Do not cut live! Ukrainian realities and European standards of care for urban trees

What are these standards?

The idea of ​​creating uniform standards for the care of urban trees for the EU has been discussed by European arborists since 2004, when the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and 7 other countries joined the EU. Common Standards were needed so that specialists from different countries could work freely on the territory of the entire European Union, discuss ideas and problems, using a single terminology.

In 2019, an international team of arborists completed work on the first three documents: The Tree Planting Standard is devoted to the rules for planting trees in the city, the Tree Pruning Standard to pruning and care, and the third document, the European Cabling & Bracing Standard, to the specifics of fixing the crown. 12 countries added their national programs to these documents. By 2024, it is planned to release three more equally important Standards: Tree assessment — assessment or diagnosis of the condition of trees, Tree value calculation — calculation of the value of trees, Protection of trees during development activities — protection of trees during construction work.

Difference in approaches

Lyudmila Bilodid: If we see ourselves as full-fledged members of the European community, then it is clear that the published Standards, especially the first two, dedicated to planting and pruning, should be read and studied by everyone who is at least somehow involved in the green sphere: from the manager to the junior technician. The more we delay in indecision, whether we need to implement these Standards or whether we can relax for the time being, the more effort it will require from us when Ukraine becomes a member of the EU. The sooner we start working according to European standards, the easier the adaptation process will be.

What do I see as the main conflict between the European and Ukrainian approaches to urban landscaping? We act situationally, while the Europeans act strategically. The direct connection between the quality of life and the quality of the urban environment, the value of green spaces, in particular purely material, is not in doubt in Europe. In our country, landscaping is still considered as an add-on and a formal option to a construction project.

Europeans prefer to focus on the future, to do things expensively and for a long time. Therefore, at the stages of pre-project preparation and design, they try to take into account all factors not only of the present, but also of the future: they assume that the climate will become harsher, summer temperatures will rise. They focus on the image of the city in 20-50 years, so they do not skimp on expensive paving made of natural stone, which can be used for centuries, on engineering systems made of reliable materials so as not to be transferred due to network repairs every few years, and, of course, on green infrastructure that should last for 40 years or more, not two or three seasons until the next election to the city council.

For us, landscape design is rather a formal part, which must be implemented taking into account today's tasks and budgets. We also solve current problems situationally: we cut mature oaks, poplars or lindens so that the branches do not hypothetically damage the car in the parking lot, instead of making a high-quality pruning, if necessary, fixing the crown, or moving the parking altogether. Our priorities, let's be honest, are consumer oriented and focused on making life as easy as possible here and now, without looking into the future.

In European Standards, the priority is not infrastructure, but wood. Today, the decision to remove trees that interfere with construction, block windows from the sun, or have grown over time and are too close to the foundation, are made easily and unambiguously for the benefit and desire of a person. But according to the Tree Pruning Standard, even pruning is not recommended to solve problems such as allergies, shading, cell phone signal interference, leaf and fruit drop. This is not a reason to intervene in the ecosystem. If a bird's nest or a white hollow is found on a tree, please put away the saws and call a consultant. The entire commission will decide what to do so as not to disturb the birds.

But I would not consider the Standards as narrowing the rights of a citizen. First of all, these normative documents are the result of careful calculations, long-term observations and modeling of situations. This is not a collection of hypotheses and not a collection of ethical narratives, but an instruction that helps in creating a quality urban environment. The standards facilitate the task of designers, guarantee the long life of landscapes and safety for people. They are the unequivocal authority for resolving conflicts between participants with different views on tree trimming.

Oleksandr Sladkov: As part of the program to create uniform standards for the EU, a lot of effort has been spent. What are the fundamental differences between European Standards and Ukrainian national "Rules for the maintenance of green spaces in populated areas of Ukraine"? Not only because Europeans are more attentive to the health of trees: the well-being of trees is the basis of these documents, and our rules are primarily focused on human safety and property preservation. European Standards are logical, proven by experience, and are a compromise of the opinions of many experts. Their provisions are clearly written and do not contradict each other. They give clear answers to questions. If we look at our Rules, it is obvious that they were written by different people, and they wrote everything they could. Accordingly, our Rules can justify anything. In principle, you can take a tree that has been pruned according to the European standard, and substantiate it with the Rules for the maintenance of green spaces. But at the same time, you can cut a tree under a pole and also justify the Rules with ours. These Rules are "for everything good and against everything bad", but their provisions contradict each other. This is their biggest drawback.

The tree as such does not need pruning at all. Trees lived a million years before us and somehow coped. Pruning is necessary for people to coexist with trees. Trees do a huge favor to us, which generally grow in the city, where it is very difficult for them. They form a shadow, reduce the air temperature like an air conditioner, collect dust, and reduce noise. Therefore, our task is to remove only those branches that come into conflict with the environment. At the same time, remember that the tree must remain as healthy as possible after our intervention.

Should we adjust and adapt the European Standards taking into account our national specifics? Listen, if the EU countries with different climates, different approaches and different schools managed to agree among themselves that they will have a single Standard, how they will treat trees, then by God, Ukrainian realities are not so special.

How planting and pruning mistakes kill trees

Lyudmila Bilodid: We prefer to work with adult trees in our projects precisely because the process of formation does not take place on the street, but in the nursery. When a tree is already planted in a permanent place in the city, it needs minimal correction. Yes, an adult tree is more expensive, but that is why it is treated more carefully, the responsibility is higher.

Each of the stages of tree development has its own agricultural technology. The tree comes from the nursery already with the correct crown. It is there that the crown is formed, it is raised to the required height depending on the purpose, and the skeletal branches are cut or limited. This is the function of the nursery. This is not just a warehouse where plants wait their turn. This is a nursery, where experts monitor the proper development of a tree and shape it according to its function: an alley tree and a park tree are pruned according to different schemes. Several levels of crown height are regulated, depending on the purpose. If trees are prepared for planting along the street, then the crown rises high, 2,5 or 4,5 meters, so that the tree does not interfere with passers-by and traffic.

Speaking of formation, of course, I do not mean the figure formation of the crown, pollarding or the creation of topiary and bonsai - this is a separate art. By nature, each tree has its own, unique crown architecture. In winter, we can see these wonderful graphics. But it often happens that some branches grow ahead of others, grow inside the crown, at an emergency angle - more than 45 degrees from the vertical trunk. Such a branch is already considered unstable and must be seen and cut as early as possible. With age, it gains mass and can disrupt the stability of the entire tree. You will not get a tree with a potentially dangerous branch from a good nursery. You can get anything from a bad kennel. A city tree is both the result of human intellectual work and a living organism. We will never achieve complete uniformity in plant breeding and cultivation.

The European Standard forbids us to cut the roots of the tree, as it happens everywhere in our country during planting, if it does not fit into the planting hole. The planting pit should be widened and should be one and a half times larger than the width of the roots or the diameter of the root ball. Trees with trunks higher than 1,5 meters must be secured during planting, even if there is "no wind" and "flat ground". How to fasten correctly - there is a separate, third standard for this - the European Cabling & Bracing Standard.

Tree trunks with thin bark should be protected from mechanical damage and sunburn. By the way, the whitewashing of the trunks, which our fellow citizens perceive more or less as propaganda of the Soviet way of life and subjected to anathema, is only one of the ways to prevent sunburn, and we can also read about it in the European Standards.

The entire chapter is devoted to technical solutions that will help to "friend" the roots of street trees and infrastructure, in particular soil cells, grids, barriers and guides for roots (Soil cells and tree bunkers, root bridges). I talked about the advantages of their use and our practice back in 2019 in the article "The mission is to survive. "Recipes of happiness" for city trees».

If everything is done correctly, a healthy tree from a good nursery will not need any surgical operations in the coming years

We could have long ago moved from traditional extensive urban landscaping to a smart one, if we counted the material losses from mistakes during planting, unskilled pruning, as well as the costs of adequate replacement of lost trees (adult tree for adult tree). By investing in qualified care, we save money and the health of citizens. So I'm looking forward to the release of the Assessment Standard — Tree value calculation.

Oleksandr Sladkov: In the Ukrainian legislation, there is a qualification of damage to a city tree and the degrees of this damage are described - up to non-stop growth and up to cessation of growth. Topping or rejuvenating pruning, which was widely abused both in Lviv and in other cities, can be interpreted as damage to the cessation of growth. Does it make a difference whether the branches were cut or simply broken off with an excavator? In fact, the tree was left without branches. The Ecoinspection is happy to fine for such actions, this is their job. The fine is not that much money, but still a nuisance. We drew up similar protocols for four years and covered these cases in the press so that the balance-keepers realized that such radical circumcision is associated with trouble.

This spring, we recorded only one case when trees were cut on the territory of a military hospital. They look so wild against the background of normal pruning that this violation is already obvious to the townspeople. It is easier to deal with such isolated cases, exceptions to the rules. But when all over the city trees are cut down to the trunk, the ecological inspection simply does not have the opportunity to present a claim to everyone.

If the tree was planted correctly and took root successfully, then it has a "golden period of life" ahead of it for several decades, when it basically does not need any care and does not cause any problems. Human intervention will be required when the tree reaches 60-70 years and begins to partially decay.

But our trees do not have a golden age. Sometimes the devil knows what and the devil knows where

For example, in Kyiv, I see many young trees with competing branches that no one removed in time. And I understand that these trees will not cause problems after 50 years of age, but will begin to fall apart in their 30s. Already now they are in conflict with the environment, but few people pay attention to this: the tree is green, so everything is fine. When the problem becomes obvious at the age of 30-40, the tree begins to be cut. They chop completely thoughtlessly, without taking into account the anatomy of the tree. Brooms, shoots that are loosely attached to the trunk grow at the place of cutting. The tree becomes dangerous.

So it turns out that instead of trees that could live in the city for 70-80 years without any particular problems, we have tortured disabled trees that have aged prematurely. What is called rejuvenation pruning actually kills the tree.

With such a practice, we radically shorten the life of the city tree and increase the risks. Mass coronation actions are especially dangerous. Unless the linden tolerates it more or less safely, but also gets sick. And the rest of the breeds will definitely have to be replaced in 10 years. If one day we have to replace half the trees in the city, then in the context of climate change we will feel it very strongly.

In order to objectively assess the condition of green spaces, an inventory is necessary. The inventory in the form in which it is carried out in our country is not an inventory of trees, but of wood. The feeling that it is not the trees with their developmental characteristics that are counted and evaluated, but how much wood and what kind of wood can be harvested: "No. 337 is an ordinary maple, the condition is satisfactory." Generalization of such data gives us nothing. The Urban Tree Inventory Manual was developed in 2001 and has not been updated. They simply took the model used in forestry and applied it to the city. Of course, there were no online maps at that time.

Errors and problems arise from project deficiencies

Lyudmila Bilodid: Changes are taking place in Ukraine, but compared to European practice, we are still at the very beginning of the journey. Many developers, striving for the new residential area to immediately have the appearance of beautiful project visualizations, invest in landscaping with mature trees and agree that this expensive green infrastructure deserves quality conditions for life support: fertile soil, "structural cells" that prevent compaction, integrated irrigation and drainage systems. And yet this is the expense item on which they try to save as much as possible.

The tradition is to save on stages that are not visible to the eye at the finish line. For example, on the composition and volume of the soil. The tree will not complain. After a few years, it will start to get sick and wither, and we won't even be able to immediately determine the cause. Covering the future landscaping area with construction waste so that it is not removed is a common practice for any Ukrainian construction worker. Yes, this garbage will be sprinkled with chernozem on top, but it will be very difficult for the tree to reach the nutrient layers of the soil with its roots. A typical situation: the residential area has already been built, the garbage has been compacted, and now they are coming up with ideas - how should we green this wasteland or the roof over the parking lot? Is it even possible to plant anything there except grass? How to organize watering? In the city, we almost always deal with degraded soils, and therefore it is necessary to improve the soil composition.

In development companies, the people responsible for landscaping usually do not have any special knowledge in this area. For example, we submit a proposal for planting adult specimens of mountain pine from a proven nursery. The manager of the company conducts research on the Internet and claims that the average price on the market is lower. But trees are not made on an assembly line. And the quality of trees can be compared only by a specialist who is familiar with the intricacies of their cultivation in a nursery and with the experience of observing their growth in the city.

Ukrainian architects have been fighting for years to change the rules of open tenders for design, in which the customer is automatically guided by the price criterion. The struggle seemed hopeless, but recently representatives of the World Bank demanded from the government of Ukraine that the designers for investment objects be selected according to qualification criteria. I believe that this should become the main practice in the matter of landscaping as well. If the project requires 10 identical pine trees, then we should focus not on the price, but on the real condition of the trees, their quality and the reputation of the nursery. A landscape architect does not choose plants based on pictures on the Internet.

All activities — construction, operation and maintenance, arrangement, planting of plants, arrangement of the pit, fastening, irrigation system, ventilation, drainage, etc. — are all laid down at the design stage

It is important for us to understand exactly how the customer envisages maintenance of these trees. Can the tower be adjusted to work with the crown? Landscape architects increasingly start using BIM design. Any change to the architectural design or engineering must be accompanied by an adjustment to the landscape design. It is an important component of success when all data is entered into one database, when architects and landscapers work as a team.

Oleksandr Sladkov: Most of the mistakes happen at the design level. When I came to work in the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Lviv City Council, I was amazed: during the design of public spaces and streets, you are obliged to collect technical conditions for all communications - water, gas, electricity, traffic, information on the protection of historical heritage . But there is no obligation to obtain technical conditions for landscaping and trees! There are no requirements! We decided that it was necessary. Now Lviv designers, before starting work, come to us, and together we examine every tree on the territory. We decide: these trees will clearly not survive the reconstruction, they will have to be replaced, but you are obliged to save them and do everything not to damage the roots or branches.

For example, in Lviv, there are practically no trees on the streets that were reconstructed before 2015–2016. When the communications were relaid, the roots got in the way. They were cut down and the trees died, leaving entire streets bare. And the chance to make high-quality landscaping has already been lost, because the reconstruction did not foresee any conditions for planting new trees. Now we are trying to change the situation. If the street is subject to reconstruction and replacement of communications, then at the stage of our discussions with the customer and the designer, we demand to leave a corridor free of communications for planting trees, remove construction debris there and replace the soil. Yes, this work has not yet been regulated by anything, as there is an absolute vacuum in this area of ​​legislation in Ukraine. In our city policy, we are guided by the Polish standard regarding the care of plants during investment works, where similar situations are formalized.

There is currently no similar European standard. As there is still a very important and necessary diagnostic standard. Assessing the condition of the trees turned out to be the most difficult issue, as the opinions of European arborists were divided. Some insist on keeping every tree at any cost, others insist on renewing the plantings with new trees. These are different approaches. In the Netherlands, for example, I witnessed healthy linden trees being cut down on the street during reconstruction. Trees are replaced there once every 50 years, regardless of their condition. And in Germany they will fight for every tree to the last. Two neighboring countries, but such a diametrically different approach.

Arborism and urban arborists. What about the staff?

Lyudmila Bilodid: I personally know literally a couple of people who I can call arborists, and they are self-taught. For example, we recently visited the territory of a mixed neighborhood in Kyiv, where we participated in landscaping one of the squares. There is a company that is engaged in service, care of the territory and landscapes in particular. They face a difficult task, because in the designer landscaping - which was carried out by several firms - a variety of trees were used, which were supplied from different nurseries. Accordingly, the quality of these plants is different, and there are also problematic ones. Some trees - trees of the first size (adult height 8-10m, crown width 6-8m) - are planted at a distance of one and a half to two meters from each other, which is an obvious mistake. "Compacted" plants grow by roots, compete with crowns. Care for such a landscape is not able to correct design errors. Caring for such a diverse landscape either requires special knowledge and qualified personnel, and it is lacking even in the commercial sphere. What can we say about the shortage of personnel in communal structures.

Our company's resources are not unlimited, we will not be able to cover all our landscapes with service, we are focused on design and are responsible for it. But we are keenly interested in increasing the professionalism of our neighbors, companies engaged in service. Eurostandards are the minimum that the employees of these companies should already learn. Of course, caring for bonsai or caring for old or distressed trees will require more in-depth and specific knowledge.

In my practice, unfortunately, there were many cases when our projects suffered from poor service. Sometimes there is even a banal culture of handling garden tools. A professional tool is expensive. All cutting tools must be disinfected after each pruning to prevent disease transmission. Blades must be sharp, because the quality of the cut depends on how quickly the wound heals. If the pruners work with blunt saws or secateurs, if the wood is worn out, the bark is removed, then the gates for infection and rotting appear. I say trite things, but for some reason these simple rules are ignored everywhere. The Standards remind about the rules of biosafety, but their practical observance is a matter entirely and completely of the responsibility and consciousness of the performers. This is the inner kitchen, which the inspector will not see, and the tree, unfortunately, is silent.

Oleksandr Sladkov: Arboristics is a very young science, it considers a tree as an individual living organism. On the second page of the Standards we read that they do not apply to forest, fruit trees and bonsai. They are focused exclusively on urban trees, this is their specificity.

An education gained in the field of agriculture will not help much when working with urban trees. A tree grown in an orchard must be convinced that each year is its last, so it will bear fruit in an attempt to leave as large a legacy as possible. A hundred-year-old and wild apple orchard does not produce apples. All tricks that provoke a rich harvest are justified in agriculture, where trees are replaced once every 30 years. But these methods are not applicable at all in the care of urban trees.

As for our green farms, it seems to me that their employees are not guided by anything at all

There are some circumcision traditions that are passed down from one person to another. Employees are trained in an organized manner, except for work at height. While working, they do not consider how to cut better, but simply repeat the way it was done before them.

In terms of education, we have a huge amount of work to do. In Europe, too, not every employee of the plantation care service has to think strategically about the process — to work clearly enough, adhering to the Standard, so that he is paid and not fined. Therefore, before starting work, people should study the Standard.

We do not have pruning standards, so the workers are guided by speed and the norm. The tower is raised and fixed at one point. Wherever the hands of the worker reach, there he cuts. It should take 20-30 minutes per tree. Therefore, no one will move the cradle back and forth. And let's be honest, these people are paid very little.

Twice a year, we conduct training for landscapers — both rank-and-file employees working on truck towers and engineers. For the lecture, I simplified the whole theory as much as possible, wrote a list: 10 things to stop doing and 8 things to do.

Stop the damage:

1. forget about "rejuvenating" pruning and "topping";
2. do not cut more than 20% of the mass of the crown;
3. do not make near-stem cuts larger than 10 cm in diameter;
4. no "stumps" from cut branches;
5. do not prune at a temperature below 0° C;
6. monitor the correct location and angle of the stem sections;
7. only a smooth cut, no damaged or torn bark;
8. do not remove branches of the middle level (do not make "lion's tails" out of trees);
9. do not use "spikes" to climb a tree (unless the tree is completely cut down);
10. do not use chainsaws to cut live branches.

What has to be done?

1. remove the conflict of tree branches with traffic participants, street infrastructure elements, buildings;
2. shorten the really interfering branches to the replacement shoot;
3. remove dangerous "sharp" forks and competing shoots (applies only to young trees);
4. remove dry, broken, cracked and fungus-damaged branches, branches directed inward of the crown, wild shoots on the trunk;
5. ensure balance and optimal weight of the crown;
6. thin out the crown by removing weak branches inside it;
7. treat sections larger than 5 cm in diameter with lacquer-balm;
8. use secateurs or loppers to cut branches with a diameter of up to 3 cm, a hand saw for branches with a diameter of 3 to 7 cm.

The workers really don't care how the tree is cut - they will complete the task. Previously, inspectors and the direct customer of the works usually believed that if the workers cut a bunch of branches, it means that they did a good job. After our explanations, the workers are no longer required to cut a bunch of branches. And they basically stopped doing it.

Today in Ukraine there are zero arborists certified in Europe who have the right to perform pruning according to European Standards

There are no Ukrainians who would receive this certificate and return to work in Ukraine. Usually, people come to our arborist from different fields. And among them, it is unlikely to find enthusiasts who independently passed the certification in one of the EU countries. We don't want it to remain a hobby, we want to make it easier for people to enter the profession. So we applied for a grant, planned training. To begin with, we need to certify at least a few people. In the first phase, we will be able to train 12 arborists in pruning standards. If they pass the exam, they will be able to work as instructors, teach others. We also want to train 12 people to diagnose trees according to the Polish standard.

What to do with the thousands of trees that were damaged by the war?

Lyudmila Bilodid: Trees affected by the war are as much victims as people. Currently, they are not just an object of green architecture - they can be considered as a war memorial. Injured trees, surviving trees, protective trees that took on the debris to protect people and their homes. I think it would be wrong to dispose of them like garbage. It would be great if there were people who would take care of injured but living trees and save them from the sawing of overzealous gardeners. I understand the desire of some people to quickly forget the horror experienced and return "everything as it was", but let's take a pause and observe: maybe these wounded trees will become a model of vitality.

The customer sent us photos from Sviatohirsk: huge pines are standing like broken matches, shells completely destroyed the tops. You can try to save them, it would be a unique scientific study in particular. But again, we are facing a shortage of arborists. We probably need some kind of field arborist school, the knowledge of how to treat injured trees. Since it is not there, I assume that in cities they will simply uproot injured trees and replace them with young ones.

Therefore, the only way to change the situation is to create, educate and raise the prestige of the profession by all means: with the help of media and advertising in particular.

Oleksandr Sladkov: Not every veteran tree is old, but every old is a veteran. Therefore, the standards of care for veteran plants can be applied to war-wounded trees. My dream is to get such a certificate. It is a very interesting job to learn how to deal with damaged and aged trees. So far we are only losing them. When I read what is being done to our natural monuments, I just cry. For example, cow carcasses were buried under an unfortunate 700-year-old Zaporizhzhya oak to revive it. Perhaps, if no one touched it, the oak tree would be healthy now. And people perceived the natural age changes of the tree as something that required their personal intervention. As a result of a 30-year campaign to save the tree, only one living branch remained. The main thing in dealing with veteran trees is to do no harm.

Polish arborist and expert Piotr Tyszko-Chmielowiec - a great friend of Ukraine and a person who sincerely wants to help - often tells the story of how in 2000 the age of trees in West and East Berlin was counted in his lectures. It turned out that more of them were preserved in East Berlin, despite the fact that no special care was taken for them, but in West Berlin arborists-surgeons worked very actively. Sometimes the best thing we can do is do nothing.

So the main rule, valid for all trees, is that we should not interfere with the trees, but help them: very skillfully and only when they require it.