SCAS Offering Audubon Adventures

Satellite Beach Recreation Department Events

Birding Brevard: Where Did the Birds Go When Fay Hit?

Parrish Medical Center Project

Obitiuaries of Members and Friends of the SCAS

Larry Manfredi to Speak At October 17th Meeting

Little Green Places: Contest Invitation

Communication Made Easy

Back to SCAS Home...

Dead Tree Society

By Hugh Nicolay

We hadn't even completed our move into Melbourne Village this year when the power company tree trimming crew was in front of our house, chain saws in hand. They were preparing to take down a Sable Palm along the road under the power lines. It appeared from their point of view that the tree if allowed to grow for another ten to twenty years, would short out the power lines. Perhaps it could cause a major blackout along the entire east coast of the United States.

Fortunately, they were amenable to just topping the tree and leaving the twenty foot trunk to just fade away over the next ten years. It will probably be another year or two before the Red-bellied Woodpeckers start their excavations. Meanwhile, the slow decaying process is underway. Countless organisms, most too small to see, are making their living returning all the elements of th 75 year old tree back to the soil. These elements will be unitized by the succeeding generations of living organisms. Who knows where all the carbon atoms in the tree will end up in the distant future? Most will probably be still here in Melbourne Village. Some might be in a corn stalk in Iowa, a blade of grass in Montana, or a Gumbo Limbo tree in South America.

We have fond memories of a palm that died of old age at our previous home in Melbourne Beach. The woodpeckers made a hole just outside the window of our second story bedroom. We watched as they raised several families. A single male raised one family. We never knew what happened to the mother bird after the eggs hatched. We also had families of Great-crested Flycatchers in the same hole then more that delighted when our neighborhood Screech Owl pair took up residence. The tree got to the point it was unusable for nesting. It rotted from the inside out and eventually folded in half. Long before this, we had planted a new palm right next to the old. Someday it will go to the great forest in the sky and hopefully the new owners of the house will allow the natural process of dust to dust when its time comes.

There seems to be an urban mandate that dead trees must be immediately cut at the ground. Replacement trees, if any, are often fast growing flowering exotics. There is no requirement in the current Town code that removed trees must be replaced let alone replaced with native species.

According to Town of Melbourne Village records in excess of 150 dead pine tree removal permits were issued during 2007. The most common reason for the permit request was a dead or dying pine tree infected with Southern Pine Beetles. The prevailing reasoning is that the infected tree, like a leper in the forest, must be removed to prevent spreading the beetle plague to the entire forest. The scientific research of Dr. J.L. Foltz, Associate Professor / Forest Entomologist at the University of Florida published in 2005 (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IG147) states that new adult beetles begin to leave the host tree about the same time the tree crown is turns from yellow-green to red and once the beetles have left the tree, removal is unnecessary.

Another common reason for dead tree removal is the fear that it is going to fall and cause damage to buildings. I suggest that a dead tree, stripped of its needles and small branches, is much less likely to bend in the wind and snap in two. Next time there is a good wind storm, take a walk around and notice how little the dead trees are swaying compared to the live ones. If I had a dead tree with limps overhanging my house, I would have the limbs cut off a couple of feet from the trunk, and leave the rest of the tree for woodpeckers and nature to deal with.

Standing dead trees or SNAGS as they are sometimes called provide homes for numerous nesting birds including some that are becoming rare such as the Kestrel. Dead trees harbor grubs that are an important food source for many of our birds. The bare limbs provide perches for hunters such as the Cooper's hawk, and nesting material for our resident Bald Eagle family. Even fallen dead logs contribute as wildlife habitat for ground dwelling mammals and reptiles.

I'm thinking of forming The Dead Tree Society. Are there any potential members? I would be interested in hearing any of your dead tree stories.