Construction Damage Clip

I grew up (to the extent that I grew up at all) in the western Minneapolis suburbs in the 1970's and early 1980's. I watched suburban development replace the (mostly) oak woodlands I played and hiked in as a kid. I worked summers at a garden center in Plymouth and loaded cars and trucks with the plant materials (Crimson King Norway Maples, potentillas, spireas), landscape fabric, crushed rock and plastic edging that were used to replace the native woodlands that were lost.

I entered forestry school intending to be the guy who figured out how to build in wooded areas with minimal damage to existing trees, and how to re-plant what couldn't be saved with native plants. Once in forestry school I quickly realized that I didn't have to figure these things out. A lot of folks much, much smarter than me had already figured these things out. Donald Willeke. Dr. David French. Steve Kunde. Many, many others. I decided instead that I was going to be the guy to bridge the gap between all of those brilliant people and the general public. I was going to be the communicator.

I got off to a good start. In 1988 with Don Willeke's help I started a non-profit organization called Lasting Woodlands. I published a newsletter on construction damage and celebrating our native woodland plants (being a forester I'm sure I focused too heavily on trees and not enough on shrubs, ephemerals, and other important components of a healthy woodland system!).

I gave my first seminar on preventing construction damage to trees 22 years ago. I wish I could say that I fulfilled my initial promise as the communicator of this information. I didn't. But I will.

Hopefully this is at least a small start. Again with deepest thanks to Ron Schara of Minnesota Bound and his top-notch production staff, here is the short clip I did on construction damage prevention that aired in May. If it made just one homeowner or builder stop and give some thought to protecting a 36" diameter oak on their property then it was worth it. (Actually, it was worth it no matter what because I enjoyed working with Adam and Steve from MN Bound. What I mean is if it saved one tree it was worthwhile.)

... proving once again that there is nothing as painful in the world as having to watch and listen to yourself on video!

Oak Wilt Clip

With very sincere thanks to the fantastic production staff at Minnesota Bound, here's the clip on oak wilt they aired this past spring.



We're losing enough oak trees through forest succession, land "development," disease and poor natural regeneration due to high deer populations. We don't need to lose any more oaks to something as ridiculously preventable as oak wilt.

Minnesota Bound: Construction Damage To Trees

Here's the third of my recent appearances on Minnesota Bound, this time focusing on construction damage to trees. Just click on the May 9 episode - the piece is after the wonderful piece about a bass fishing tournament in memory of a young man whose life was way too short.

Nearly 25 years ago (good grief I'm getting old) I started a non-profit organization called Lasting Woodlands, Inc. with the twin goals of a) educating people about how to build in wooded areas with minimal damage to existing trees, and b) encouraging people to replace vegetation inevitably lost to construction with native plants.

The concept grew out of my own twin experiences, circa 1986: I grew up in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, and watched as suburban development swept through the (primarily) oak woodlands that I had hiked, played and fished in and around. I always tried not to be a NIMBY ("not in my backyard") type of person; after all the house I grew up in was built 20 years previously in fields that had been some other kid's "wilderness." I saw suburban expansion as inevitable (or at least beyond my ability to stop). I just believed that it could be done differently.

At the same time I was spending my summers working for a nursery & garden center, so I saw first hand what these new homeowners were replacing the native vegetation with - Crimson King Norway maples, lots and lots of seedless green ash (which is not exactly looking like a good idea right now). spireas, potentillas, and tons and tons of crushed rock over plastic landscape fabric (I know because I'm the guy who bagged up the crushed rock and loaded it in people's cars - an activity of dubious environmental value, but a GREAT summer job for a kid!).

I enrolled in the Urban Forestry program at the University of Minnesota. I met giants in the field: Dr. David French, Donald Willeke and others. I realized that forestry people KNEW how to protect trees from construction damage, but that there was an enormous information gulf between what foresters knew and what homeowners and builders knew. I set out to change that.

I wrote a newsletter, and a humbling, amazing number of forestry professionals (all of whom knew a whole lot more than me), homeowners and builders supported it. I gave seminars and talks wherever I could. I like to think it made at least a small difference.

Somewhere along the line a lot changed. I ran smack dab into the whole "need to make a living" thing, after avoiding it as long as possible (and longer than I should have). Job changes necessitated moves to parts of the country where I wasn't as well connected. The allure of staying up until 3am at Kinko's to get out another newsletter that I largely paid for out of pocket began to wear a bit thin.

The need for this information to become part of the public consciousness is still as great as it ever was. That's why filming these three spots for Minnesota Bound, and especially this one about construction damage, has been so much fun and so rewarding for me. It's a reminder of why I got into forestry in the first place. It's a chance to spread an important message. My own interests and concerns have expanded far beyond the issues of construction damage & oak wilt to encompass broader issues of land use and environmental & human health (in other words permanent tree crops and eating acorns!) but I know that peoples' relationships with the environment begins in their own yard. And that makes this information as important and timely today as it was 25 years ago.

Thank you, Ron Schara, Adam McFarlane and Steve Plummer. Ron for giving me time on his wonderful show, and Adam & Steve for their patience and editing wizardry (and let me tell you it took some wizardry to make these pieces coherent!).

Minnesota Bound Clip: Oaks & Air Pruning Pots

The second of three short clips aired on Minnesota Bound this past Sunday evening (and will repeat this coming Saturday) on KARE-11 here in the Twin Cities. (Click on the link to view - it's the "Rapala Almanac" segment right after the piece on smallmouth bass fishing. Which, by the way, I'd rather be doing right now!)

The theme of this piece was planting, especially in light of the massive removal and replanting effort we will soon be facing here in Minnesota as new Emerald Ash Borer hot spots keep popping up. My two pieces of advice:

1. Plant oaks - There are of course myriad reasons to plant oaks, but one of the main reason people don't plant them more often is the widespread perception that they grow too slowly. Overcoming the slow growth stereotype is surprisingly difficult, seeing as how it's patently false. Hopefully this segment will help, if only a little

2. Look for trees grown in air pruning pots - The nursery industry is finally starting to pay attention to root systems. The life span of urban trees planted in the 70s and 80s in the wake of Dutch elm disease has been abysmally, embarrassingly short. The primary reason: nursery and planting practices that mutilated root systems. Traditional plastic nursery pots tend to promote a circular, spiralling root growth pattern. After planting those spiralling roots continue to grow in girth around the main trunk, slowing growth and ultimately killing the tree. The tree literally strangles itself (think of giant pythons wrapped around the base of the tree and you've got the right idea).

Air pruning pots come in a variety of designs, but the concept is the same. Openings in the walls of the pot expose root tips to air, causing them to stop growing outward and forcing them to branch out. This creates a thick, fibrous root system and prevents spiralling or girdling roots.

Where can you buy trees grown in air pruning pots? Here's one place: Knecht's Nursery here in Northfield, MN. Owners Leif & Deb Knecht are great people and have what I have come to admire most in people: a willingess to rethink the way they do things, a desire to find better practices, and of course a deep and abiding love of trees!

Oak Wilt Prevention on Minnesota Bound

The first of my three segments focusing on nurturing our oak trees aired on "Minnesota Bound." You can view the whole show here. The episode should also air again locally in Twin Cities on KARE-11 Saturday at noon, and elsewhere in the upper Midwest.

This first one is about oak wilt prevention, a very timely topic since the early & warm spring here in Minnesota lends new urgency to the danger of pruning oak trees in April, May & June. The segment is the "Rapala Almanac" piece right after Ron Schara's segment on turkey hunting in NW Iowa.

I have an appreciation for TV producers and hosts who, due to time constraints, have to convey complex information in a very short time. You really have to try to communicate 1 or 2 key ideas that are easy for the viewer to remember (even if they don't remember the underlying reasons for them). There is a point at which you can simplify a topic to the point of being inaccurate. I hope I didn't reach that point. I would appreciate your feedback - and brutal honesty. (Although perhaps not as brutally honest as my son, who suggested next time I should wear a cap to "cut down on the glare" off my head, or my daughter who thinks my voice on TV sounds like Kermit the Frog!)

The piece has already done some good: A viewer called the show and they relayed her question to me. She had received some very dubious advice from a Master Gardener help line; she was told she could prune a dead branch from an oak at this time. In theory, IF it could be determined that the branch and the connecting tissue at the branch collar were COMPLETELY dead and would not "bleed" any sap at all when pruned, then yes should could prune the branch now. But how, exactly , would one make that determination on the phone (let alone in person)? Why not take the "better safe than sorry" - "first do no harm" - "a pound of prevention..." approach and wait to prune until a safer time?

That was my advice, and the caller was grateful.

(As an aside, she was also told by this gardening expert that tree branches should be pruned as close to the trunk as possible, which of course is completely wrong. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do another segment later in the summer on correct pruning methods!)