Urban Trees: A Practical Management Guide

Description

Towns and cities are where most of us live, work and play, and although we recognize the value of the trees standing on the corner, or in the park, or framing the cathedral, most of us are unaware that they are a vital part of our urban life-support system. This invaluable book is essential reading for all those who wish to discover why trees are present in our population centres, how urban life in Britain has engulfed them in the last 200 years, why life is so difficult for urban trees, what their role is, and how we should care for them and include them in our urban future. .Discusses what trees do for us, and traces the development of urban trees in Britain .Considers all aspects of the damaging impact of urban conditions on trees .Examines urban tree management with reference to basic principles, planning tools, species selection, and site evaluation and modification .Analyses the planting of trees in towns and cities, pruning methods, the establishment and maintenance of urban trees, and inspection, monitoring and assessment procedures .Covers tree management on streets and highways, parks, woods and other public locations, as well as in private places incuding homes, offices, factories and wildlife conservation sites .Summarizes the law in the UK as it relates to trees .Briefly outlines the impact of climate change on trees in urban ares and on arboriculture in general AUTHOR: Steve Cox has been working with trees for over thirty years. He began his career in arboriculture at Merrist Wood College then gained degrees in forestry from Aberdeen and Oxford Universities. Steve has worked in Europe, Africa and the Pacific and was a senior tree officer in a local authority, lecturing part-time at Kingston Maurward College in Dorset. Since 2003 he has been running his own arboricultural consultancy company. ILLUSTRATIONS: 118 colour photographs *

Steve Cox has been working with trees for over thirty years. He began his career in arboriculture at Merrist Wood College then gained degrees in forestry from Aberdeen and Oxford Universities. Steve has worked in Europe, Africa and the Pacific and was a senior tree officer in a local authority, lecturing part-time at Kingston Maurward College in Dorset. Since 2003 he has been running his own arboricultural consultancy company.

Nicely illustrated, written in an easy style by a practicing arboriculturalist who knows his stuff. Urban Trees has all the chapters you would expect: how trees grow, problems faced by trees and how to plant and look after them. It also covers the development of towns and how this has affected trees, and what to consider when planning new trees planting. It covers just 174 pages and so is fairly limited in its depth. It's nicely illustrated, written in an easy style by a practicing arboriculturalist who knows his stuff, and so will be a popular science book for those urbanites who have a general interest in the trees around them. As such, while it is an interesting book, it has limited value for ecologists. -- Peter Thomas * Bulletin of the British Ecological Society *