Iconic maple trees at Pittsburgh-area park to be removed
ELIZABETH, Pa. (KDKA) — The iconic maple trees that line the entrance of Round Hill Park in Elizabeth need to be removed.
The Allegheny County Parks Foundation said the trees contracted a deadly disease, known as verticillium wilt, from a fungus living in the soil.
"They're kind of at the age of a planted tree where they become susceptible to mother nature's diseases," said Carlos McClintock, owner of Greater Pitt Tree Service. "Then they become easing boring for insects that are around, so all these factors contributed to where they're in this declining condition."
McClintock agrees with the Allegheny County Parks Foundation, which said removing the infected trees will prevent injury to parkgoers and nearby sheep and cows.
"They have a lot of liability because when people are walking through here, you can see all these dead branches," McClintock said, "you don't want these families walking underneath this and it detaches and hit them."
These trees have long been an attraction to parkgoers who said they are going to miss the beauty.
"I love trees," one woman said on Friday. Trees are one of my favorite things. I like the shape of them and when they're in bloom."
If you have maple trees in your yard, McClintock said depending on the age, some treatments can help. He says if you see your leaves looking like they have been burned, that's a sign the tree is contracting something.
"That's when you could get us out there before it gets too rampant through the trees, and we could treat for that," he said. "So, there are applications we can do early on that can prevent the tree from having to be removed."
Parkgoers will be happy to know when the maples are removed, the foundation will be planting a variety of new disease-resistant trees.
