STRUCTURED SYSTEM NEEDED TO MONITOR 100,000 OLD TREES IN CITY
Arborist urges implementation of system to monitor such trees
KUALA Lumpur has about 100,000 trees which are more than 60 years old, and an arborist has called for a more structured system to monitor them. Arborist Rosslan Yaacob said the risk of not having such a system in place could spell disaster when these trees start to “ail” and no immediate attention was given.
Rosslan said ideally, these trees, many in areas with a dense population, should be checked frequently.
It would take up to three months, he said, to nurse them back to health if they had problems, including parasite attack and poor soil quality.
Rosslan, who is contracted by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), said a team of arborists was checking trees that provided shade, to ensure that they were safe and do not pose danger to the public.
Trees which were past 60, he said, were considered “heritage trees” and arborists would make sure that their lifespan was maximised.
Rosslan said the unpredictable weather, particularly heavy rain and floods, should warrant more frequent regular checks on mature trees in the city.
On Monday, a couple on motorcycle crashed into a heritage tree that had fallen on Jalan Ampang here.
DBKL said the tree’s decaying root had caused it to be uprooted.
Rosslan said, in the course of assessing the health of trees in the city, the arborists had come across many cases where the growth of their roots were stifled by the lack of space.
When this happens, Rosslan said, the arborists would focus on fertilising the branches rather than roots.
Arborists are also concerned when ponding, a situation when the soil retains excess water, happens.
Rosslan said the anaerobic process, which caused a lack of oxygen for the tree, would cause an increase in the soil’s pH level and cause the tree’s roots to weaken and rot.
This, he said, could affect trees that were more than 130 years old.
He added that arborists monitoring these trees would regularly trim branches that grow robustly outwards
Roslan said, regular checks would determine whether such trees should be chopped down. This, he said, was to ensure public safety. The New Straits Times met Rosslan at the River of Life project, where he is in charge of making sure the line of matured rain trees planted there for shade and beautification purposes, are healthy.
“These rain trees (Samanea Saman) found along the River of Life near the Sultan Abdul Samad Building here are old. Maybe about 120 years old.
“They were here before these surrounding buildings.”
He said experts had to rely on tools, such as a PiCUS Sonic Tomograph, to determine’s the trees’ “internal health” condition.