In anticipation of the Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens, New York being decommissioned, an access route was needed for construction vehicles. The Consulting Group was tasked with identifying the haul road route with the least ecological impact by removing the fewest desirable trees.
The approach consisted of identifying tree populations on the proposed route, taking into account their condition and whether the species is considered invasive and/or non-native. We allowed the trees to tell us which way to go – following the path of smaller, less desirable or invasive trees and avoiding large native trees.
The initially proposed route options are shown in Figure 1 and the recommended route is shown in Figure 2. For more details about this project, tree preservation planning and other case studies, visit our web page: SavATree’s Consulting Group.
