Transplanting pin oak trees

The landlord of the office complex in Richmond, BC, where I work wants to remove a number of pin oaks, probably to make space for more parking! When he originally proposed to cut down the trees, the opposition from the people working in the complex was such that the landlord shelved the plan. Now, a year later, the proposal is back, but instead of cutting the trees down, they would be moved, to a local park, allegedly with cooperation of the local municipality.

Most of the people who work in this complex don't want the trees removed. They are beautiful, especially in the fall, and provide a pleasant relief from the sight of warehouse-like buildings and acres of parking lots. While we all understand that the landlord can pretty much do what he wants, we at least want to have some reasonable comfort that the trees have a reasonable chance of survival if they are moved. Presumably the proposed location would have similar conditions - it's about a mile away. The trees are about 20 years old, about 40 ft tall, with trunks of about 1.5 to 2 ft in diameter at the base. They are planted about 30 ft apart. Can the trees of this size be successfuly moved? The landlord also states that they are currently too close together and will benefit from thinning, i.e. every second tree in a row would be moved. I imagine moving trees of this size would be an expensive proposition and I suspect that if that is the case, and the city does not wish to take up at least part of the expense, the trees will simply be cut down.

I would really appreciate to hear from some of the experts about the feasibilty of the trees' being transplanted, and is it really true that they are too close together and will benefit from thinning out.

Thank you

 

moving trees of that size can be a very expensive undertaking. although removing them wont be cheap either! Chances of success depend on a number of factors but, I think they sound like they are a bit bigger than I would try to move. You would likely need a truck mounted tree spade (digs a real big root ball). Offhand I dont know of one for hire in the Vancouver area. You could have it/them dug by hand, I will throw this link : http://mypage.uniserve.ca/~aaaallen/specimen_4.htm in for fun, it is from a gentleman that I know well and it shows some of the things you can do to help the transplant's chances of success.

 

Any local ordinances that can be invoked?

 

Here is some information on the truck mounted tree
spade. These are used a lot around here especially for
moving large Olive trees for home landscape plantings,
large Palms, a variety of Conifers and for an assortment
of large Oaks also.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_improvement/gardening/1273551.html

This one below is what I am more used to seeing around here.
If this tree spade cannot get the job done then you will need to
rent a crane to lift the freed tree, transport it and then plant the
tree in its new home.

http://www.pecan.com/truck1.htm

Jim

 

Hi

check out with the city Richmond:
as 15 to 20 years ago certain areas/industrial parks were mandated to plant certian trees in their areas,

It comes under the city beutification act. Also check out with engineering department to find out if it is infact city property( ie city right of way).

Also check out the idea of thining the trees because to me they have not been maintained.

Trees that size in Richmond gererally need a city issued permit to move or remove/ along with BC HYDRO and Terrasen Gas aproval.

There is one private company in the upper fraser valley that used to own equipment for a job that size .

Regards Doug

 

Sometime you may want join the UBC forums to show
us a photo or two of the trees so we can better evaluate
whether the trees should to be thinned out or not. The
real reason why the owner wants to move or cut down
the trees may also be helpful to us and to you and the
trees support group. If the reason for the removal of
the trees can be justified then you and the others may
have a problem. Most cities will leave the final decision
of what to do with the owner of the property unless the
trees are designated city trees, protected trees that may
be endangered or trees that have merit to the location
within the city confines. An easy way to learn what the
owners true intentions are is to put him to the test. If you
and the others are willing to care for the trees yourselves
then simply state that all of you are willing to adopt the
trees. Then the care issues are yours and not the owners.
I've also seen individuals offer to buy the trees with designs
of leaving them right where they were and in some cases
that proposition has worked out well, especially with old
Oaks around here.

Yes, the trees can be transplanted as long as the people
involved know what they are doing. I like the example
jimmyq cited as those images show how the transplanting
can be done with emphasis on the care of the tree. Moving
a tree from one location to another has been met with
marginal success in many areas. Many times the moving
of the trees was rushed and not completely thought out
well. Deadlines due to time is usually the prominent
reason but in other cases a simple transplanting of the
trees did not work out well due to the people, in more
cases than not, city personnel, that did not know how to
properly transplant the trees and many of them later died.
It was that latter issue is why some people I know offered
to adopt some of the very old Oaks in a city I know well,
rather than have the city move them and perhaps kill some
of them again. The adoption of trees in that city has worked
very well and now the city asks those people, now a city wide
association, about their ideas on other old trees when before
no one in the city councils would care to listen to them in the
past. Putting one's time and money where their mouths are
can accomplish much more reasonable good for the short
term that invariably can have gratifying long term benefits.

Jim