Tree vandalism outrages residents in Queens community
NEW YORK -- Neighbors were left baffled and heartbroken after an unknown perpetrator left slash marks across two street trees in Ridgewood, Queens.
It's unclear how the gashes were carved around the trunks of a pin oak and adjacent Japanese pagoda on quiet Saint Johns Road.
"It just doesn't make sense," Fernando Peña said.
Jennifer Castro has lived on the block for more than a decade and couldn't say for sure when the marks first appeared.
"It looks like an attack on our trees," she said. "It affects us all."
"Protecting our urban forest is the responsibility of all New Yorkers"
Ben Osborne, the assistant commissioner of forestry and horticulture for NYC Parks, said of the vandalism: "Our street trees are living and breathing parts of our communities, and a critical piece of green infrastructure in New York City. Protecting our urban forest is the responsibility of all New Yorkers, and removal, destruction, or damage to any tree should be reported immediately."
Andrew Reinmann, an associate professor of environmental science at Hunter College, said damage to the cambium cell layer beneath the bark can threaten a tree's survival by interrupting the flow of nutrients.
"When it gets damaged, it cuts off movement of sugars from the leaves down to the roots," he said. "It can effectively starve the roots of food."
Neighbors are worried about quality of life
For Castro, trees are vital to the health, culture, and beauty of her street.
"How can we as a community come together to make sure that nobody is ruining our way of life here? I think that's the bigger question, what can we do as a community and how we can come together," she said.
Vandalizing a city tree can carry fines and even imprisonment up to a year.
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