SAN ANTONIO — The city forester says there are so many trees under stress in city parks they have a meeting every morning to talk about taking care of the biggest risks first.
With thousands of people about to flood into parks for Easter, Mike Holinsky said now is a good time for people to be vigilant and help keep everyone safe by reporting trees that look like they may be in trouble.
“We do have staff in the parks all the time performing high level assessments but they may miss something. So if you see something, report it, please,” Holinsky said.
“It's really important to just take a look up. It's not something that comes naturally but just look up. Look around you and make sure it looks safe,” Holinsky said about everyone who may be planning to camp out in local parks over the upcoming Easter holiday weekend.
Because trees don’t have street addresses, Holinsky said it’s important to get exact location information to the tree teams that need it most.
“The most helpful thing when reporting a dead tree or any issue in a park is getting a picture and getting a pin drop and reporting it online. Getting as much information as you can into that ticket and helping the teams who are assessing these to make priority judgement calls,” Holinsky said.
Holinsky said reports can be made on a mobile phone by using the city’s 311 app, or online at this link: https://311.sanantonio.gov/
Holinsky said because of the extensive summer drought and the winter ice storm, his teams are just now able to properly assess the damage.
“We are just now starting to see the effects of last summer's drought and we're seeing it all over the place, unfortunately, and that's where we’re seeing limb failures on perfectly healthy trees,” Holinsky said.
Holinsky said to be safe, be observant. Some trees might look dead but they're trying to come back.
For example, he said Burr Oaks and Pecans have been really struggling to put on a new coat of leaves.
Others though, he said, need to go.
“If you see a defect in a tree where the bark is kind of falling off of it, and it's very clear it's got no leaves on it at a time of year when all the other trees have leaves on it, it's most likely dead and we would like to hear about these kinds of trees because we do address them as they come in,” Holinsky said.
Mom Samantha Brooks said she's been extra cautious in parks, ever since a tree fell on zoo visitors recently.
“We come almost every day, Brooks said, adding “I try to be as mindful as I can but I do trust that the city is doing its due diligence to make sure trees aren't falling on our kids, especially in public places like zoos and parks.”
Brooks is a member of SLAM, or Sweat Like A Mother. The moms who gather in parks for group exercise said safety is everyone's job.
“Hopefully we can work together as a community and make sure we are creating safe spaces for our little ones,” Brooks said.