Tree trimmers need training

As the hype of making Georgetown a ‘green city’ continues, one can only watch speechlessly as the butchering of trees progresses. It seems that there are 2 groups of men who are tasked with cutting the trees in the city and they have little or no experience in trimming trees.

20130630Garden (Peggy Chin)One is the ‘cutlass butchers’, while the other works both the cutlass and power saw. The latter tree gang had almost the right tools and a Cherry Picker vehicle. By the time they had set up their equipment, I had made my way into the Botanical Garden and did what I had to do. When I drove out onto Vlissengen Road, I watched in horror how they cut the trees splitting the protective bark and tearing away at the branches. While some of the heavy branches needed to be taken down, little or no thought was given to balancing the trees. Just who is going to clean up and correct the butchering that they have done?

It would have been easier to get these men trained on how to trim and balance trees first. By the time something is done about these trees most of them would have been butchered!

Also, last week while on my way to check on some trees in the Botanical Garden and to give some advice. I discovered several loads of concrete builder’s waste dumped in the Garden. The Garden falls under the Protected Areas Commission. Under no circumstances this should have been permitted.

Well, you might have guessed that when asked everyone did a ‘Shaggy’ number, “It wasn’t me.” How in the world can this lawlessness continue? And who gave the contractor permission to dump his waste in a protected area? For the love of our trees can the authorities stop this lawlessness? A lot of people are upset already.

Until next week, Happy Gardening.