D.C. Cleaning Up Close to 300 Downed Trees After Storm
Photo by beerboybeltsbrews
In the wake of the storm, residents and city agencies awoke to trees that had come down, some crushing cars, others taking down power lines. Some of the trees were big, others small; some only came down in part, with branches falling but the tree itself remaining upright. But how many trees actually came down?
According to the D.C. Department of Transportation—which includes the Urban Forestry Administration—the storm produced 1,700 service requests and resulted in 900 work orders. Of those, 270 work orders deal with downed trees, both on private and public property. (The remaining work orders are mostly for debris cleanup.)
That's probably only a fraction of the trees that were felled by the winds, though, as many homeowners have chosen to deal with them using contractors.
- derecho
- storm
- trees
Comments [rss]
best of dcist
- Andrew W.K.: 'It Wasn't Bahrain That Told Me I Couldn't Go; It Was My Own Country'
- It's Been 50 Years of D.C. Residents Dreading the Long Trip Out to Dulles Airport
- Gallery: 'I Voted' Stickers Galore
- DCision '12 Voter Guide: The At-Large Race
- Shirtless Man Wearing Horse Mask Wins Hurricane Sandy
- Strike? Developer Proposes Upscale Bowling Alley for Georgetown Park Mall
- Drinking for a Cause: Shaw 'PhilanthroPub' Will Donate Profits to Charity
- First D.C. Streetcar Line Could Be Pushed Back to 2014
- Jokes and Politics Fly When Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly Rumble
- With a Little Bit of Outside Help, Teddy Finally Wins
send a tip
tips@dcist.comall our cities
one convenient app
about
staff / advertising / contact
With winter coming and also the anticipated wind and rain storms, we felt it was time for this old duffer to come down and make a graceful exit rather than invite itself into the house at some point! .
So, what happens to all the left over wood? I hope it's put to good use and doesn't go to waste!
Believe it or not, DC does not handle wastewood. It's sent to the surrounding counties for processing.
That's not exactly true. DPW chips at least some of it and produces mulch, which is free to residents.
It's not the cleanest mulch- it has some stones and plastic and weed seed in it, but it's free and not too hard to sort through.
That might be leaf mulch, from the fall leaf sweeps.
No, I've used it. It's wood chips. Not saying there's no leaves in it but, If so, they're well decomposed and not really identifiable
You can call DPW and request it. The number is on their website somewhere.
Not sure if it is the case here, but a lot of counties stopped taking in tree debris at landfills. Thus creating the rather robust mulching industrial complex. So you know that $2.99 bag o' mulch at the Lowesdepot, it really tree grindings, ground up wood pallets and a few hobos..all of which are terrible for your yard.
Not surprised... we are a city surrounded by counties with agragrian pasts. Better to outsource the mulching than toss it in the bin (as that is what DC would do).
No, DC does not "toss it in the bin."
DDOT's UFA is a pretty good operation, run by our own state forester; we just don't have the facilities, private or gov, to handle waste wood.
I think it is to be used mornings.
It was a race to clear the tree that fell across the alley Friday night between the private tree service, which got a call Saturday at 9am,and Urban Forestry, which has had the ticket since Saturday at 8am. The private service we hired showed up yesterday. Urban Forestry showed up this morning. All in all, given the damage, I'd say that's a decent response from DDOT.
Well we all know it is not hard to clear a fucking tree.