Volunteers With Tulsa Nonprofit Inspect Damaged Trees From June Storms

Tulsa nonprofit Up With Trees helped homeowners clean up after last month's devastating storm. Volunteers went around the city to inspect damaged trees and see if they could be saved.

Tim Lovell and his wife have lived in their house for 33 years.

"We want them to tell us is this safe, because if you look right there, you will see our house," he said.

Lovell says based on what he knows about the lifespan of the trees, it's time they take a closer look.

"Is it time to start evaluating whether or not we need to do something about them? At least we need to be more careful about them and evaluate them year to year," he said.

Lovell called Up With Trees to see if they could help him better understand the extent of the damage. Volunteers visited his home and saw bark skirting on one of the trees, and an entire hole completely through another.

Up With Trees volunteer and retired horticulture professor John Kahre saw one tree rotted from the inside out. He said, "the owner couldn't have possibly known this tree was hollow. The damage that caused this hollow happened years ago."

He says that much of the damage from the windstorm could have started years ago, and this summer's tree damage could show up years later. "You can fix your trees but if there's been a lot of damage to the top, very likely those roots are going to be starved, and as a result the damage may show up two or three years later," he said.

Kahre says homeowners should have an arborist evaluate the trees, and also make sure tree cutters are making clean cuts on branches.

"If you can professionally manage that damage, the likelihood of the tree succeeding is going to be a lot greater," Kahre said.

Up With Trees is not taking house calls, but you can send them your pictures of your damaged trees for them to inspect.