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- Arbortist: Tree damage shows need for routine maintenance The trees that seemed to take the brunt of the Aug. 7 storm through northern New Castle County were poplars and ashes, an arborist says. “They’re just more brittle,” said Tony Marsalo, arborist with Strobert Tree Service Inc. Their root systems aren’t as deep, but it wasn’t the roots that got them. “These trees were just snapped in half,” he said. “They have very little flex in them, so they just snap.” Another big problem was trees with a forked trunk. Many of those just split in half, he said. Marsalo has been working steadily in Hockessin and other areas helping to clean up storm damage. He has a specific recommendation for anyone who is out evaluating their own property or trying to clean it up themselves: Look up. “You have to look up because what’s down on the ground is not going to kill you,” he said. “What’s barely hanging on by a strand of wood above you will kill you.” He also recommends that people put on a helmet — any kind of helmet, even a son’s or daughter’s hockey helmet — when walking their property after a storm. “Put it on and be looking up, not down, to assess the damage,” he said. Even that’s not a perfect safety solution. His crews have had trees that did not appear to be damaged by this storm topple over as they work on a nearby tree. Marsalo, a certified arborist, hopes that one thing people take away from the experience of seeing so much damage is that they should maintain their trees just like they maintain the house by servicing their heating and air conditioning systems or having pest control come annually. “We have different things checked every year in our house and probably the most important thing is that 100,000-pound tree about 10 feet from your house,” he said. He has one client who lost 100 trees on their wooded lot. Some of that, he says, was because the trees were so close together that storm winds couldn’t blow through the trees. Instead, he said, they hit the dense canopy, which acts like a sail and catches the wind, shoving the trees over. “When there’s pockets and air is able to flow through, the tree is able to keep good structural integrity during a storm,” Marsalo said. About five families he’s working with had trees fall on or through their houses and now, just as school is starting, they are having to find other places to live while repairs are made. Tree survey Homeowners should consider having a certified arborist survey their property once a year and make recommendations about tree health and safety. Strobert will do that for free, he said. An arborist may recommend something simply like routine pruning or deep tree fertilization, he said. While a homeowner can easily fertilize grass and plantings, it’s not easy to fertilize a tree, because the nutrients have to be delivered deeply or surface plants will soak them up before they can reach the tree. Fertilizing a tree enhances regrowth and helps the roots be more vigorous, making the tree stronger and more able to withstand a storm, he said. Marsalo said he’s not advocating that people don’t have trees near their homes. He loves trees, he said. Mankind and the planet both get a lot of benefits from them such as saving energy and pumping oxygen into the environment. “But if you’re gonna plant any tree close enough to your house that could change your life forever during a storm, you better make sure you’re having it professionally maintained and on a plant healthcare program,” he said. DELAWARE EDUCATION: 17 schools show less than 10% proficiency on tests That’s particularly important as the weather seems to be changing, he said. Marsalo has lived his life in Philadelphia and Chester County. No matter the cause, he said, it’s clear that the Delaware region is having more damaging storms than it did 20 years ago and nearly every client mentions something about that to him. He even sees trouble in the kind of insects and tree diseases now seen in Delaware that once were only seen further south. One of the most obvious ones, he said, is a fungus attacking the blue spruce. It causes a condition known as needle drop, a nickname for Rhizosphaera Needle Cast. “If you drive around you’ll see every blue spruce has died,” he said. “They can’t survive this far south.” ... Read More
- State fends off 567 billion cyberattacks; adding broadband NOTE: This story corrects a statement to say that it costs $100,000 per mile to lay broadband cable and install equipment. A previous version incorrectly said it cost that much per house. Delaware state computers had to contend with 567 billion — “billion with a B” — cyberattacks in the last quarter of 2022, the director of the Department of Technology and Information said Tuesday. Most are caught and blocked by security software, but the staff had to investigate 4,000, said Jason Clarke, Delaware’s chief information officer. Some of the attacks briefly shut down school computers and other programs, he said. “It is a constant battle of blocking and tackling,” he said. Clarke was testifying before the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee. It has been holding hearings all month before deciding the state’s budget. It has to be passed by June 3o in order for the state’s fiscal year 2024 to start July 1. Among other things Clarke said: The department expects a budget of $158 million to fund the installation of broadband technology in the state’s internet deserts. DTI continues to lose employees to private companies and those employees are being paid an average of $50,000 more a year. “We are competing not just with Delaware and the banks like we have traditionally done here in Delaware, but we are competing with the whole nation,” he said. Schools returning to in-person classes meant that students brought back devices that had not been in school before, stretching the state’s service and forcing it to add capacity. “Schools 10 years ago were 10% of the traffic across the state’s network. Today, they are 90%,” Clarke said. “It’s literally the tail wagging the dog when it comes to managing the network.” Inflation is hitting the department hard as it renegotiates contracts for various services, with one contract rising $267%. The department is asking for a slight increase to the $59,087,100 recommended in Gov. John Carney’s proposed budget. Clarke asked for $60,040,800, mostly for more employees. He said the department request was small because it’s still managing $125 million in multiyear projects funded by federal COVID and American Rescue Plan money. Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, said he personally knew someone who had more than doubled their salary when they left the department. Clarke said he left three positions that doubled or more than doubled their salaries out of his calculations because they skewed the numbers badly. He pointed out that he does all the exit interviews and asks to see actual job offers to confirm the salaries. Broadband deserts Several lawmakers questioned Clarke about the state’s program to expand broadband access. He said the state is using a variety of resources to fund the multiyear project: $33 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money; at least $100 million in Federal Communication Commission grants expected this summer; $12 million in federal digital equity grants; and another $13 million in FCC development opportunity grants. Clarke said the state applied for additional grant money from the FCC but has not yet heard if it will get it. Contractors started laying cable and installing equipment in November, Clarke said, with a goal of connecting 5,850 houses within a year. So far, they’ve laid more than 100 miles of cable. That includes 1,414 Kent County addresses; 473 New Castle County ones; and 3,963 Sussex County addresses. It’s that last mile that’s the most expensive, he said. A department analysis of the location of the homes showed that most were within one and one-half miles of connectivity. “Which means we have a last mile issue to solve in our state,” he said. It costs about $100,000 per mile of cable, and one reason so many service providers were unwilling to pay that is because it’s impossible to recoup their expenses by charging $80 a month for service, Clarke said. So far about 1,253 homes have been connected. Companies providing the service tell the state that so far about 25% of the total connected have signed up for service. That’s not unusual, Clarke said, and it’s expected to rise to 40%. ... Read More
