Thursday, March 6, 2008

ISA HK/China --- 2008 Research on the Benefits of City Trees


*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Traditionally in HK & China, trees in landscape are selected mostly for the benefit of flowering. However for a tree, flowering is meant for attracting mammals & insects for reproduction, & flowers are usually on top & edge of a tree to be seen by these creatures, without consideration of human enjoyment. Therefore, if someone rests underneath a tree & looks up, he would see hardly any flower which is usually the case in our urban setting. Flowering also creates debris when the inflorescence & fruits drop, giving hygienic problem & unsightliness. When a 'flowering' tree is not selected properly for a specific growing condition, the tree may not flower, or just flower once only by burning off the remaining energy.

Another conventional criteria in picking a tree would be to match a tree with the name of a place, e.g. Bougainvillea for ' Bougainvillea Court' & Cherry for Cherry Lane, usually without much consideration whether it is the 'Right Tree for the Right Place' & as long as it looks good on paper. Just look at how many Bahinias are planted all over HK in recent years.

The benefits of trees are certainly more than just for flowering & christening a place. Trees regulate temperature, reduce run-off during storm, hide unwanted view, reduce air pollution, enhance ecological balance, promote social & psychological harmony, & many others. Just when trees are selected for flowering alone does not mean the other benefits should be buried & ignored, & there are more reasons to select a tree just for flowering.

The attached research from ISA gave a rarely mentioned benefit of City Trees in promoting the health & stamina of residents by encouraging them to exercise physically. This research has shown that humans enjoy hanging around environment with trees. In older day China, rural villages would almost without exception plant selected tree species around the vicinity. Some said it was for Fung Shui. This Station would reckon it was for better than that, e.g. firewood, food, shade & herbal medicines. Trees there were a necessity then, & hardly for the reason of flowering.

In the Tree Supervision lecture of the Station Manager at CITA, the first question to throw out to challenge the candidates would be whether anyone would enjoy living in a desert. A desert has no tree. The Station Manager has not yet heard anyone replying that they would enjoy living in a place with no tree. Trees are part of our life in the back of our mind, & therefore they should be planted & protected.

If trees are so important, we would need to learn how to design, select, plant, maintain & inspect trees, because if a tree is not properly so done so, it is likely to become a time bomb for our city. Just look at how many tree failures we have after storms & never mind after the regular typhoons. Trees should be selected for more than just flowering, but also for good Structure & Health to stand against wind. The right trees must go into the right places so that we can enjoy their benefits.

In order to do this, the first step is to learn what a 'good' tree should be because planting, maintenance including Structural Pruning, inspection & risk assessment will base upon how to obtain a 'good' tree. Hence it is always the emphasis of this Station in any of arbor introduction to first inform on how a 'good' tree should look & stay like, since everything else will come from & try to imitate that.

Trees in HK are our valuable assets. We appear to be losing them in our continuous development & we should preserve & protect the existing ones. But we shall need to know how. When we plant new trees, we should also re-vitalize our landscape with good quality ones rather than just hunting for the cheapest. The cheapest ones usually cost more in maintenance & lead to public complaint when failed. Our older trees are already history & should be given a dignified retreat. The new ones should be our hope & we must select the right ones, or we'll repeat our past mistakes.

Disagreement? Our existing trees are still better to show the world? Why not try to compare with Singapore & get some answers there ...

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

Monday, March 3, 2008

ISA HK/China --- TCHK's public reply on the benefits of Tree Climbing


Dear Station Members,

TCHK (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk) has recently published a public reply in Chinese on the enquiry of the benefits of Tree Climbing by an outsider. It is written in a language second to none by a professional to explain the good of Tree Climbing to a non-believer & translated complicated knowledge into laymen term for public understanding. It is worth broadcasting in our 'Professionals' Channel for public viewing.

Tree Climbing has always been part of ISA Arboriculture. It is on Arborist News in every edition & there is an International Tree Climbing Championship in every ISA Conference in the world. Despite its popularity, there is very few literature on the description of Tree climbing, because it is such a fast moving industry that by the time the book is printed, the technology has already moved ahead.

Please enjoy this interesting article written in colloquial Cantonese for the understanding of the majority of TCHK Members.

best regards,


Sammy Au
Station Manager


攀爬一族 重要家書 2號 (攀樹有何好處?)

有人問:

我唔係你地族人,但係上網成日見到你地係度吹噓話攀樹点正点好,咁我玩第二D運動唔得嘅咩,点解要學攀樹? 你地有無D乜野可以Ling出黎詳細解釋吓點解攀樹咁好丫!

族長親自答:

老兄你講得出依番說話,雖然我倆素未謀面,但本族長都幾敢肯定你可能從未試過真正用過‘器材攀樹’同埋上過好高,否則你未必會咁樣講嘅。我依家以我半老人家嘅身份嚟同你解釋,希望你會明白箇中道理。

攀樹同其他危險運動嘅最大嘅分別就係攀樹嘅專注力係會係與別不同。舉例講,攞游水嚟比,如果你游緊果陣唔集中精神,最多你會游慢D或且飲兩啖水,唔會成个即刻沉左落去掛?咁同攀石比又点呀?攀石嘅初級一般都係用手用腳抓住舊石一步一步上去,而身上條繩就主要用嚟防墜,个人企係舊石上便係唔會俾D風吹嚟擺去,會係企定定咁樣成个人貼住舊石係度等下一步嘅。

攀樹就非常唔同。就算你係用「身體推行法」貼住棵樹「豬仔爬」上去,須知道唔係棵棵樹都直筆甩咁俾你貼住爬上去,只要你叉錯一腳就可能會成个人「甩樹」,飛左出去半空中好似只蜘蛛咁樣吊下吊下,都咪話唔夠剌激。如果用‘腳鎖式’上樹果陣就更加唔使講添喇,一定係乜野都點唔到,除左自己、空氣同埋條繩,係咁半天吊聽天由命。

攀樹係真正嘅「命懸一線」,條繩就係攀樹人條命,條繩如果有乜冬瓜豆腐,个人亦都跟埋條繩去冬瓜豆腐。攀樹工作至今都依然係全美洲五大工業意外之一,曽經試過一年內傷亡人數比起果度D警察同埋消防員加埋重要多三倍,咁你話夠剌激未?

咁危險咁又点解去學攀樹呀?其實國際上嘅‘器材攀樹’實質上有一套非常嚴謹嘅安全守則,往往係D人唔肯去學或者一於少埋先至會出事。攀樹其實唔比跳傘或者深海潛水危險,多數出事嘅人都係叻過龍果D人,好少係正常循規道矩嘅人。

係我地當今大都市裡便,人與人之間經常互相猜疑,互相鬥爭,在公在私都要日日對住部電腦,一上班果陣就文山會海,議而不決,到左落班果陣,重話走去跑步游水?都已經晚上八点几喇。

但係,如果趁住星期六、日、成班人圍埋係棵樹腳下便拋下沙袋,掛下繩,然後「豬仔爬」上去几米坐係條樹丫上便叫下映下相,我試過見過D成六十歲嘅婆頭都開心到變番十六歲嘅妹丁,佢地果種童真歡樂係由內心裡邊自發出嚟,唔係扮得到架。

我又見過有D大則師大工程師,平日Jit 到唔笑,但係一立住條繩上樹就馬上成只開籠雀咁、鬼咁多野問,鬼咁多野講,跟住一「豬仔爬」上去就用埋飲奶D力,咬牙切齒咁一邊唱「誓要去,入刀山,浩氣壯,過千關 ……..」,死都要捱埋果三、五米高度,拉到成双手甩晒皮都無所謂,上到去上便果陣叉開双手係度大鵬展翅映相,落番地果陣重解壓過考完果大學畢業試,咁你話有益定無益?

鳳溪攀樹隊果班年青人,本族長係教佢地開頭果陣,裡便有打交天王,逃學聖手,多情小生,佢地大部份無心向學,有D由尾數番上頭全級考第二,好多如果係星加坡住早就打晒藤條,佢地黎學攀樹完全係嚟碰下運氣。但係俾本族長又讚又嚇咁教左幾个月之後,考包尾嘅變成全班考十幾,打交嘅留番D力嚟爬樹,而且全部人好緊張咁學英文,因為大部份攀樹知識都係用英文嚟寫。

由此可見,攀樹有乜好?就係真情歡樂,身心健康,精神減壓,注意力集中,服從紀律,建立自信,熱血自豪,環境保育,回歸自然 ……… 重有……… 重有… 我地‘攀爬一族’ 嘅口號係:


攀爬一族,非凡脫俗。能人不能,樹上貴族。


本族長已半百歲人,後生果陣走遍全球各地,跳傘潛水攀山打獵乜都試過,但我可以話俾你知,無一樣野會比攀樹更加剌激,係更有滿足感嘅。

唔信我?咁你又試過攀樹未?点解唔嚟試下再講吖??

ISA HK/China --- TCHK training, certificate & insurance

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Please kindly find attached the latest announcement of TCHK (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk) in Chinese with regard to minimum attendance, certificate to be conferred & insurance offer, for those who are interested. Continuous intake is coming in from all sectors of society & TCHK has the intention to become a recognized body by Govt Depts to train Tree Workers in HK for skills & safety. TCHK will also spread into China in due course.

TCHK is the answer to Station Members who constantly enquire for training & certificates locally in the Chinese language, together for any contractor & staff. TCHK can tailor make training for institutes & organization in English or Chinese to satisfy their requirement. TCHK can also train any age or qualification, has an independent administration & links up with ISA HK/China & ETF to offer a complete set of arbor knowledge & practice. Govt Depts can certainly consider to send their contractors & staff to TCHK training for practice & safety.

Looking forward to anyone applying for TCHK training in due course.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (www.isa-arbor.com)