GALVESTON — The city’s tree appeal hot line has been ringing nonstop since crews began cutting down trees killed by Hurricane Ike.
Hundreds of residents have called, begging officials to spare the trees in the right of way in front of their houses.
Although some trees will get a reprieve, most of them are not going to survive, even if they are showing some signs of life, experts with the Texas Forest Service said.
But frustrated islanders still are suspicious of the city’s decision to cut the trees down so soon. The trees are being sacrificed to the city’s need for funds to help pay to have them removed, critics said.
If they just had more time, some of the 100-year-old oak trees would make a comeback, the tree lovers said.
Few Leaves
Rod Young offered to give the city $1,000 to spare the three-story-tall live oak in front of his house in the 2400 block of Avenue L.
The money would cover the cost to cut it down if it didn’t come back to life in the next year.
But the tree started putting out little leaves about three weeks ago, and Young is convinced it will survive.
“This wasn’t a tree that had leafed but was dying,” he said. “It was continuing to put out new growth. It was obvious.”
Young protested the tree’s appointment with the chain saw, and city officials did re-evaluate it.
But like most of the trees now getting a second look from experts with the Texas Forest Service, Young’s tree didn’t get a reprieve.
Each tree marked with a bright orange dot, signifying its impending removal, was the subject of a very difficult decision, Urban Forester Pete Smith said.
A lot of people appealing removals share Young’s story about the recent signs of life, something he hasn’t witnessed on a widespread basis, Smith said.
“I’m not saying that’s not happening, but the trees we’re marking still have very few leaves on them,” he said. “That tends to mean, even though they’re sprouting, that the tree won’t survive.”
Rushing To Judgment?
If the city could give the trees more time to recover, and if it rained soon, a few more might stand a chance of survival, Smith said.
But the city will get reimbursed only for the expensive removal process through Sept. 12. Between now and then, crews are scheduled to remove an estimated 11,000 trees in the public right of way and about 30,000 trees on private property.
Live oak tress must have at least 30 percent of their leaves to be spared. Other varieties must have at least 50 percent of their leaves.
Deciding now which trees should get the ax amounts to cutting them down for the money, tree service owner Greg West said.
“They’re rushing to judgment on a lot of these trees,” he said.
West insists that some of the trees will come back, like those that recovered in Alabama and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.
But Smith said weeks ago that no one from his staff was able to substantiate the claims that completely lifeless trees had miraculously recovered, a belief he categorized as an urban myth.
No Big Scandal
People who have pleaded with chain saw-wielding workers in front of their houses to no avail accuse the city of creating a major scandal by turning the decision about which trees must go and which can stay over to the people who stand to make money from cutting them down.
But nothing could be further from the truth, city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill said.
Contractors with DRC have never been a part of the tree evaluation process, she said.
All of the trees marked for removal were evaluated by the Texas Forest Service for their health and by a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for their eligibility for removal under federal guidelines.
If a tree looked like it wasn’t going to recover in the next five years, foresters marked it for removal, Cahill said.
Contractors are only following directions, she said.
Mistakes Are Possible
For Smith, who’s normally considered a tree lover, it’s been hard arguing in favor of having trees cut down.
But part of his job is to think about public safety, too, he said.
The city has a responsibility to make sure streets are safe from falling limbs, which is what the federal government is really paying for, he said.
“When it’s a question that comes down to public safety, we err on the side of saying the tree has to go,” he said.
Although most of the time Smith and his forestry service colleagues don’t change their mind about a tree after they re-evaluate it, he encouraged anyone who thought their tree might live to call and request a second look.
“When mistakes are made, we can correct them,” he said. “We’re not perfect the first time through. It is possible to make a mistake.”
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No More Free Wood
GALVESTON — City officials Monday canceled a program that would have allowed island residents to claim pieces of the dead trees that are being cut down all over the island.
DRC, the company responsible for cutting down and hauling away the trees, agreed several weeks ago to let people interested in getting a piece of free wood come by the debris management site, 9228 Seawall Blvd., on Sunday afternoons.
But as soon as word got out that the wood was available, people started coming by the site every day, city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill said.
The company does not post guards at the facility’s gate, making it hard to catch people before they wandered onto the site, Cahill said. People soon were getting in the way of contractors and heavy equipment as they poked around the piles of debris, she said.
Company officials notified the city Saturday, 24 hours before the free wood program was supposed to start, that they could no longer offer the service.
City officials are trying to find another way to allow residents to get some of the wood, but no details have been worked out yet, Cahill said.
