Unprecedented damage to trees raises questions
NEW YORK — They fell by the thousands, like soldiers in some vast battle of giants, dropping to the earth in submission to a greater force.
The winds of Superstorm Sandy took out more trees in the neighborhoods, parks and forests of New York and New Jersey than any previous storm on record, experts say.
Nearly 10,000 were lost in New York City alone, and “thousands upon thousands” went down on Long Island, a state parks spokesman said. New Jersey utilities reported more than 113,000 destroyed or damaged trees.
“These are perfectly healthy trees, some more than 120 years old, that have survived hurricanes, ice storms, nor’easters, anything Mother Nature could throw their way,” said Todd Forrest, a vice president at the New York Botanical Garden. “Sandy was just too much.”
As oaks, spruces and sycamores buckled, many became Sandy’s agents, contributing to the destruction by crashing through houses or tearing through electric wires. They caused several deaths, including those of two boys playing in a suburban family room. They left hundreds of thousands of people without power for more than a week.
And as homeowners and public officials deal with the cleanup, some tree care experts say the shocking force of the storm weeks ago might mean they should reassess where and how to replant.
“We have to replant better and do it smarter,” said Nina Bassuk, program leader at the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University.
For example, she said, shorter trees like hawthorns and crabapples should be planted below electric wires. She also said a soil substitute can help trees extend their roots beneath pavement to help strengthen their balance in high winds.
New York City has been in the midst of a campaign to plant 1 million trees, an effort to help with environmental issues such as greenhouse gases, air pollution and the urban heat island effect.
Forrest said it seems ironic that trees, “the very things that are supposed to help buffer climate change, are now examples of the havoc it can wreak.” But he said, “That shouldn’t make us afraid of trees or less willing to plant trees.”
The Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Conn., is considering taking some drastic measures before the next big storm. It said last year it lost century-old chestnut trees and during Sandy a 100-foottall, 120-year-old white pine crashed down onto a cottage where a staffer was living.
“It was one of a matching pair, and now the other one is there and with all the trees we’ve lost the wind buffer is eliminated,” Executive Director Peter Saverine said. “We’re going to have to look at taking it down.”
“It’s sad, but we have to look ahead,” he said. “In two years, we’ve had two 100-year storms and two freak snowstorms.”