07-20-2015, 08:33 AM
quote:
Originally posted by BradW
Left standing dead trees are called "widow makers" and "hazard trees" for a very good and long standing reason. I've taken out more than I could count; many of the old ones I just pull over with a 100' steel cable and my truck. They hit the deck plenty hard enough to ruin your day.
I agree with you about "widow makers" when you are talking about most large trees, but albizia is a very light wooded tree to begin with, much less dense than a doug fir or hardwood typically found on the mainland. They dry out fast, and while I wouldn't want to be standing under one when it comes down, they do very little damage when a dead standing tree does go down. We saw the process first hand up and down our street, the treated trees caused no damage, but no one could get in or out for days due to downed live trees, and we had no power for over 2 weeks due to albizia damage to the lines.
There are probably thousands of acres of uninhabited land here in Puna covered by these trees, some are huge and would cost thousands of dollars each to cut down. Many of our neighbors have successfully treated trees on adjoining vacant lots, one neighbor didn't because the off island owner refused permission, and he had his house buried in 7 or 8 big downed trees during Iselle. They had to crawl out of their house in the middle of the storm to go to a shelter. I know which scenario I am more comfortable with, I'll take the risk of a dead standing albizia coming down over the damage that can be done by a live one in a tropical storm any day.
edited for typo