Gestion communale du patrimoine arboré non forestier : aperçu des moyens disponibles

Abstract

Urban tree management in walloon municipalities: overview of available means. A survey has been sent in 2006 to the 262 municipalities from Wallonia concerning their green areas management and particularly focused on local arboricultural heritage. The questionnaire was structured by 3 themes: (1) the managed heritage, (2) economical and technical means available for municipalities, (3) available management tools. Fifty-three answers have been gathered which represent 20.2%. This enquiry gives a first overview of the situation. It shows that 70% of answering municipalities have no specific green service. Tree management is a priority for only 11% of the municipal services that are involved in urban greening. Half of the municipalities are delegating at least a part of green area management to private societies. That concerns tree pruning, safety diagnosis, tree care and revitalisation. Only 15% of municipalities have a complete inventory of their trees. Ninety percent declare they have no planning tool and 95% have no legal text describing good management practices. An important information and formation work is then necessary to reinforce local tree managers to avoid that well known mistakes continue to be done (death of veteran trees after herbicide misuse, tree topping, root destruction during public works, etc.).

Keywords

• good practices heritage
• management
• pruning
• Urban greening