Tree Care Environment Protection of Mount Albert in Auckland. Pro Climb Arborists were recently contracted by the Auckland Council to carry out tree work on Mt Albert (Owairaka). Mt Albert is one of the many volcanic sites around Auckland that has a long history of use by Maori people and, as such, is rich in archaeology. Today the site is open to the public and many people use it for recreation. Both past and present land uses had to be considered in order to complete important work on the trees whilst protecting the landscape they grow in and the people they share the space with.
Mt Albert is covered with a mixture of native and exotic tree species.
Many of which are in the mature stage of their life cycle. The purpose of the tree works was to reduce any hazard that selected mature trees posed to users of an access road that runs around the perimeter of the site. Major deadwood over the road way was to be removed and any low branches were to be raised.
Tree Care Environment Protection Requires Expert Arborists and Local Knowledge
All of the Tree Care Environment Protection work would require a work vehicle and would block the public road. Also debris from the trees would to be on the road way, so it was decided to close the road to vehicular traffic for the duration of the job. Due to the large number of pedestrians using the site daily the road and footpaths could not be permanently closed to foot traffic. Instead, warning signs and barriers were used with spotters on the ground to alert the climbers to stop working when pedestrians needed to pass. This allowed the work to be completed safely whilst keeping the disruption to the public to a minimum.
Measures were taken in order to protect the archaeology contained within the ground.
Small tree debris was allowed to drop onto the access road whilst larger sections were lowered to the ground in a controlled manner. This left the ground and history contained within it unaltered. Rather than completely removing all the deadwood, some sections were reduced in size to stabilise them. Aerial deadwood contained within the canopy of a tree is an important habitat, especially in the urban environment. By removing it you are effectively denaturing a site and reducing the biodiversity of an area. By stabilising aerial deadwood so that the risk of it falling is reduced you can serve all of the inhabitants of the site, leaving a site that is safe for human visitors with ecosystems that are still intact.
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