[CANUFNET] Tree Maintenance Backlog

Wed Apr 13 14:10:41 EDT 2016

Hi Paul,

York Region undertakes tree maintenance (preventative, planned, reactive) through three programs, each with specific cycles/time frames.

Young/recently planted street trees (generally under 10 years of age) are maintained through Juvenile Tree Maintenance Program.  In the Juvenile Tree Maintenance program all planted street trees are structural pruned, mulched and fertilized on a 3 year cycle.

Trees between 10 and 50 years old are maintained through the Intermediate Tree Maintenance program.  In the Intermediate Tree Maintenance program street trees are structural pruned on a 7 year cycle.  We consider the juvenile and intermediate tree maintenance programs to be preventative maintenance.

Trees over 50 years old are captured through our mature tree maintenance program.  In the mature tree maintenance program, each Region road section is inspected on a 4 year cycle and trees requiring maintenance (typically hazard abatement or clearance) are identified and assigned a work order.  This work is general completed within 6 months of inspection (or sooner if there concern the tree will fail in the near future).  Any trees, regardless of size, identified as posing a hazard are addressed in this process.  We consider this planned maintenance.  If we receive a request from a resident or our roads maintenance staff to maintain a tree (typical posing a hazard), we inspect within 3 - 5 days (depending on the reason  for the request) and issue a work order if required.  Work orders generated from requests are identified as priority or non-priority.  Priority work orders are completed with three work days and non-priority within 30 working days.  Any tree maintenance identified as an emergency (typical a tree which as full or partially failed) is dealt within two hours.  Request and emergency tree maintenance is consider reactive maintenance.

With the exception of our Juvenile Tree Maintenance program, all tree maintenance is delivered by external contractors.  Timelines to complete maintenance are stipulated in our contracts.  We typically complete 90% or better within the specified cycles and time frames.

Hope this helps.

James

James S. Lane, R.P.F | Program Manager, Urban Forestry and Business Planning, Environmental Promotion and Protection Branch, Environmental Service Department
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Regional Municipality of York| 17250 Yonge Street | Newmarket, ON L3Y 6Z1
O: 905-830-4444 ext. 75271 | james.lane at york.ca<mailto:james.lane at york.ca> | www.york.ca<http://www.york.ca/>
Our Values: Integrity, Commitment, Accountability, Respect, Excellence

[cid:image001.png at 01CEF0FF.875C1A50]<https://www.facebook.com/YorkRegionGovt>  [cid:image002.jpg at 01CEF0FF.875C1A50] <http://twitter.com/YorkRegionGovt>   [cid:image004.png at 01CEF102.364CE240] <http://www.linkedin.com/company/YorkRegionGovt>

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

From: CANUFNET [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Giroux, Paul
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 12:10 PM
To: canufnet at list.web.net
Subject: [CANUFNET] Tree Maintenance Backlog

Good afternoon,

Currently the City of Windsor's Forestry Division is experiencing an 'all time high' back log of Forestry services for both tree trimming and tree removals. This back log is about 6 years in the making, mostly as a response to the management of EAB (from 2003 to 2010'ish) and to deep cut's to our Forestry's Operating Budget over the years.

I have recently put together and presented to Council, a plan to reduce the back log and for a way to get back to Area Trims/Cycle Pruning through the use of both Operating and Enhanced Capital dollars. Currently our back log for tree removals and trimming is around 400 days or 12 to 18 months, depending on the activity and its associated risk rating. I am proposing to have this back log cleaned up by the end of 2017.gulp.

For one of our Councillors here in the City, this plan is not specific enough. He is enquiring what the 'new' waiting period will be, once I have established a 'return to preventative maintenance' through cycle pruning and other best management practices. Specifically, he would like to know the number of days or the waiting period for tree maintenance once the back log is completed and preventative maintenance is occurring (2018 and beyond).

My question to the group is, if you have a preventive maintenance program or even if you do not, what is your City/Municipalities current back log/waiting period (if any) for tree maintenance (tree trimming or removal only please). My assumption is that even with a preventative maintenance program in place, there will always be a manageable back log of tree services, not unlike any other City Service.

For those able to respond, thank you for your time.

Paul Giroux, RPF
City Forester/Manager of Forestry and Natural Areas
Parks Department
2450 McDougall Street, Windsor, ON  N8X 3N6
Office: 519.253.2300. ext. 2760.
Email: pgiroux at citywindsor.ca<mailto:pgiroux at citywindsor.ca>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20160413/bec0aba8/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 734 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20160413/bec0aba8/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 808 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20160413/bec0aba8/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1362 bytes
Desc: image003.png
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20160413/bec0aba8/attachment-0001.png>