Spring time tree pruning

It is spring. How do I know? It's not the weather, or the calendar. It is the hacking and whacking of trees all around Seattle. I am not sure of the reasons why some do this to there valuable trees. Sometimes it is for view, or for height restriction covenants. But it seems to me that many in our community do this because it is spring and trees must be cut every year. But is that really so?

Trees do not need pruning. That may seem counter-intuitive. Yet it is true, trees have gotten along just fine without any care for eons. We prune trees for people. It is always good to ask why we are pruning. In this case some residents want their views unimpeded by trees. But does that require all 300 trees in a community to be malpruned? I say, no. The contractor who ruined these trees should not be paid for this destruction of valuable property. Rather than spending money and time on malpruning, this community could have identified trees that were blocking views or creating some other issue, and only pruned those trees. A professional tree service would cost less and leave trees in good condition, saving trees and money for their clients.

I'll leave you with a thought, paraphrased from Dr. Alex Shigo, the father of modern arboriculture, who said, "When people destroy property for fun, we call it vandalism. What do you call it when you pay someone to destroy your trees?"