The Porto City Council ordered the urgent felling of 19 trees on Avenida dos Aliados, following an extraordinary assessment of the tree population carried out after a large tree fell during the final stage of the Volta a Portugal, which caused three minor injuries on 16 August. The mayor, Pedro Duarte, stated that the decision results from a technical assessment that identifies a risk to people's safety, and is not a decision of a landscaping nature.
The technical assessment identified problems in 19 specimens of the species Acer platanoides 'Deborah' and Acer platanoides 'Crimson King', namely dead wood, rot, cavities, crown imbalance and risk of breakage. According to the municipal services, these conditions seriously compromise the stability and viability of the trees, and pruning or removal of branches would not be sufficient to guarantee the safety of the specimens.
The remaining 37 trees of these varieties will be kept and regularly monitored, with gradual replacement planned within a maximum timeframe of two years, depending on the evolution of their phytosanitary condition. The renewal also includes the replanting of trees in the 15 tree pits currently empty, with the planting of Quercus coccinea, known as the scarlet oak, a species that the council considers more resistant and better adapted to urban conditions.
