ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Preserving OMT)

*** 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/ & http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Below & attached are yet another sad case of Mature Tree Failure which was described to happen on 4 no. of our Old Mature Trees (OMT) at the former Central Police Station in HK Island. They were said to be blown over by the mini-typhoon Fangshen two weeks ago & they were inspected to be beyond hope & therefore removed. The incident has prompted senior official in our Govt to call for better preservation of these trees.

In the opinion of ISA HK/China, a task force comprised of AFCD, LCSD & local Independent Practicing Arborists can be set up to help further prevent future incidents to our OMT. The AFCD experts can provide advice on the habitat & conservation details for these local trees, which would originally come from our previous forest. The LCSD experts can provide maintenance programs with their contractor resources to be supervised by them to carry out on-going provision for these sensitive trees. The local Independent Arborists should provide regular Tree Inspection as Tree Doctors, & be on call within hours to site should an emergency situation arise. We must remember limb breakage would only take minutes to happen. We can not wait for days for the tree to let it happen. Independent Practicing Arborists should also be impartial & do not represent any Departmental interest or the interest of any company or group, & will take the liabilities for their reporting to District Board, Conservation Groups, Govt or anybody.

It is important to identify & protect OMT, but maybe more so to provide positive efforts to care, maintain & inspect them. OMT are like senile humans & they need special attention & regular medical check-up. Who would be better than the Arborists, whether in Govt or working independently, to provide such advice. Heritage Trees in Singapore undergo vigorous tree care program of maintenance & inspection by their Arborists. Most of their Heritage Trees are even lightning protected besides intensive tree care. Can we do the same to ours to match the names so given?

It is always true that Mother Nature makes the Rules, not any of us for a tree. What HK may require now to preserve our valuable assets may be the correct action, & be quick.

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/)

風神吹倒4大樹 林鄭促盡快保育

7月16日 星期三 05:10

【專訊】馬會去年10月表示會保留中區警署建築群內所有樹木，惟活化計劃尚未展開，建築群內4棵樹上月已被熱帶氣旋風神重重「襲擊」，一棵大葉榕被吹倒，壓住另外3棵樹，並擊倒建築群的一個陽台，經專家檢驗，3棵樹已不能存活，發展局長林鄭月娥表示事件反映馬會需盡快展開活化及保育計劃，以免建築物進一步受損。

大葉榕連根拔起

上月熱帶氣旋「風神」襲港，把中區警署建築群內一棵17米高、約30多年樹齡的大葉榕（Ficus virens）連根拔起，壓倒旁邊的木棉（Bombax ceiba）、朴樹（Celtis sinensis）和竹柏 （Nageia nagi），經康文署專家檢驗，除了竹柏倖存，其餘3棵樹全部「不治」。4棵樹均不在古樹名冊內。

連根拔起的大葉榕亦擊中警署B座一個陽台，陽台塌於地上，幸未至破碎，當局已將之保存待日後維修。林鄭月娥希望馬會日後會於樹木原址種植適合的品種，她又指事件反映馬會需盡快開展保育及活化計劃，並為建築群維修。

ISA HK/China --- Method Statement on Pruning

*** 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 xxx,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Your enquiry on Method Statement of Pruning a mature tree has come up quite a few times in this Station already. Therefore, for the benefit of our Station Members, we are repeating our reply to you in open Station Mail without disclosing any of your details of which we have erased anyway to protect your identity. Please note any enquiry coming in can be circulated within our system as stipulated above in red & Station Mail is regarded as part of our internal system.

We can not provide you a Method Statement for your pruning work due to the following reasons:

1. It is your work & you get paid for it. You should employ an Independent Practicing Arborist, like an Auditor for limited companies, to do it for you & let him take the liability. Your enquiry is simply outside the scope of service of our Station.

2. We have a saying in Arboriculture that Prescription without diagnosis is Mal-practice. Any responsible Arborist would not prescribe Pruning Specifications without first examining the tree, like any good doctor would not give medicines to a patient before examining him. Arboricultural work is legally sensitive & any removed branches can not be nailed or glued back. Once cut, the case is there & the Arborist would need to accept liability.

3. We were surprised to learn from you that the instruction would actually come from your Landscape Consultant for the Method Statement. We would think that your consultant would be technically superior than you are as a contractor to provide Method Statement to you on what to do. In tree work overseas, it would be the Arborist giving Method Statement to the contractor, be they tree climbers or general workers, on how to prune a tree. This Station has not yet seen it the other way round anywhere in the world so far. Station Mail is now circulated to +670 Station Members in HK & to +20 countries around the world. This Station would be humble to learn of the reasons why the cart is to be put before the horse elsewhere.

Pruning to a tree is equivalent to surgery on a person. If anyone goes to a doctor to complain his appendicitis, would the doctors ask him to provide a Method Statement on how to remove it on a surgical table?

Therefore, in your case, it would either be you go back to your landscape Consultant to ask for further advice, or you would employ an Independent Practicing Arborist to inspect the tree & provide the Method Statement. This Station simply can not do it for you.

Thank you for your enquiry again & please do not hesitate to contact us anytime if you have further queries. By not evading questions & providing an efficient reply are what makes this Station strong & popular in our territory. We also believe reasoned debate by educated people is the sole means to resolve contemporary human problems.

Wouldn't you?

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)