Tree damage by mowers in Orleans July 2008

Click on the photo to see a larger version. These pictures were taken on 28 July, 2008. See below for follow up.

Near my house in Convent Glen, Orleans are numerous examples of trees damaged by City of Ottawa mowing crews. Fresh damage is visible each year from mowers. I have lived in the neighborhood long enough to see trees planted and then slowly killed off with grass cutting and so it is evident that parkland maintenance practices must change. There is little point to keep grass tidy around dying trees when the grass cutting is causing the decline of the trees themselves. This damage to city property is a waste and is killing our valuable trees. Jeff Blackadar web@ottawahort.org

Trunk damage from mowers or weed cutters. This damage was not caused by rodents.

Deep cuts to the trunk with a mower.

Badly damaged trunk. Can this tree survive?

Trunk damage over the years.

Locust tree with trunk damage. See below.

Locust tree under stress. This tree is producing a heavy crop of seeds due to severe stress. The cause appears to be heavy bark damage.

Bark ripped off the trunk.

More damage.

Severe damage.

Oak tree with un-mown grass around the trunk. This mowing makes more sense. The grass is not cut right up to the trunk and damage causing machines are kept away from the bark. This is a good practice if done consistently

Newly planted sapling with trunk protector and mulch. This newly planted sapling has protection against animals and mowers. How long will this tree last?

Dying blue spruce, marked for removal.

Bark damage over the years on the blue spruce. This tree was vigorous at one time and planted at some expense to the City. Is the cause of death bark damage? The trunk is almost completely ringed with exposed wood.

Follow up

Please see the article in the Orleans Star / Weekly Journal.

August 2008

The city has placed coir fibre mats around a number of the trees to keep the grass from growing around them. It has also stopped mowing around tree trunks as close as it was.

March, April 2009

The Ottawa Forests and Greenspace Advisory Committee passed the following motion:

Below are the March minutes of the Ottawa Forests and Greenspace Advisory
Committee.  April minutes will be posted to their website.

At its meeting of 23 March 2009, the members of OFGAC present unanimously
carried the following motion, a draft of which had originally been submitted by
Mr. Jeff Blackadar, a resident and former member of OFGAC, requesting the City
to amend its mowing and plowing practices in order to protect trees from damage
by machinery related to these activities:

Moved by M. Bisson:

WHEREAS, the health of city trees grown on grassed areas is sometimes severely
compromised by the use of string weed trimmers and mowers, often resulting in
the long-term damage and death of the trees;

WHEREAS, in addition, trees growing adjacent to areas that are plowed in the
winter are susceptible to damage from sidewalk and snow plows which often cause
long-term damage resulting in the death of these trees;

WHEREAS, these mechanically damaged, dying and dead trees have to be replaced
at additional expense to the city;

WHEREAS, trees are an integral and important component for the mitigation of
and adaptation to climate change;

WHEREAS, trees are known to be an important component of a liveable city;

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the OFGAC requests that City staff make it a priority to
amend mowing practices starting in the 2009 cutting season to stop the cutting
of grass right up to the tree's trunk, and further, that a small buffer of
grass be left around tree trunks, as recommended by former city forester Craig
Huff.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the OFGAC encourages City staff to amend snow
plowing practices and to find additional ways of protecting trees from snow
removal machinery impact before the 2009 winter plowing season.

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED THAT the OFGAC supports the Ottawa Horticultural Society
(membership 381) which passed a motion calling on the city to change its mowing
practices in order to protect damage to tree trunks from either string weed
trimmers or lawn tractors.

The OFGAC submits the attached newspaper article from the Orleans Star/Weekly
Journal:

http://www.eastottawa.ca/article-238714-Resident-fighting-for-better-plant-protection.html


and photographs of tree trunk damage submitted by the Ottawa Horticultural
Society:

http://www.ottawahort.org/2008treedamage.htm

CARRIED as amended

Action 1: Coordinator to forward motion to appropriate staff.

Action 2: Ms. Copestake to forward any additional photographs of tree damage to
OFGAC membership.

Action 3: Member S. Bitton to post approved Motion (including links to websites
noted above), along with photographs received indicating tree damage to OFGAC
web site.

At the discretion of the Chair, Mr. Hunter McGill, a resident, was permitted to
address the Committee to echo his support for the above-noted motion and
suggested that by adopting such an approach, Ottawa could be a best-practices
leader in the Province of Ontario.  He said he would solicit support from
members of Council when this matter arose before the Planning and Environment
Committee.