In the coming months, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council must cut down around 20 trees, especially flamboyant trees, as well as prune more than 800 specimens that are at risk of falling due to their state of health or poor maintenance. Actions that respond to the analysis carried out so far on more than 10,000 trees in the capital by the specialized company Tree Research and Management.
Gerard Passola, a biologist from said company to whom the City Council commissioned an urgent analysis of the risk management of urban trees after the collapse of specimens in parts of the city, yesterday presented the data of this tree inspection that is carried out in the capital during a meeting called by the Councilor for Public Services and the Environment, Carlos Tarife, which was attended by councilors from the PSOE, Vox and PP to learn first-hand about the results of the study and evaluate the action measures proposed by the company.
According to Passola, of the 50,150 trees of nine different species registered in the Tenerife capital, around 10,000 have been studied so far, although in the coming days it is expected to reach 22,000 specimens inspected in those areas with the most presence of trees in the five districts.
An arboreal x-ray that has so far revealed a greater risk of falling in flamboyant trees, affected in their trunks by two fungi (Inonotus rickii and Ganoderma lucidum) that accelerate the rot of wood and cause collapse.
Therefore, the recommendation is to proceed with the urgent felling of the most affected (20 in this first study) of about 400 analyzed, in addition to the pruning of crowns and branches in ficus and Indian laurels that, due to their great height, present danger. of branch detachment.
The action proposed by the specialists to the City Council also involves carrying out 483 actions in the urban grove as a security measure. Pruning or felling, depending on the state of the specimens, which will be carried out in various phases: 50 in three months; 57 in six months, and 374 in one year.
Likewise, Passola said that during yesterday’s analysis, the felling of a tree on Benito Pérez Álvarez Avenue was carried out due to its imminent risk of falling, to which the councilor of the area, Carlos Tarife, pointed out that “hence the importance that this study has.” In this sense, he announced that “next year another analysis will be commissioned on the fungi that affect certain specimens to plan the ordinance of the Santa Cruz Green Infrastructure Plan.”
Experts stated that “the capital does not present a high risk of falling trees,” but they advocate better maintenance, pruning and cutting roots to avoid future problems. Of the nine species of trees in Santa Cruz, palm trees stand out (7,074 units); the flamboyanos (4,097); the fire trees (3,098), and the ficus (2,643 units).
