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Trees cut for safety
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| Workers from Garden Island Tree Care are dwarfed by the coconut trees they were contracted to remove from alongside Kuamo‘o Road Thursday morning. Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island |
By Dennis Fujimoto - The Garden Island
WAILUA — Within the shell of the outer trunk, a hardened chunk of dust was all that remained of an impossibly tall coconut tree as James Campbell of Garden Island Tree Care moved the section of hollow wood off of Kuamo‘o Road on Thursday morning.
“This tree is already dead,” Campbell said. “It’s growing so close to the road, it presents a public safety hazard so it needs to be removed.”
Garden Island Tree Care was contracted to take out four coconut trees growing within inches of Kuamo‘o Road.
“The hardest part of this whole job is the traffic,” said one of the flagman responsible for stopping traffic as three tree trimmers armed with chain saws cut down the trees in sections.
Campbell said the project, scheduled to take about four hours, was designed for minimal traffic disruption and placed an emphasis on safety for both the firm’s tree trimmers as well as motorists using Kuamo‘o Road.
Flagmen stopped traffic in both directions across from the Kaumuali‘i Park as the trimmers signaled the drop of a section of tree. Those interruptions were brief in nature as the sections fell with an earth-shaking thud, the crash from higher sections sending splinters across the road.
Campbell said in addition to the dead tree noticeable because it was missing the familiar canopy of fronds, there were three other trees reaching the end of their life spans.
Of those, one was diseased through the trunk. Because they were growing so close to the road, Campbell said the trees posed a safety hazard for passing motorists.
He loaded one of the sections into his truck for presentation to the contractor as a prime example of how bad the damage to the trunk was.
“They’re going to want this,” Campbell said. “It’s good evidence of how bad the trees were. But it’s all about safety.”
The trees were growing outside the rock wall designating the coconut grove as what Campbell described as a “historical preservation grove.”
“This tree is already dead,” Campbell said. “It’s growing so close to the road, it presents a public safety hazard so it needs to be removed.”
Garden Island Tree Care was contracted to take out four coconut trees growing within inches of Kuamo‘o Road.
“The hardest part of this whole job is the traffic,” said one of the flagman responsible for stopping traffic as three tree trimmers armed with chain saws cut down the trees in sections.
Campbell said the project, scheduled to take about four hours, was designed for minimal traffic disruption and placed an emphasis on safety for both the firm’s tree trimmers as well as motorists using Kuamo‘o Road.
Flagmen stopped traffic in both directions across from the Kaumuali‘i Park as the trimmers signaled the drop of a section of tree. Those interruptions were brief in nature as the sections fell with an earth-shaking thud, the crash from higher sections sending splinters across the road.
Campbell said in addition to the dead tree noticeable because it was missing the familiar canopy of fronds, there were three other trees reaching the end of their life spans.
Of those, one was diseased through the trunk. Because they were growing so close to the road, Campbell said the trees posed a safety hazard for passing motorists.
He loaded one of the sections into his truck for presentation to the contractor as a prime example of how bad the damage to the trunk was.
“They’re going to want this,” Campbell said. “It’s good evidence of how bad the trees were. But it’s all about safety.”
The trees were growing outside the rock wall designating the coconut grove as what Campbell described as a “historical preservation grove.”
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| Kaua‘i Bonyu Kai to display at Garden Fair Saturday |
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