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#Post#: 455--------------------------------------------------
Does it make sense for these trees to be here?
DIR By: Michael Caswell
Date: April 7, 2019, 5:13 am
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I was just scanning through some articles on our Erie Canal
Facts web page www.eriecanalfacts.wordpress.com
and came across the article on Vegetation removal and SEQR,
(that's the court case thing).
HTML https://eriecanalfacts.wordpress.com/2018/03/03/the-dispute-about-vegetation-removal-and-seqr/
If you scroll down to the section about Cottonwood trees, you'll
learn a lot about them. What particularly struck me was the
mention of the root systems causing piping, a phenomenon where
the roots rot away and leave tube voids in the soil. Of course,
this is very dangerous because water will quickly flow through
these tubes and cause a dam failure.
Several STCC members have said that it's never happened before
and generally scoffed at the idea. And of course, they would
probably be correct, because there are no reported incidents on
the Erie Canal where this has happened.
I was discussing this with a neighbor yesterday, and I mentioned
to him that the Oxbow trail and the Oxbow Embankment Dam were
devoid of trees in the 1930s, where there is photographic
evidence to prove this. Here we are some 80-90 years later and
we have hundreds of Cottonwoods, some 150 feet tall, coming to
the end of their life cycle. That means those roots are still
alive and still growing.
When these trees die, the roots will still be there for quite a
few years, even though Cottonwoods rot easily and quickly, so we
won't have experienced a failure due to this, it's too early in
their life cycle.
If nothing is done about it, the piping problem will very
commonplace, the canal could leak like a sieve. Embankment
failure will be commonplace, it just a matter of 'when' not
'if'.
#Post#: 456--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cottonwood Trees on Embankment Dams
DIR By: Doug K
Date: April 7, 2019, 10:12 am
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Actually, there is a "novel" solution to the potential piping
issues caused by rotting Cottonwood roots & dams....
It's called vegetation free, safe, embankment dams, and they are
coming to everyone's Erie Canal Neighborhood soon....
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
When you see this.. you know you are safe.
#Post#: 2013--------------------------------------------------
Does it make sense for these trees to be here?
DIR By: Michael Caswell
Date: February 23, 2022, 3:08 am
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Cottonwood trees! They grow everywhere and especially on the
canal shorelines. They like the water and naturally grow in
floodplains. Consequently, their growth is especially rapid on
an earthen embankment dam like those between Bushnell's Basin
and Fairport, because of the continual and natural seepage of
water through the embankment.
Here are some more facts about these trees.
The cottonwood tree is one that is genetically programmed to
produce shallow roots because it grows naturally in flood
plains. They grow rapidly if irrigated sufficiently and because
they are native.
Lateral roots radiate out, particularly just below the
ground-line. Most of the root biomass is between 3 and 12 inches
deep, although a few small roots extended to the 4-foot depth.
Cottonwood trees are the fastest growing trees in North America.
A young tree can add 6 feet (2 m.) or more in height each year.
This rapid growth leads to weak wood that is easily damaged. The
trees can grow to well over 100 feet tall (30 m.), with eastern
species sometimes reaching 190 feet (59 m.). The canopy of a
mature tree spreads about 75 feet wide (23 m.), and the diameter
of the trunk averages about 6 feet (2 m.) at maturity. Each
cubic foot of tree weighs about 50lbs, so an incredible amount
of weight is added to these steep and badly designed slopes.
A 100 feet tall Cottonwood can weigh 140,000 lbs or about 65
tons. Imagine this crashing down these steep embankment slopes.
In the past four years (the time the NYPA's program to clear the
embankments of trees has been on hold) those trees have likely
grown about 20 feet taller.
These messy trees have weak wood and are prone to disease. In
addition, their massive size makes them out of scale for all but
the largest landscapes.
Read more at Gardening Know How: Planting Cottonwood Trees:
Cottonwood Tree Uses In The Landscape
HTML https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/cottonwood/cottonwood-tree-in-landscapes.htm
Do cottonwood trees fall over easily? That's the thing about
cottonwoods. They grow big and they grow wide, and they get
heavy branches at odd angles that are prone to break and fall
Cottonwood trees aren't worth much on the timber market, they
can crowd out and shade new conifer plantations, and they don't
have many BTUs of energy for firewood use. Their major use has
fallen out of favor over the past 100 years = dug-out canoes!
Cottonwoods need a location with full sun and lots of moisture.
They grow particularly well along lakes and rivers as well as in
marshy areas. The trees prefer sandy or silty soil, but will
tolerate most anything but heavy clay. They are hardy in USDA
plant hardiness zones 2 through 9.
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