Tree maintenance a must

Pittsburgh’s Shade Tree Commission is embarking on a strategy to bring more street trees to low-income neighborhoods, part of an ambitious goal to plant 100,000 trees over the next decade. That’s a laudable effort that will benefit the targeted communities, but the city must also commit to maintaining existing trees if for no other reason than the liability involved.

The commission recently reported on its findings that show “low- income and Black communities disproportionately have fewer city street trees and thus see less of the benefits of trees.” To that end, the commission plans to identify 10 low-income neighborhoods for tree plantings, urban forest education and cyclical tree maintenance schedules.

While planting the trees to benefit these often neglected communities rightly is a top priority, maintenance of existing trees is equally important. Maintenance entails pruning, sidewalk repair and stump removal.

Poorly maintained trees have been an ongoing problem for the city. An audit by Controller Michael Lamb of the city’s law department found that the majority of liability claims made against the city in 2016 and 2017 were from damage caused by city-maintained trees. Tens of thousands of dollars were paid out in claims from trees falling on cars or from tree-root damage to sidewalks, utility lines and buildings.

That’s why a definitive maintenance plan is just as important as one for planting trees. In the case of the initiative for low-income neighborhoods, Shade Tree Commission officials said they plan to work with residents to identify concerns regarding tree maintenance and to address those concerns quickly.

Maintenance must be a priority so that residents see the trees as neighborhood assets rather than potential problems.