In this day and age, CA’s have the skills to preserve and protect enough of a tree’s root zone to enable it to withstand construction. Landscape Architects are not a substitute for tree experts. Neither are Engineers. They have their expertise but not when it comes to understanding the relationship between what a tree needs to survive and how a project should be shaped so that trees that should be preserved are protected.

Being “green” does not mean one has the tools and skills to define the protocols necessary for adequate tree protection. CA’s or their equivalent must be included in the design team so the resulting Project Specifications and Contract Documents provide the essential required procedures and strategies. Waiting for the construction phase to implement anything to protect trees is too late. The decisions on how to proceed to avoid tree root damage are not in place and so, the damage cannot be avoided. Sadly, from personal observations, there’s NO interest in avoiding the damage – not from the Contractor, who doesn’t know any better, nor from the designers, who clearly do not have the necessary knowledge, nor from the client – the City – who should and does know better but can’t be bothered.

The removal of all tree protection strategies from PlaNYC tells us that preserving those parts of our urban forest that ACTUALLY DO the environmental and health-related work we’ve come to associate with trees is not at all important. We see the disdain the City has for the monarchs of our urban forest over and over again, on every project where the voice representing our public trees was excluded from the decision-making project design table.

As a taxpayer and a professional, I say SHAME on the City for the abuse of an essential public resource. In rebuttal, I’m sure we’ll hear about all the trees that the City has been planting during the million tree initiative. Most professionals – tree experts – I know would agree -MOST of the trees being planted will not survive for a variety of avoidable reasons: plant material so poor it should never have been planted; improper planting techniques including planting too deep and not watering the trees in once they’ve been planted; no follow up on watering during the 2-year establishment period; planting sites that are too close together and on and on.

Taxpayers should be appalled by the negligence, abuse and disregard for such an important part of their City – our urban forest. We and our trees deserve better!

Yes, there is impressive-looking orange trunk protection surrounding the tree trunks. But good lord what do you think happened to all the tree roots both before this pic was taken and after? You realize that over 90% of the tree roots are outside the orange box and almost all are right under the soil surface. Or rather were. Outside the orange protection, the soil has clearly been excavated, re-graded, churned, gouged, ripped and compated by months of construction activity. Mr. Glaeser’s remarks are depressingly correct.

What the picture tells me is that these green designers are completely ignorant about trees, in even the most basic ways, or they would never have allowed so many pics like this on their website. They just don’t get it. I understand that education about trees in the profession is virtually non-existant, but don’t they at least have enough respect for the subject to make tree experts a decision-making part of the team?

This project like so many others can tell us why in an age of greening this and LEEDS that the tree canopy of our urban forest continues to visibly, palpably shrink. Answer: the wrong people are making all the decisions.

There are some positive elements in this EDC project, yet the HPLG document specifically devotes detail to ecology, soils, hydrology, site planning etc., and the treatment of existing, irreplaceable shade trees in the landscape during construction. The tree matter is most pressing here for QBP because of their current value and contribution to an otherwise bleak, concrete and steel urban landscape. That the City and its designers decided that the dozen oaks should remain is one thing. The failing grade however is for the absence of effective arboricultural care of those trees during the construction phase. That is, the full implementation and enforcement of tree and landscape protection protocols (that protect primarily root zone) as called for in the HPLG document. See HPLG Section V.I. PROTECT EXISTING VEGETATION. V.10 IMPROVE STREET TREE HEALTH.

What was observed was “business as usual” with the mistreatment and abuse of established public trees. Where it occurred, one observed the physical tearing and ripping of critical tree roots in order to minimize tree growing space for the altering of the Plaza island medians- without a critical review whether EDC and their architects should be allowed do that. There were other tree abuses clearly unacceptable in any standard arboricultural practice. This all occurred with the known consequences to tree health when simple and straight forward tree and landscape protection plans are not implemented and enforced.

By not providing these trees with optimum site conditions during construction, the public once again will see potentially large growing canopy oak trees follow the same irreversible, spiraling pattern of declining health as with other established trees on City infrastructure projects elsewhere. Now rootless and root damaged, their fate in forthcoming years (perhaps within the decade) is to eventually be cut down and removed.

I asked the same question: Why would the City allow that to happen? The answer is that the crucial dialogue among all parties about tree protection never occurred. And to expend the necessary resources in order to protect and preserve existing trees is unheard of by institutions like NYC EDC. Unfortunately it is new tree planting that has gotten everyone so excited.

I am sure we can do better if all the professional voices with their vetted expertise are kept in the discussion loop for the duration of projects such as this.

Hello from the lighting designer of the Queens Plaza project, and thank you to Sandro for mentioning our participation. Light Projects joined in the project later than most of the design team. I wanted to underscore the persistence and hard work that the WRT and MPA have put into this complex project – not only is the area itself fraught with every kind of difficulty imaginable, but the number of city/state agencies to coordinate for approvals was a major job in itself.

I am very excited, even with the many compromises that we had to make, to see this project break ground. Which it did on August 3rd – here is my blog entry to mark that day.

http://lenischwendinger.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/queens-plaza-new-york-city-groundbreaking-august-3rd-2009/

I don’t mean to squelch your dreams, but a little more humility, please. There have been workers in this field for longer than you seem to realize.

The Queensboro Plaza station–shared between the 7 Train (IRT Flushing Line) and N and W Trains (BMT Astoria Line–is a two level elevated station, whose upper level serves Queens-bound trains, and lower level serves Manhattan-bound trains.

The Queens Plaza subway station, serving the E, R, V, and G trains(IND Queens Boulevard Line), is underground, at JFK Commuter Triangle, at the intersection of Queens Plaza, Queens Boulevard, Jackson Avenue, and Northern Boulevard.

Queens Plaza North and Queens Plaza South are the names of the roadway running east-west. Queens Plaza South is beneath the elevated (NW7) trains.

As noted on the website http://www.forgotten-ny.com, “… Queens Plaza: the gateway to Queens, [is] the first thing many motorists see when arriving via the Queensboro Bridge (known by Manhattanites as the 59th Street Bridge), and the first stop on the BMT from Manhattan….”