Treedom Project Day 2013

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El escarabajo verde - Bicívicos

• El escarabajo verde - Bicívicos

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So Treedom Project Day 2013 came and went and it was a great success, check this out: We freed 15 trees from wires, chains, bike locks and nylon webbing The items on 8 identified and tagged trees had been removed We received emails from 4 people asking not to clip their items and that they would remove and re-locate them We spread awareness to passer-bys throughout the course of the day about girdling, laws surrounding New York City trees and other bits of knowledge pertaining to our urban forests All six of us had a super fun and memorable day together We even freed a tree on the back patio of Caracas where we had a necessary and tasty arepa lunch All in all we are going to call that 27 trees, not bad. Not quite our goal (50 trees) but not bad. (ABOVE: One of the locks we clipped BOTTOM LEFT: A girdled tree RIGHT: rinky-dink piece of twine removed from tree) One of the main reasons we did not hit our goal was an interesting ethical question that arose regarding the thin line between ‘organized group of conscious citizen tree pruners’ and ‘bike thieves’. Let me explain…as much as it infuriates me to see bicycles locked on trees as a long-term parking solution, I am not a cop, and I do not have the authority to remove other people’s stuff because I don’t like the way it looks. Even though it is illegal and even though nearly everyone we spoke with or emailed has a distate for trees as bike racks and even though many of these bikes appeared to have been there for quite some time I am not a cop and I am not a thief. Locking bikes to trees sucks, theft also sucks. As a TreesNY Certified Citizen Tree Pruner, The New York Parks Department grants the authority to remove “guy wires or other things that are girdling trees”. However, none of the bicycles we had identified were imminently girdling the trees. We considered creating criterion. If the bicycle was unrideable that weighed in favor of clipping it. If the bicycle had more than one lock on it that suggested ownership. If it was imminently girdling a tree it definitely gets cut. This lead us to what we deemed a ‘morally grey area’. On the one hand I went out and tagged a bunch of bikes on trees as a courtesy and a polite warning. In most instances I gave a grace period too of at least 21+ days. The Derelict Bicycle Removal Program conducted by New York City Department of Sanitation gives a seven day warning. On the other hand, when it came time to actually clip perfectly good bikes off of trees something about it just felt off. As one wise member on the team put it, “it’s like calling the cops on someone for smoking pot”. So we erred on the side of caution and left the bikes (for now). Besides, the bikes were not harmfully girdling any of the trees (see above) the way many of the other metals were. Our objective for Tredom Project became crisper, honed. If tree girdling is happening, we are going to stop it. I feel Treedom Day 2013 laid great roots for the future of the project. We are most certainly going to keep an eye on the trees we have already identified and continue to keep an eye open for new trees to free on Treedom Day 2014. I’ve already seen a new tree and added it to the master list. We ask the same of you, if you see a girdled tree in New York City please let us know. Rob Birdsong (Treedom Fighters: Sarah, Rob, Sam, Rufus, Josh, John) Gratitude goes out to the companies that enhanced Treedom Project this year and the various news outlets that helped get the word out. http://treedomproject.com/