Wednesday, July 3, 2024

A tree branch falls in the small dog run in Tompkins Square Park

We have many reader reports about a downed tree limb in the small dog run in Tompkins Square Park.

Derek Berg took the top photo around 7:30 a.m. 

Fortunately, despite the danger, there were no reports of injuries. (We don't know the exact time the limb came down.) 

Here's another angle via Goggla...

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

THAT is scary; thank heaven no one was there when it happened. Could easily have been a horrific scene.

Anonymous said...

So many trees are falling in our park. Very sad. At least no one was hurt.

Anonymous said...

Go for a hike in the woods or on a mountain, you won't get 10-15 yards without seeing seeing downed trees or branches. It happens.

NOTORIOUS said...

Thank god nobody got hurt.

Garrett said...

We dodged a bullet — again. It came down late last night when the park was closed.

This is the third big branch from that tree to come down in recent years. We lose one about every 3-4 years.

NYC Parks assures us that the tree is inspected and this is just the nature of giant elms.

Thankfully we lost most limbs at night or during hurricanes because the small dog run is one of the busiest parts of the park

concerned citizen said...

That "branch" would be considered a tree in most forests

Andy said...

Trees are extremely dangerous. I’ve seen one crush a car like a tin can before.

Anonymous said...

The City is not capable of maintaining the current tree inventory- yet is planting more trees all over and in some places where there is insufficient space for the tree, trees that are too closely spaced, places with no sun…..

Head Pooper Scooper said...

They left the "branch" as a way to let people know not to go into the small dog run. If you look at the pictures you can see that there is rotting from the inside of the tree trunk. The tree arborist is coming out on Friday to make the call to remove the entire tree. Hopefully this can be done on Friday and the small dog run will be able to open back up after that.

Anonymous said...

That giant Northern Elm has not been trimmed or maintained by the Forestry division of the Parks Dept. The limbs are hanging down very far and way too long thus the weight bringing it down. We have been pleading and asking the park supervisor to have it properly cared for and nothing ever happens. Now this has happened and thankfully no one was hurt but what about next time ?!! The Forestry representative who was at the site for the removal of the giant limb also stated that the platform built around the tree is killing the roots. That was a very bad idea from the get go. Surprised that the Parks Dept let that happen in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Derek for these excellent photos!

XTC said...

"The Forestry representative who was at the site for the removal of the giant limb also stated that the platform built around the tree is killing the roots. That was a very bad idea from the get go."

Exactly what I said the other day about the trees that were entombed in concrete. Bricks, even with holes in them, don't allow enough water or oxygen to seep into the root system. In fact they absorb and retain heat causing any water to evaporate even faster. Wire mesh is the only solution.

No money in the budget to maintain the parks?? I wonder where all those tax dollars went.....

derek berg said...

Anonymous July 4th, thanks so much for that.

Garrett said...

Don’t listen to anyone driving an NYC Parks truck.

The tree is not being removed.

The tree is not rotting. All the big elms have hollow trunks and limbs. Parks only takes down diseased trees.

The small dog park is reopened.

The deck is not killing the tree. NYC Parks installed it for root protection. It is water permeable and there is irrigation under there from the dog pool & water fountain so the tree gets plenty of water. (But XTC is right, it was pointed out to NYC Parks when they were assembling the deck to leave bigger grooves between planks so more water could seep through. They just doubled down and did what they wanted.)

I put in an urgent request marked ”DANGEROUS” to park commissioner & local electeds to trim the big limbs back (not just the low hanging branches) similar to the other giants in the park. But I’m a volunteer and they make the decisions.

Anonymous said...

Parks didn’t pay for renovation of the dog park.