[CANUFNET] Tree limbs and potential damage to underground infrastructure

[Julian Dunster]

Research might be feasible but would it help? The amount of penetration 
will depend on the size of the limb cross section, the mass of the 
falling limb, the height from which it falls, and the type of soil it 
lands on. Too many variable to have much meaningful research. There was 
a case in the UK decades ago where a tree fell over in the night, 
ruptured a gas line, and the next morning someone's house blew up when 
they turned on the stove. I don't have the details, but remember the 
incident. I have seen large limbs go right through a 2x4 wall of a house 
a hundred feet away from the tree. I have felled trees and dug branches 
/ limbs out of the ground. Most underground utilities are buried quite 
deep, but conceivably a falling limb could penetrate the soil and hit 
it. However, on an actuarial risk basis the chances of it happening are 
surely very very low, so the overall risk is also very very low.

A sensible contractor would surely take some steps to avoid even that 
low risk by not felling trees onto ground that might contain underground 
utilities.

PS

Why would you encourage people to print emails in order to maintain 
cutting down trees. Working forest are not necessarily good for the 
environment, and often provide lousy wildlife habitat relative to a 
natural forest.

On Behalf of Dunster and Associates Environmental Consultants Ltd.


Dr. Julian A Dunster R.P.F., R.P.P.., M.C.I.P., ISA Certified Arborist,
ASCA Registered Consulting Arborist # 378,
ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified
Honourary Life Member ISA + PNWISA

North American distributor for Rinntech
www.dunster.ca
www.treelaw.info
www.rinntech.info

On Wed/4/28/2021 7:43 AM, Luc Rainville via CANUFNET wrote:
>
> Hello CANUFNET,
>
> I’m working on a file and got an interning question I could not answer.
>
> A concern was brought up with hazard trees, but specifically around 
> the idea of branches from the tops (when falling or being felled) 
> creating a potential for branches to impale and penetrate soils. This 
> concern is expressed due to the presence of underground buried utilities.
>
> My assumption is that even if branches impale the soils when a tree 
> comes crashing down, that this would only be for a few centimeters in 
> depth (perhaps up to 20-30cm).
>
> Could anyone point me to research that would support this or provide 
> advice on depth in which branches from falling trees could penetrate 
> soils?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> *Luc M. Rainville ***
>
> *EP, CRSP, ISA Certified Arborist, Can-CISEC | SE, PSAC, Arboriculteur 
> Certifier de l’ISA, Can-CISEC*
>
> *Consultant & Technical Expert | Expert technique et consultant *
>
> *EastElm *
>
> p / t : 403-702-6648 *| *e / c: lr.rainville.consulting at gmail.com 
> <mailto:lr.rainville.consulting at gmail.com%20> **
>
> **w / i: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eastelm 
> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/eastelm>
>
> a / c :  81 Séguinbourg, Casselman, ON | K0A 1M0
>
> *"Notice: It's OK to print this email. Paper is a biodegradable, 
> renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting 
> trees provides jobs for millions... Working forests are good for the 
> environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and 
> carbon storage…" (Leavell & Owen, 2011)*
>
> **
>
> *"If wildness can stop being (just) out there and start being (also) 
> in here, if it can start being as humane as it is natural, then 
> perhaps we can get on with the unending task of struggling to live 
> rightly in the world—not just in the garden, not just in the 
> wilderness, but in the home that encompasses them both." (Cronon, 1995)*
>
> **
>
> *“Introduced plants, animals, and pathogens often pose an initially 
> hidden but eventually monumental problem...Their harmful effects are 
> often subtle and surreptitious, but the eventual impacts on the 
> economy or natural environment are no less real, and [are] often 
> disastrous and even irreversible.” (Daniel Simberloff, 1996)*
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20210428/16fac0b1/attachment.htm>