That big elm in downtown Portland taught me about root compaction

I was working on a 60 year old elm near Pioneer Courthouse last spring and the bark started peeling off for no reason. Dug down 6 inches and found a solid layer of packed gravel from a sidewalk replacement 5 years ago. Have any of you dealt with hidden compaction damage on urban trees?

2 comments

2 Comments

miller.avery24d ago

Is the compaction really the main issue here though? That tree was 60 years old, it had a ton of roots already established before that sidewalk work happened. @abby_henderson I get what you're saying about city planners, but most trees in that spot adapt just fine to gravel or packed dirt, they find ways around it. Elm trees especially are tough, they send roots deeper or spread out under the hard stuff. Unless the gravel was literally crushing the main structural roots, I'd bet it was something else like disease or drought stress that finally pushed it over the edge.

abby_henderson24d ago

Walk past any sidewalk crack with a tree nearby and you'll see the same story - concrete and gravel packed tight as a drum. It's like we forgot trees need to breathe. I've seen it with telephone poles too, where someone backfilled with crushed rock and the pole itself started splitting after a few years. City planners mean well, but they treat trees like furniture instead of living things that need room to move underground.