TREES AND BAD WEATHER
Understanding the effects of weather events on trees in and around your operation is vital to maintaining a safe, healthy property.
BY SCOTT D. BAKER, PRINCIPAL EMERITUS, TREE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Managing a challenge course, ad- venture park, or zip line tour that uses trees to support various struc- tures and elements is a complicated matter. There is much to consider, including the species of trees, your location, the climate zone/ecosys- tem, whether your site is heavily developed, and if your course is open year-round. Increasingly unpredict- able and extreme weather further complicates the equation. Under- standing the nuances of your envi- ronment, knowing what to look for, and regularly keeping track of the condition of your trees will ease the aftermath of bad weather and help ensure safe operations.
To that end, I have often said that it’s best to think of your course property as its own ecosystem. This approach encourages your staff to think about everything that grows on the property as part of their management task.
resources such as water and oxygen among these various parts of a forest is occurring behind the scenes. It is important to realize that a forest is more of a cooperative with connections between plant species. Ripple effect. How we build in a forest changes the ecosystem by altering the physical environment either above Above: This tree was part of a munic- ipal zip line course. A strong storm brought the tree down with significant damage to the course. The tree had no outward signs of problems, but it turned out to have a root disease and several roots were rotted away.
A CONNECTED SYSTEM
Why this approach? Trees are now, based on recent and ongoing research, known to be part of a cooperative sys- tem that makes a forest function. Other important parts of a forest system may include understory and herbaceous plants, water source, and the presence of invasive species. Much like shortages faced by humankind, competition for
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