02/15/2016
This is one of the large beeches at a local land trust property. A modest sized, snow storm came in and snapped this major branch. The goal of preventative tree care is to reduce the likelihood of large limb failure like this. This tree lost 20 percent or more of its canopy from this one event. For mature trees, that is severe. This tree has had treecare performed over its life with no fewer than 6 cables, but treecare is something that needs to be routinely tended to. Last meaningful pruning in this tree was maybe three decades ago. New cables have gone in, but no meaningful structural work. That ends up leaving an advanced mess that can take multiple years to stabilize. I am excited at the prospect of starting to work on these trees over the upcoming years.