~ Submitted by the Bedford Arbor Resources Committee
Plans have been finalized for the North Road/Chelmsford Road intersection redesign. These plans include the construction of three-quarters of a mile of sidewalks from Isabella Lane to Minuteman Drive, as well as the addition of some dedicated bike lanes.
Although sidewalks and bike lanes are desirable things to have, they do come with a cost. The project will require the removal of 53 public shade trees and about 80 trees on private property along the route. 36 of the public trees are 12” DBH (diameter at breast height) or less but nine are between 36” and 50” in diameter.
These trees are among the largest—and oldest—trees in Bedford. A 48” DBH (diameter at the breast height of a standing person) white oak, such as the one to be removed at 428 North Road, is about 240 years old. It was growing before the US Constitution was ratified.
The Bedford Tree Policy requires mitigation for trees removed for Town projects. The landscaping plan calls for 14 trees to be planted in the Town right of way and for 98 trees to be planted on private property. These replacement trees will be 2.5” DBH or larger. The mitigation formula also requires a contribution of $6500 to the revolving Tree Fund, to be used for tree planting and maintenance at some other location in town.
There will be a virtual public Shade Tree Hearing on Thursday, February 24 at 7:00 PM seeking approval to remove the 53 Town trees, in conformance with Chapter 87, Section 3 of the Shade Tree Act. Colorized project plans, a list of public trees to be removed and other information can be found on the Bedford Arbor Resources Committee (BARC) website at https://www.bedfordma.gov/arbor-resources-committee.
The ZOOM link to the hearing is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89843646768?pwd=M0hMMVZqV1RxcFFqOW9yYlpybGhaQT09 and the Passcode is 421596.
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https://treeplantation.com/tree-carbon-calculator.html
How many people will be served by this new sidewalk?
And is all this discussion of the improvements such as sidewalks and bike lanes hiding the primary intention to put in a stoplight and by-pass lanes etc. at this location? The idling cars at the light during rush hour should greatly assist the intention to amp up our carbon footprint.
Just wondering.
The mitigation plan is interesting. I can’t access the paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12914, but the abstract suggests that carbon sequestration is proportional to tree size. If we replace 133 trees of 25″ diameter (average) with 112 trees of a little over 2.5″ diameter (average), and if tree volume is proportional to the cube of diameter, and sequestration is proportional to volume … then our new trees should absorb 0.1% as much carbon as the trees we are cutting down. Not much by way of mitigation. Maybe we could go for break-even by planting 13,300 trees instead. Then as the trees grow, we would pull ahead of the curve. But the trend in Bedford is to clear cut forest to make room for housing developments, not to add forest; so I’m not optimistic.
Has anyone watched this recent PBS program on the impact of forests and climate change? Here is a link: https://www.pbs.org/video/forest-feedback-loop-k8t1gp/
Please keep in mind that the planning board has a proposal to allow several housing programs to be built in the woodlands along Route 225 heading toward the Concord River which will also result in the loss of MANY MORE Older & Mature trees.
The town has already taken down more than 50 trees on North Road in the past 6 years all for a black paved sidewalk which is like a frying pan for humans and pets in the summer time. Last year there were temps over 90 degrees on over 25 days here in Bedford.
The heat coming off those asphalt paved sidewalks is intolerable for an infant or child in a stroller for pets walking on them, let alone an adult. Please please rethink this.
The beautiful tree canopy which used arch over North Road is long gone. The traffic speeds even faster now as a result. North Road is used a cut through for those coming off Route 4 and Route 3 to get to 128 so traffic stacks up for hours in the morning idling and promoting increased emissions. This program of tree removal is NOT innocuous.
Do older trees store more carbon?
A sweeping study of forests around the world finds that the older the tree, the greater its potential to store carbon and slow climate change. The 38 researchers from 15 countries found that 97 percent of trees from more than 400 species studied grew more quickly as they aged, thus absorbing more carbon. “Even though on an individual leaf scale their productivity might be declining slightly, they just have so many more leaves that the net effect is that they’re able to fix more carbon in total than a small tree,” said Stephenson, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center in Three Rivers, Calif.
If a typical tree’s diameter grows 10 times as large, it will undergo a hundredfold increase in leaf mass and a fiftyfold to hundredfold increase in total leaf area, the study found. This outweighs the lower rate of productivity.
More than 400 species of trees from six continents were repeatedly measured, with some records dating 80 years ago. The findings were published in Nature yesterday.
The study supported findings from a 2010 study on eucalyptus and sequoia trees, which found that large trees could add up to 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of aboveground biomass each year, Stephenson said. The findings — that old trees not only store carbon and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere, but actively covert CO2 in the air into their trunks, branches and leaves — make an important case for the preservation of the country’s old-growth forests.
What happens to the soil if we cut down trees?
The effects of tree loss on soil are significant. … Logging and small-scale removal of trees exposes soil to rain splash which loosens and dislodges soil particles, eroding soil and creating a more impermeable bare surface, which increases runoff.
We should not cut trees because of the following reasons
Why trees must be saved?
Trees contribute directly to the environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe.
Are forests the only carbon sinks on Earth?
They emit more carbon than they take in. … Forests are the only carbon sinks on Earth.