is fundamental on this Grand Concourse construction site, where I am the resident arborist.
I’ve always had a penchant for the plywood trenches built for the crew to go down into the bowels of the earth to repair the sewer pipes.
They look so much like upside down houses, and the carpenter on this crew, Joseph, builds the house as the men proceed with the work, not before. People are always scrambling down long ladders to get to the pipes below.
It would be like living in a house as you construct it. This one is so deep that the walls have to be immensely sturdy and perfect – a person could easily be squashed in a collapse. It has happened.
I remember as a child building tiny dream houses in trees out of acorns and twigs. I climbed the apple tree sometimes but was more drawn to creating a home at the base of an oak trunk in the front yard.
Same, a little later, when I fell in love the The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, the novel which portrays a family living in a cigar box.
I would have given anything to do that, live in miniature, especially since I loved the smell of cigar tobacco.
I can also relate to that other essential element in construction – tree guards.
What is their purpose exactly? Someone who has gone down a street lined with them might inquire. Of course, they are created to protect the tree during construction, in particular to protect the critical root zone so that it doesn’t get trampled or mashed (compacted) in the course of the work, impairing the health of the tree. They’re also great for making sure a piece of heavy equipment doesn’t knock the tree over. Trees are perishable and need this protection. When the tree guard gets mangled by heavy equipment, you can knock the box back into shape pretty easily.
But who’s got the time to set them up straight the way they should be? Eventually, the foreman orders one of the crew to do it.
I’ve seen neighborhood people make tree guards a part of their lives, ornamenting them. These ribbons wind up from the tree guard.
Or using them in some kind of stunt, like hanging a chair over the top, ha ha.
Or just making use of them in some fashion. Mop drying.
They are inherently house-like, the perfect temporary home for a tree under assault by forces engaged in making roads and sidewalks.
So you may find their orange snow netting unsightly, but it serves a crucial purpose.
Tree protection–as the trench is person-protection.
Jean Zimmerman 