Principles of the tree risk management plan in Poland
Abstract
Trees are important and provide us with many benefits on which we rely. Trees can, however, pose a risk to people and property. It is important that we assess their risk to protect public safety. The overall goal of a community tree risk management program is to reduce the risk of injury and damage to people and property to levels that are considered acceptable in accordance with city policies and practices. Initiating a tree risk management program is an important step in developing effective tree management programs, and community tree populations. Tree-related risk management systems are developing rapidly, especially in Germany and in the United States. The aim of this study is to diagnose how trees are evaluated and managed in Poland. The research was carried out in the form of an electronic survey containing 25 closed and open questions. The replies were obtained from 422 respondents of municipalities across the country (city municipalities (CM) – 15.9% of all respondents, urban-rural communes (URC) – 25.6% of the total, and rural communities (RC) – 58.5% of all respondents). The results show that there is lack of standards and procedures associated with tree risk management in our country. It is necessary to develop the tree management system on the basis of the following conditions. The standards and criteria of the tree management system should be identifi ed in the program of environmental protection or other strategic documents for municipalities, implemented pursuant to resolutions and ordinances. It should be applied as standard, multitask and multipurpose risk management procedures. The inspection of trees should be conducted based on objective methods. It is extremely important to monitor the risk (collecting statistics of accidents).
Keywords
tree management; tree hazards; tree assessment; tree risk management
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Faculty of Horticulture, Biotechnology and Landscape Architecture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0191-7999
Faculty of Horticulture, Biotechnology and Landscape Architecture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW Poland
