BAD PRUNING IS AN EXPENSIVE WAY TO SAVE MONEY

摘要

In this era of massive budget shortfalls, every municipality from the largest to the smallest is looking to save money. The City of Cranston Rhode Island's solution was to have their Department of Public Works trim the 28-year-old Gleditsia (honey locust). So much for good ideas. There were approximately 40-45 Gleditsia, which were installed in 1982-1983 as part of a renovation of the Rolfe Square business district. I am very familiar with Rolfe Square as I lived in Cranston for many years. One day,as I was visiting my post office box, another patron of the post office, who knew I was an arborist, approached me to inquire if I had seen the trimming the Cranston DPW was doing to the trees on Rolfe Square. I said I had not noticed, but upon exiting the front door of the Post Office, I was rather amazed at what I saw. Many of the locust trees had been completely stripped out with up to 75 percent of the foliage removed. The cuts were a mix of slab cuts, stubs and ripped bark.