Building on a Wooded Lot? How to Keep Your Trees Alive Through Construction

Mature trees are a big part of why people buy wooded lots in Bel Air, Fallston and Forest Hill. Unfortunately, construction is one of the leading killers of mature trees, and the damage usually isn't obvious until it's too late.

The problem is underground

Most of a tree's roots live in the top foot or so of soil and spread well beyond the drip line. Heavy equipment compacts that soil and crushes roots. Trenching for utilities slices through them. Adding fill smothers them. Cutting grade removes them. The tree looks fine for a season or two, then starts to decline.

Set tree protection zones

The most effective step is simple: keep construction out of the critical root zone. A common rule of thumb protects a radius of 1 to 1.5 feet for every inch of trunk diameter. That area is fenced off before work starts, and nothing goes inside: no equipment, no parking, no material storage, no washing out concrete trucks.

Plan the site around the trees

• Route utilities away from keeper trees, or tunnel under root zones instead of trenching.
• Limit grade changes. Even a few inches of fill over roots can kill a mature tree.
• Plan equipment paths and staging areas before the first machine arrives.
• Be realistic. Some trees can't be saved if the house, driveway or septic has to go there. It's better to remove them cleanly now than pay to remove a dead tree over a new roof later.

Get an arborist involved early

The best time to plan tree protection is before the site plan is final. An ISA Certified Arborist consultation identifies which trees are healthy enough to be worth saving and what protection they need.

One crew, one plan

Because Goliath handles clearing, site prep and grading, the same crew that planned your tree protection is the crew working around it.