Can These Trees Be Saved

Oregon Dept. of Forestry Can These Trees Be Saved? 2600 State St, Salem, OR 97310 Webpage: www.odf.state.or/UF Oregon Department of Forestry Phone and Email: 503/945-7391, urbanforestry@odf.state.or.us Urban and Community Forestry Program A storm can leave trees looking like there's no tomorrow. Major limbs may be broken or damaged, foliage can be shredded or stripped, or the bark may be torn or gouged. But what at first glance may look like mortal wounds are not necessarily fatal to a tree. Trees have an amazing ability to recover from storm damage. The Oregon De-partment of Forestry and the National Arbor Day Foundation recommend the following steps for determining if trees can be saved: First, Assess the Damage Before writing off a damaged tree as a "goner," homeowners should evaluate their Illustration 1 trees by asking the following questions: • Other than the storm damage, is the tree basically healthy? If the tree is basi-cally healthy, is not creating a hazard, and did not suffer major structural dam-age, it will generally recover with first aid measures taken soon after the storm. • Are major limbs broken? The larger a broken limb is, the harder it will be for the tree to recover from the damage. If a majority of the main branches are gone, the tree may have little chance of surviving. • Has the leader (the main upward-trending branch on most trees) been lost? In species where a leader is important to upward growth or desirable ...