Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver will soon be short one of its giant shady trees.
The city of Vancouver plans to cut down the huge roughly century-old silver maple, which stands slightly northwest of the park’s pavilion this week.
“It’s basically a safety issue. We’ve been managing it but unfortunately we’ve done all we can for the tree,” said city of Vancouver Urban Forester Charles Ray.
While it may look healthy from the outside with its big bursts of green leaves and thick branches, Ray said the tree is actually rotting from the inside and facing structural problems.
Maples grow quickly, but as a consequence they’re made of weak wood which is prone to rot. With genetics already working against it, this tree’s condition was compounded by years of bad, but well intentioned, pruning. Rather than trimming it in a way that allowed the tree to grow in a healthy, sturdier way, workers cut the crown of the tree off several times.
Once a common practice, topping keeps a tree shorter, but modern foresters and professional pruners frown on the practice because of the long-term harm it causes the tree. When a tree is topped it responds by shooting out several weakly attached branches to heal the damage where just one limb was cut. As a consequence, the tree is prone to breaking, especially during storms, and its lifespan is significantly reduced.
“This is a prime example of why people shouldn’t top trees,” Ray said. “It was topped decades ago multiple times. …Those are the areas you have the decay problems.”
Crews plan to start removing the tree today. Its stump will be removed and that section of the park will be restored.
Ray said the Department of Urban Forestry knew for a while that this day coming, so they recently planted an elm, ginkgo, and oak tree — long-living leafy types, around the big old maple.
