Ashley Lloyd, a landscape designer and ISA Certified Arborist, has thought about how what we do to the land that surrounds a tree can affect a tree’s roots and canopy. People often make decisions in construction projects without a clear understanding of how the trees on the site function belowground or how sensitive root systems are to changes in soil structure, oxygen availability, moisture movement, and biological activity. Ashley believes seemingly reasonable decisions on the land can accumulate consequences over time, and that trees experience these decisions, often in ways we don’t immediately see.
Ashley describes these thoughts in her article “As Above, Not So Below: The Underground Truth About Tree Roots,” which appeared in the Pacific Horticulture website. The photo is by Austin Forster and released under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0.