HomeMy WebLinkAboutTR_Arborist_report_190410_v1Certified Arborist Report prepared for:
March 22nd, 2019
Matt & Alayna Gagnier
5110 NE 23rd St
Renton, WA 98059
M 206-280-1071
A 206-850-7190
I first met Alayna Gagnier on Tues. March 5th on an appointment she had with EverGreen Tree Care to
have me come out and assess their trees. Matt & Alayna were contemplating having the trees cleaned
or some of them removed at the time, to ensure safety to their children in their yard and allow in more
sunlight. After looking at the trees, it was decided to maybe consider cleaning them in the future and
not remove any trees. Since these trees have grown up together for many years, and grown dependent
on each other protecting each other from winds, they have remained strong. By removing any of the
trees, you could jeopardize the remaining trees by exposing them to winds that have never hit them in
such a way.
On Wed. March 20th , I received a call from Alayna Gagnier that I needed to stop by and look at her
trees, as several of the trees had been damaged by a fence installation company. I saw that Fir tree (D)
and Fir tree (E) had been pie cut / notched out at the base of the tree, trying to make clearance for the
installation of a new fence. These pie cuts / notches are very severe cuts and compromised the integrity
of each tree. I came back later that evening and met with Matt on the tree issues. When doing a risk
assessment of these trees now, the hazard increases exponentially when a cut is made like this at the
base of a large tree like this. There is no way to correct this or to minimize the hazard produced other
than by removing these 2 trees at ones earliest convenience. The trees are not in eminent danger for
falling over soon, however, they should be removed as soon as plans can be made to have this taken
care of.
By removing these two damaged trees, this now places the remaining trees in a situation they have
never been in. These 3 firs and cedar will now be exposed to direct winds from directions that have
never hit these trees before. Over the years, trees are known to develop roots that help stabilize a tree
from dominant winds. Not having these various winds hit the trees as they were growing, they did not
develop a resistance to winds from these new directions. Now that the 2 damaged trees will have to be
removed, there will be an added stress on the remaining trees left in the Gagnier yard. This could
increase the potential for additional tree failure and cause damage to property or injuries to occupants.
By looking at the shape of the remaining trees and the branch structure, you can see that they will be
out of balance and unprotected from these new winds brought on by the removal of the 2 damaged
trees.
My suggestion is to have the 2 damaged trees removed as soon as permission is received and also to
remove the remaining 4, so there is not any further property damage or injury to people caused by
these remaining trees coming down in the next wind or next storm.
Thomas Goetz
ISA Certified Arborist
PN-7667A
253-682-9479
tgoetz@evergreentlc.com
Page 2:
Tree description for Gagnier property (See attached map)
Tree A – fir 21”DBH 90 ft tall
Tree B – fir 15” DBH 80 ft tall
Tree C – fir 28” DBH 100 ft tall
Tree D – fir 28” DBH 90 ft tall (Damaged)
Tree E – fir 45”DBH 90 ft tall (double trunked) (Damaged)
Tree F – cedar 36”DBH 90 ft tall (twist in top of trunk and weak spot ½ way up)
By taking out tree D and tree E, you can see that trees A,B and C at a height of 80-100 ft tall, will be up in
the wind zone, with little or no protection from east winds and no side support.
By taking out tree D and tree E, now tree F will be exposed by winds from every direction, exposing a top
that has a weakness and could break off about 30ft up from the ground. Tree F is also almost void of
limbs on the north inside of the tree, due to shade from tree E as it was growing. This lack of balance
and new wind exposure, could cause new stress on tree F.
**As a Certified Arborist my job is to talk home owners into maintaining trees and finding ways to make
them safe. However, due to the damage caused to tree D and tree E, hazards have been brought into
the decision now. And I am held to a standard that I must let home owners know about hazards as well
as ways to save trees.
TG