When the trees fall on your head

There are somewhat frustrated snowshoers on the South Shore. The City of Longueuil has closed the snowshoe trails in Parc Michel-Chartrand and Parc de la Cité because it is dangerous to walk in certain wooded areas at the present time: the emerald ash borer has caused the death of many trees and these can unexpectedly fall on people’s heads.

Mary Tison
The Press

The City of Longueuil has begun the felling work, but it should continue for several more months, until the fall of 2024 for certain sectors.

Some hikers do not respect these closures and go for a walk in the woods anyway. However, falling trees do happen, it is a very real danger.

“It’s very serious, accidents happen,” comments Réal Martel, founder and very involved volunteer of the Sentier national du Québec. It doesn’t happen often though because it’s something that trail maintenance people look out for. »

Statistics on this are hard to come by in Canada, but in the United States, wind-shattered trees killed 407 people between 1995 and 2007, 155 of them outdoors (the rest were in cars or inside a house).

Beware of the wind

The wind is the big danger. It is he who risks bringing down weakened trees or branches.

Bursts can be particularly treacherous because they can start and stop abruptly. “It’s often when the gust breaks that a fragile branch will break because the return will be more abrupt”, specifies Réal Martel.

Obviously, not all the trees and all the branches are likely to fall on our heads. “It depends on the size of the tree,” says Martin Simard, professor in the geography department at Laval University and member of the Center for Forest Studies. “The bigger it is, the more likely it is to fall. It depends on its exposure to the wind, but also on its state of decomposition. The older he is, the more cavities he has [des champignons qui peuvent dégrader le bois], the more likely it is to fall. »

There are many of these large, weakened trees in old growth forests, but also in forests that have experienced disturbances, such as insect infestations or fires.

“What we want to do is limit our exposure, a bit like in the mountains, we try to limit our exposure to avalanches, comments Mr. Simard. When there are strong winds, you have to ask yourself the question: should I go hiking? »

Problematic maintenance

People doing trail maintenance can cut down problem trees when they are on the edge of the trails, or change the course of the trail altogether. “If we notice that there is a broken branch at the top of a tree, 20 m above the ground, we are not going to climb because we do not have the knowledge and the equipment to that, says Réal Martel. We prefer to divert the path. There is also no question of going to cut dead trees away from the trails because they are precious for the fauna, for the life of the forest.

There is another peril that awaits carefree hikers: you should never lean on a tree. “We don’t necessarily look up to see if he’s dead,” says Martin Simard. Sometimes it has bark, you can’t see that it’s dead. The little push we’re going to give can cause the tree to fall. Shaking him to see if he’s dead is even worse. “There is nothing more dangerous,” he says. It is the head of the shaft which is the most fragile point. A branch can break loose and descend at a good speed. »

In short, the hiker has to pay attention to his environment.