Reader criticizes tree trimming on State Road 37

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Dear Editor:

I live in Northern Hamilton County in the Cicero area. I travel State Road 37 frequently. I am an ISA Certified Arborist and Tree Risk Qualified.

In my travels down this highway, the tree and vegetation butchering that has been done recently by INDOT (I assume since 37 is a state highway) is not a welcoming sight. The corridor between Strawtown and Clare that meanders along the river is now a shambles of broken, ripped, torn and yes, I will say it, raped trees.

It is evident the crews used a boom mower to do some quick trimming. While, perhaps scaling back the small shrubby vegetation may not cause a risk, I am at a loss as to WHY these crews or subcontractors created risk when they also ripped tree limbs leaving shredded stubs. By the way, any shrub over 13 feet tall can be considered a tree.

What this work has done is create an unwelcoming eyesore on a roadway that leads to the City of Noblesville to the south and to scenic Koteewi Park to the north and then west. Users of Koteewi from across Central Indiana travel SR 37, commuters head to work and back, students head to school. Residents who live in the area have to look at that mess daily.

This type of incorrect tree “pruning” creates risk trees. A risk tree is one that can cause human and structural damage and possibly death if it, or pieces of it, falls into the roadway. The trees that have been mutilated can now sprout out weak branches on the shredded stub branches left. Weak branches have weak attachments and break in winds and storms.

There are also many dead/dying Ash trees in that area that are already brittle from the destruction of the Emerald ash borer. Ripping them in this way, raises their risk level exponentially. However, not all of the trees are Ash. The other trees that were shredded were healthy and doing their job of storing carbon in their wood and roots and using their leaves to filter particulate matter that is in the air. This is an important service along any roadway since vehicular traffic, while necessary for us, is also a major contributor of pollution.

So, what did our tax dollars pay for?

1. The creation of risk trees and the loss of their environmental services.
2. Removal of shrub wildlife habitat and destruction of tree dwellers habitat and nesting sites.
3. Unwelcoming vistas to visitors.
4. A very bad example of how Hoosiers care for and perceive their environment. This work demonstrates a lack of environmental stewardship.

In my travels throughout Noblesville and Cicero this week, I have had conversations and have overheard conversations about the “mess on 37.” People are not happy. They ask “Why?”

I do not know why this was done. Perhaps crews had nothing better to do. There were no utility lines in the area, and I know most utility subcontractors do line clearing by following best management practices for clearance.

A better solution to the issue of shrub and tree removal and vegetation control is not boom mowers, it is hiring subcontractors and tree care companies who know what they are doing and ones who follow correct pruning and management techniques.

There is nothing correct or well-managed about the mess they created. If INDOT did this, then they need to stick to what they know best: Building safe roads.

Pamela Dunn-Louks

Cicero