at 9am between N McCoy and N Woolsey. From 2-5pm there will be a tree climbing demonstration, an afternoon clean up party, and the Timber Joey’s Tree ID scavenger Hunt.

Tree to be adopted are: a Maple at the front of the school with some hazardous branches, a Maple tree by the back playground, a maple, a Cherry and an Oak tree at the corner of Woolsey and McCoy, lots of newly planted street trees that are in need of their first structural pruning. Volunteers of all skill levels are welcome to come and help prune. Lunch will be provided for volunteers by Urban Forest Pro.

Friday April 25th 3pm-5pm

@ Winter Haven Elementary 3800 SE 14th in the out-building at SE Center and 15th.

Pruning will be done in the morning by arborists. There will be educational presentation/activities lead by Sara Ennis and Jeff Moore for the elementary students from starting at 1pm. At 3pm there will a cleanup party and Timber Joey’s Tree ID scavenger Hunt which is open to volunteers and children of all ages.

Interested Teachers-Please contact Sara Ennis with age group of children that will be participating and ways in which we can incorporate our tree learning experience with material they are learning in the classroom.

For Further Info and Details Contact:

Sara Ennis-City of Portland Urban Forestry Community Coordinator [email protected]

Jeff Moore Urban Forest Pro Lead Estimator  [email protected]

This post first appeared on https://www.urbanforestprofessionals.com

Tree Removal in Portland, OR

Our arborists take the decision to remove a tree seriously, especially if the tree itself is healthy. Urban Forest Pro’s arborists don’t necessarily like to cut down healthy trees — but the truth of the matter is that trees are a renewable resource. Sometimes tree removal is the best option; trees can be replanted, after all, allowing them to grow and prosper for many years.

When is the best time to remove a tree? The best time to remove a tree is before it has a chance to cause damage to property or people. Beyond that, the longer answer is that tree removal is probably best done during the tree’s dormant season — typically January, February, and March.

For deciduous trees, the dormant season is when their leaves have fallen, making them easier to clear and remove. Plus, at that point, the increased likelihood of winter-hardened ground beneath the tree makes it less likely that tree removal will negatively impact on your lawn.

Spring and summer tree removal often means a longer wait time since those are the busiest seasons for tree service companies. It’s also likely to cost more in spring and summer because, among other things, the springtime addition of new leaf cover makes removal more difficult and time-consuming.

Contact Urban Forest Pro for a free estimate from one of our exceptional, certified arborists. We can remove trees of all sizes and in just about every situation.

4 Things To Consider When Removing A Tree

1. What are your goals for both the tree and your yard? It can be helpful to prioritize your goals. For example, if you have a tree next to your home that causes safety concerns but you really love how it looks and the shade it provides, you can rank your priorities like this:

• • Safety
  • Shade
  • Appearance

You can even get more specific regarding what exactly you like about the tree’s appearance or what your top safety concerns are. If yours is a rental property, you might have completely different goals, such as reducing maintenance and liability worries.

If you simply have a tree that you don’t like, it’s also important to think about why you dislike the tree. For example, does it drop too much sap in the summertime, making your deck a sticky, unusable mess? Even in a case like that, there are alternatives. For example, rather than spending several thousand dollars removing the tree, property owners might consider a several-hundred-dollar treatment to prevent aphids, which are often the actual culprits in sap production. (Aphids feed on sap and secrete “bug poo, aka honeydew.”)

2. What are your options? Be super clear with your arborist about your goals so that they can help you achieve them and/or suggest other options. For example, it may be better to prune a tree rather than remove it. Of course, it’s possible that the opposite is the best course of action: a property owner may want to prune a tree that should actually be removed. If the customer’s goal is to eliminate branches overhanging the house, reduce the height of the tree, or stop a tree from uplifting concrete, there are many cases where the only true answer to those problems is tree removal.

We don’t necessarily like to cut down healthy trees, but trees are renewable; they can be replanted. In many cases, it’s better to remove a tree and start over with the right tree in the right location. Plus, delaying the inevitable can increase the cost of tree removal.

In any case, you can ask questions and get answers by contacting an Urban Forest Pro certified arborist for options!

3. What does the law say? The ultimate decision to remove a tree may not be up to you — even if it’s on your property. In many cases, the final word is provided by the city via a tree removal permit process.

For example, our hometown of Portland, Oregon, has an urban tree canopy that is among the country’s most admired. American Forests named Portland one of the Top 10 cities for urban trees, and the National Arbor Day Foundation has honored Portland as a “Tree City USA” 41 times. Cities are active and often aggressive in monitoring the tree canopy, and unpermitted tree removals can incur fines in the thousands of dollars.

4. What happens to the removed tree? Urban Forest Pro (UFP) works hard to provide tree services in Portland, Oregon, that work best for our clients, the community, and the environment. Every part of the removed tree is recycled and/or reused. The wood is either milled into lumber or used as firewood, and wood chips can be used as mulch to help fight invasive plants and to rebuild native habitats. UFP donates most of this material to nonprofits and various municipalities.

When It’s Time To Remove A Tree

Whether you’re a business owner with a shady lot or a homeowner who’s on the fence when it comes to one of your trees, it’s important to understand that tree removal is sometimes the absolute best — and often only — course of action.

Here are four reasons why tree removal is often the solution:

1. The tree is diseased. Trees can experience a host of different diseases — some more serious than others. If a disease spreads and begins to kill the tree, it might be easier and more affordable to simply remove the tree instead of trying to save it. The earlier a disease is caught and treated, the easier it is to handle. However, if your tree’s disease has begun to overtake a large portion of it, it might be time to bid it adieu.
2. It’s impossible to take proper care of the tree. Different types of trees have different pruning demands, and sometimes people don’t know what they’re getting into. Not everyone has the time, skills, money, or patience to care for an especially demanding tree. If you know you don’t have the time and don’t want to contract a landscaper on a regular basis, your life will be a lot easier if you remove the tree and perhaps replace it with a less demanding variety.
3. It’s grown too close for comfort. Whether a tree was planted too close to a house or if it’s an older tree that’s grown beyond what the planters ever imagined, a tree too close to a building can spell trouble. In a severe storm, if it’s hit by lightning or toppled by strong winds, a tree can cause damage to property and people. Thus, sometimes removing a tree that’s nestled next to a building makes things safer for everybody.
4. The tree has become a huge distraction. Maybe a tree has grown out of control and is invading electrical wires, blocking key road signs, or dropping fruit directly onto a busy street. Trees can turn into nuisances, especially if they’re overgrown or if the neighborhood has turned from rural to suburban over the years. Someone needs to take care of these trees, and if they’ve become neglected, they can present hazards. After all, it’s important that stop signs remain visible and that cars stopped there aren’t damaged by falling walnuts.

If you’re ready for a tree removal near Portland — or if you need help making a decision — please contact the expert and certified arborists at Urban Forest Pro. They can help you make the best choice for you and your trees.

Our expert arborists are all ISA-certified — every single one of them! They’ll help you determine the best course of action for your specific needs, whether that’s trimming, pruning, removal or any of our many full-service tree care and tree removal services.

This post first appeared on https://www.urbanforestprofessionals.com