Philly trying to clear tree removal and trimming backlog

Philadelphia is having a hard time maintaining and trimming trees, whether it’s along streets or in parks.

Councilwoman Cindy Bass has heard plenty of horror stories about dangerous street trees in Philadelphia.

“I had one lady who was a new mother who actually moved out of her house during a recent storm out of fear of this tree that was leaning towards her house,” Bass said.

Deputy Mayor Mike DiBerardinis says the city has more than 2 million trees and the average age is 20 plus years.

“Our current tree removal backlog is 3,161 trees and our tree pruning backlog is 9,796 trees,” he said. 

The arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer in Bucks and Montgomery Counties has city officials worried about the damage that beetle could do in Philadelphia.

Ash trees are used fairly frequently in urban environments.  In commercial forestry, they’re best known as raw materials for baseball bats.