August 26, 2023 – The Eucalyptus trees that have been a mainstay of the intersection at Armstrong and Polson in Clovis were trimmed as recently as July of this year, and now at least one concerned Clovis citizen has brought to light potential pitfalls with those trees.
Marc Salvatore, Clovis resident and 40-year veteran of the tree trimming industry believes that by trimming the trees, there may be the possibility of enhanced levels of decay, something that the City of Clovis had hoped to avoid.
The City of Clovis originally hired BrightView Tree Care Service out of Madera in hopes of pruning and trimming the eucalyptus trees in order to protect against degradation and improve tree health.
However, Salvatore believes that because of certain cuts in certain areas of the trees themselves, there may have been an opportunity given for further health decline and decay.
“It’s too soon to tell whether or not they will decay, but based on the age of the trees and the cuts made, I can assume that there will be decay and decline.”
Salvatore more explicitly described that because some final cuts were not made to a “lateral or upright branch” of the tree, there will be the chance for deterioration on what he calls “stubbed branches”.
He later elaborated that eucalyptus trees have weak points of attachment and large limbs and branches that break out when healthy.
These large limbs and branches were a part of the reasoning for the trimming of the trees in the first place.
However, Salvatore warns that with the new cuts, the eucalyptus tree branches may grow back in the same spots with now “less than normal strength” therefore giving the possibility of easily broken tree limbs over the roadways of Armstrong and Polson.
Salvatore finished his concerns by stating that he believes there already has been evidence of stress on the trees as he found “epicormic sprouting of suckers” at the base of one of the trees.
What he means by this is that the tree is now in “survival mode” and not properly using its energy and resources to correctly grow.
There is always the chance that the trees themselves will do fine, admits Salvatore, but because of his experience he warns that there may be some issues in the future.
Time will tell how well those trees on Armstrong and Polson are doing healthwise, but for now, the trees have been shortened and have the safety of an intersection resting on their limbs.