the Onebark blog

Company leader Jesse Milton has received a Top Viewed Author Award from Google Knol, a badge given to authors that have the highest number of pageviews. The award is partly a result of his work on the Dogwood Manual.

We are excited to announce that Onebark is offering our services to the citizens and contractors in Sandy Springs! Starting now we can help:

- Draft documentation for tree removal permits
- Prepare Site Tree Conservation Plans for building permits and land disturbance
- Provide expert witness services
- Consult with homeowners
- Develop tree management plans and tree diagnosis reports

Call us at 678-344-6948 or submit a contact request.

This chart shows the occurrences of defects in trees that failed (or broke in some way) during the April storms. These findings are from my own casual research:

Defect Visible - this refers to the trees that had a visible problem that indicated the tree was a risk

Defect Discoverable - these trees had a visible problem, but the problem was only identifiable through a full inspection and risk assessment

Defect Not Visible - these trees had a serious problem that predisposed them to failure, but the problem would not have been easily discovered, even by a professional. This includes problems such as root decay below the surface, or internal wood decay without external symptoms.

No Defect - this indicates that the tree did not have a predisposing defect that is normally associated with failure.

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When storms cause damage over a wide geographical area, people tend to develop a general sense of apprehension, even fear, about trees. This is especially true for homeowners. Our trees grow very tall, and very quickly in Atlanta. They can be intimidating especially when you are standing under one.

To me a storm can seem like a wake-up call. Are my trees still safe? Will my house get it next time? After seeing how many trees failed this week, I made the decision to now remove a tree in my own yard - one that in the past, I've accepted a level of risk that was little higher than I would typically tolerate. But it is only one, and I have plenty left.

I wonder how many healthy trees will be removed because of fear. To conserve a natural resource requires planning and action, and that includes risk management. Risk management doesn't just mean that you remove all risks - it simply means you have decided what risks you are willing to tolerate, and you remove the risks that fall short of being acceptable to you. Sometimes that means getting help from someone who is willing and interested in helping you do just that.

How many of us are willing to accept the real risk of driving on the interstate and getting in an auto accident, just so that we can get to work every morning?

During my "post-storm" review of fallen trees, I found some really scary tree conditions that could have been discovered through a basic visual inspection. Other problems were not so obvious, and there lies the randomness in a storm event. In Part 3, I will be posting some graphs of my defective tree findings. Don't miss it!

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Trees break. Trees snap. Trees fall.

Its the order of all things green. Trees are designed to grow, reproduce, and collapse. It is an inescapable fate.

This week's round of downdraft storms reminds us of the fragility of all plant life. Dr. Alex Shigo once called trees "the most massive, longest lived organisms on earth," yet eventually the old woody system fails so as to make way for the new. We manage, inspect, and care for the trees in our landscapes, but we just can't seem to predict when the strength of a storm will overtake the steadfastness of an oak.

Or can we?

These downdraft winds caused some of the most unusual tree damage I have seen in a long time. On the surface, the falling trees seemed to be inexplicably random. Loblollies snapped in half. Giant white oaks toppled over, pulling up hulking mounds of soil around their roots. Little dogwoods fell over into the lawns. Branches broke, and driveways were lifted. There did not seem to be a pattern, and the damage was widespread over a big geographical area. Seemingly firm-standing trees fell while neighboring weak trees were left standing.

So to make sense of things, I began taking notes each time a spotted a failed tree. I'm still recording, but the most interesting thing that I have noticed so far, is that the majority of failures occurred at, or near, a defective region of the tree. Even the most arbitrary of damage appears to have a reason.

Here's the hard part to accept: before the trees failed, many of the defective tree parts would have been visible to the experienced eye.

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I was talking with a friend at an engineering firm last week, and they told me that Fulton County is no longer going out to sites to evaluate specimen trees prior to plan submittal. This is a growing trend among municipalities in Atlanta metro.

Some of our customers have been asking wether we complete specimen tree inventories and the answer YES, of course, and we are quite good at it. We've been successfully completing the inventories in Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Alpharetta, Roswell, and all over Atlanta.

I wanted to thank all who participated in the Advanced Fundamentals of Tree Appraisal workshop, and especially my co-presenter, Robert Swanson, who was in top form. The students were engaged and walked away with a better understanding of the tree and plant valuation process.

One student sent me an email immediately following the class:

I really enjoyed the class yesterday. I knew very little about tree appraisal until yesterday, and I feel could give a reasonable estimate of the value of a tree now.

-Michael Barnett

The Georgia Urban Forestry Council and the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences were great hosts. They had coffee and lunch ready for everyone. I am really looking forward to the Advanced Fundamentals of Tree Conservation Workshop in April!

Palms are not just for warm climates. The Windmill Palm Trachycarpus fortunei is the most cold hardy Palm 'tree' that you can grow in the Piedmont, tolerating temperatures as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The trunk of this tree can mature between 20 and 40 feet, depending on soil and sunlight conditions. Full, blazing sun is the key to growing this palm. This tree, er...grass, can fit well into small areas like courtyards and entries. It is often seen as a framing accent near Mediterranean-influenced architecture.

One of my favorite contexts is the Windmill palm planted in a group, especially when palms of different heights are staggered in irregular patterns.

The trick to finding a palm species to grow in Atlanta is finding one that will tolerate the cold, heat, AND humidity.

The office of Community Development, in Cobb County, requires that all building and land disturbance site plans show the locations of specimen trees. A specimen tree study must be submitted with all land disturbance permits.

Onebark now provides the following services:

• Full specimen tree studies
• Tree location
• Tree density sampling