[CANUFNET] Tree limbs and potential damage to underground infrastructure

[Julian Dunster]

To add to my comment about the sign off line in Luc's post readers may 
find this article informative:

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-limited-tree-plantations-biodiversity.html 
<https://phys.org/news/2021-04-limited-tree-plantations-biodiversity.html>

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 8:26 AM, Julian Dunster via CANUFNET wrote:
>
> 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/20210428/48d92f95/attachment-0001.htm>