Can anyone refer me to a good article or chapter on wind-related tree failure? I say "wind related" - however, I suspect that many of the failures during our last two high-wind days (50 mph) are "last straw" situations. I found one article on line from Kim Coder that was a useful starting point.

We have had many uprooted and snapped spruce and pines, and I was gratified to see a partial crown snapped out of a pear planted in a narrow strip of soil near a shopping center (that'll teach em -- or I hope it will!). Our power was out for 20 hours - we live in an area with many narrow streets and small properties, and mature trees, and a pine tree trunk fractured in the wind and took down some deciduous wood in the process of falling down (and over the power lines). There are others in the area who are still without power as of yesterday.

It's a perfect opportunity to get people to focus on tree care and how trees grow.

Thanks for any suggestions you have.

Chris Reid

Hello again Chris,

I have a few links you may find useful. I'm not sure if this is what your looking for or not, but here you go. Hope it helps.

http://www.natlarb.com/content/consumers/treecaretips2.htm

http://www.caseytree.com/serv02.htm

http://www.tree-consult.org/images/pdf/eng/brudi_trees_and_statics.pdf

Hi Chris... is this Chris Reid from Greenwich? I was just in Riverside yesterday and there had been spruce and pine failures all over the place.

In addition to the sources already listed: you can download my Trees and Wind Bibliography which was in JoA in 2002 from Tree Link. Also search on papers by Ken James and Kark Niklas in that archive. Many of the Mattheck books have bits and pieces on wind and failure. I have a more recent paper in JoA but it's pretty arcane about the math. Tome Smiley and Brian Kane have a new paper in January 2006 Arboriculture and Urban Forestry (new JoA title). There was a paper in Arborist News last year (two parts) by Peter Sterken and Kim Coder. That should keep you busy.

Scott Cullen

Hi Scott and Chris,

I wrote some works on wind load analysis and stability calculations for trees (both their development and interpretation (!)). My latest articles might be of your interest, and can be found in the site of the University of Wageningen:http://library.wur.nl/gkn/

In the field "Auteurs" you have to introduce my last nam (Sterken) and the list appears. Click on "Full Text" and you can download them.

In my site (www.sterken.be) you can download Excel sheets which are examples of these "wind and trees"-calculations.
For any questions: peter@sterken.be

Have fun!
Peter