Trees - the Spreading Menace

[Amicus]

This is Views from the Top, and an appreciation for such views unites the many of us whose interests otherwise vary. I've enjoyed the mountain views of northern New England for decades, both from below, often in a car, and from on top. Every now and then, I notice that those views seem to be fewer and more limited.

Brent Scudder's excellent new New Hampshire Roadside Viewing Guide crystallizes my sense of a steady diminution in views. In an introductory essay, he describes the steady elimination of splendid views once seen from Rtes. 16, 93 and 95 in NH, due to unchecked growth of trees over recent decades. Scudder's new book includes his characteristically detailed view diagrams for over 100 roadside vistas in NH, or outside NH but including NH summits, but he concludes that:

Many of the views that follow in diagram form will vanish in whole or in part before fifty years have passed unless there is selected clear-cutting or tree topping of the forest. Such wood removal would represent but a tiny fraction of one percent of all the trees in the Granite State.

He notes the fine points of trees - oxygen, shelter and nurture for animals etc. - but suggests that treating them as sacrosanct sacred cows, declining in general to cut any of them in roadside areas, will result in NH losing one of its greatest assets - its vast panoramas of mountains, villages and lakes.

Let the cutting begin!

 

[Chip]

Agree.
There are way too many overgrown roadside trees. Many are 50 to 75 years old now and starting to rot. There's also vines and invasive plants.
Views are nice, but if towns and states don't start aggressive near-road clearing there will be increased accidents and power outages.
I'm not going to do the math, but if every tree within 30 feet of a road edge or power line was removed, well, I would not complain.

 

[peakbagger]

Funny you should bring that up. Along RT 115 in Jefferson there is scenic vista looking west. It used to be great for sunsets. There used to be farmland below the vista that was hayed. The area is now growing back into forest and the views in the foreground are gone. It still is a pleasant spot but the view definitely has degraded over the years.

 

[skiguy]

I would suggest an increase in "Speed Traps" within New Hampshire targeted at Out of Staters with the fines that are collected to be earmark for roadside pruning.http://www.vftt.org/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

[sierra]

I suggest would suggest an increase in "Speed Traps" within New Hampshire targeted at Out of Staters with the fines that are collected to be earmark for roadside pruning.http://www.vftt.org/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Maybe they let the tree's grow so they could have something to hide behind.