Condo Media - September 2023 - 26

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT
Seacoast Tree Care
Improving Community Properties - One Tree at a Time
[By Pamela Schweppe]
" In my opinion, trees never get the respect they
deserve. " So says Marc Bolcome, a certifi ed arborist
with Seacoast Tree Care. " People are usually reactive as
opposed to proactive in the management of their trees,
but I think it's crucial that a board come together to prioritize
their tree-care needs and implement a plan. "
As the company name suggests, Seacoast Tree Care is
a leader in the care, management, and preservation of
trees, using state-of-the-art arboriculture techniques.
Based in North Hampton, New Hampshire, it serves
clients in southern New Hampshire, southern Maine,
and Essex County and the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts.
According to Bolcome, for an attractive
landscape with healthy trees, it's important to develop
a long-range plan for tree care.
STEP ONE: ASSESSING THE NEEDS
AND THE HEALTH OF TREES
The process starts when one of Seacoast Tree Care's
certifi ed arborists meets with a client to identify the
issues the property might be facing. To Bolcome, there
are three areas in particular that an association board
needs to keep in mind when making a plan to preserve
their woodlands and landscape trees.
First is identifying trees that are dead or dying and
thus potentially hazardous. The second is encroachment
- that is, trees that are growing into roadways, parking
areas, light posts, and even the buildings themselves.
" That's a big one, " he says. " You have to get the roofs
cleared so the buildings can breathe. "
The third, but equally important, objective in the
initial assessment involves the true preservation of
the trees - that is, identifying those that can be saved
but are in need of some structural pruning and/or
installation of supports throughout the canopies to
make them safer, and also identifying those that need
plant healthcare prescriptions. Seacoast Tree Care has
a dedicated team of tree healthcare experts, skilled
at detecting fertilization issues in the soil and also at
treating insect-borne diseases.
STEP TWO: MAKING A PLAN
Once those three objectives have been identifi ed, it is
essential to put together a long-term plan, according
to Bolcome. Having tree-care priorities listed and categorized
helps a condo board to set a budget to address
them. He notes that associations rarely tackle the entire
list at once. Usually, it is part of a three- to fi ve-year plan.
Having a plan and implementing it not only helps to
preserve a property's landscape canopy, it also helps in
the event of an emergency by showing that the board has
been doing its due diligence with regard to trees.
After all, when it comes to making a plan to take care
of the canopy, it's important to know what to expect -
and also to prepare for the unexpected. Toward this end,
Bolcome recommends that associations have a separate
fund for an emergency. " That way, if a tree were to fall or
something were to happen, it doesn't take away from the
master plan of preservation and taking care of all of the
trees, " says Bolcome. " Typically, most of these emergencies
happen during storms, and they happen when trees
are under a load of pressure from snow or ice. If something
needs immediate attention and you don't plan for
that, then you're not going to have any funds available to
implement a master plan. "
One property that has done Herculean work with
regard to its trees is River Run in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Before it was acquired by Cobblestone Assets, the
55-plus community was known as Sherwood Forest, so
you may be sure there were plenty of trees. According
to Community Manager Michelle Hamilton, great care
was taken to preserve healthy trees as the company
developed the property further.
" Seacoast started this long siege of going through and
evaluating all of our trees, which was not a small feat.
It took them weeks, " she says. Trees that weren't healthy
or that posed a danger were preemptively taken down.
Now, River Run is on a maintenance program, where
trees are regularly reevaluated, pruned, and trimmed.
And if there's an issue, Seacoast responds promptly.
" Knowing that we have an ongoing maintenance pro26
Advertisement
Condo Media - September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - September 2023
