It happens in USA too...

"It happens in USA too..."

I have no doubt about that, but surely not at the same rate as it does here. Otherwise, you should be dropped one rank on the list of developed nations :P

What makes it worse is that many people here are actually glad that it happens because they have to "rake less leaves".

Well it looks like they also had a sense of humor.

Either that or they have made an art of butchering trees into pom pom shapes or some kind of cube shape. Sorry this happened to you as it looks like your street is in serious need of shade.
Why did they cut your tree? I don't see any powerlines there. That's why they do it here because of powerlines.

Europe would be better - more legal protection for trees, though even here it is far from perfect. At a guess, one of Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland would probably be best of all.

Resin

"Europe would be better - more legal protection for trees, though even here it is far from perfect. At a guess, one of Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland would probably be best of all."

Definitely not France, where most people actually think pruning is good for trees . . .

{{gwi:325487}}

It's difficult to find an entire birch over here, most of them are topped.

Olivier.

While the OP's tree and the accompanying pic do show some really horrendous pruning, please, let's not get caught in the trap of thinking therefore that all tree pruning is "bad". I do it every day in my job, at least during the winter, and I can assure you that the pruning we do IS beneficial to the trees. There are MANY factors to consider in understanding this activity, far beyond simple line-clearance.

+oM

I take it you don't work for Asplundh, Tom?

@quirkyquercus
"Either that or they have made an art of butchering trees into pom pom shapes or some kind of cube shape. Sorry this happened to you as it looks like your street is in serious need of shade."
It definitely is, especially with our searing 32+ deg C temperatures. In fact, there used to be many trees along my street but....

"Why did they cut your tree? I don't see any powerlines there. That's why they do it here because of powerlines."
....people here simply don't have any appreciation of nature besides planting for cosmetic reasons. Some have requested the council to cut down whole trees just so they can plant a decorative palm in its place. The butchering in my area has nothing to with power/phone lines, as everything's concealed underground.

@pineresin
"Europe would be better - more legal protection for trees, though even here it is far from perfect. At a guess, one of Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland would probably be best of all."
Who enforces this legal protection? I'm wondering if I could get something started here. Seen enough cases of topping and cubing to give me nightmares.

@wisconsitom
"I do it every day in my job, at least during the winter, and I can assure you that the pruning we do IS beneficial to the trees."
I think everyone here agrees that proper pruning is a necessary compromise between natural growth and the needs of urban societies. However, the important word here is "proper", and unfortunately, pruning in my country is rarely of that sort. Much of the labour here consists of foreign immigrants from third-world countries and ugly trees are the usual result of their chainsaw-happy work (no offence to third-world countries, but we simply don't expect to find trained arborists there).

I am part of the municipal forestry division in my town. But even when Asplundh does their line clearance work, they are required to meet certain standards. This is because we have a tree ordinance in this town. In order for a private contractor to do any work on boulevard trees, they need to get permission on a yearly basis. What I'm saying is that, with a tree ordinance in place, even line-clearance work is performed to a higher standard. One need only to go to a neighboring town, with a weaker or nonexistent tree ordinance, to see all the usual horrors.

+oM

Although the US may have the same practices, it is offset for the most part by the fact that we have TONS of land. So we have a lot of space for specimen trees etc. Even this generation of American probably have more greenery outside than 1 generation earlier just because people plant more trees and they are larger and places that were clear-cutted a century ago are now back for the most part.

Yeah, the work of the power companies here (in the rural areas that still have above ground lines) is truly awful. I honestly don't understand why the homeowners don't just cut down their butchered trees after a while. I couldn't stand to look at them if it were mine!

Courtesy of Lakeland Electric, this is the kind of stuff that gets done. According to their website, "Our professionally trained crews use "directional pruning" methods developed by the National Arborist Association and approved by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

These methods, shown in the illustrations below, protect the health of the tree while still providing the established minimum safety clearance":

{{gwi:325489}}

"just so they can plant a decorative palm in its place. "

OK this really gets me steamed. I think I would actually just go ahead and pack my bags and move now that you mention it. But don't move to Florida because they do the same thing there too. Clearing out trees and planting ugly palm trees.

Jqpublic wrote, "Although the US may have the same practices, it is offset for the most part by the fact that we have TONS of land. So we have a lot of space for specimen trees etc. Even this generation of American probably have more greenery outside than 1 generation earlier just because people plant more trees and they are larger and places that were clear-cutted a century ago are now back for the most part."

What underdeveloped part of this country do you live in?? I can assure you that there are far fewer trees in my neck of the woods than there was a generation ago. Everywhere I go, bulldozers are clearing more land. Even the hills/mountains, which were once somewhat protected because of topology, are now being cleared and leveled. I would be surprised if any general area in the US has more trees now.

Besides the mass clearing, poor tree trimming techniques are extremely common here. Homeowners and utility companies alike absolutely butcher trees. I see lots of trees dieing from extreme pruning techniques. Just a year ago the power company came through my area. They ruined the look of many of my trees just a month before deciding to relocate the line, but the worse example was in my neighbor's yard where they topped a huge mature pine and left a 25' tall mostly bare stump in his yard.

"Who enforces this legal protection? I'm wondering if I could get something started here"

In Britain (where things aren't too bad), it is done by local authorities. Do a google search for "tree preservation order". Sorry, don't know about legislation in Denmark, etc.

Resin

I really feel for you, the more so as you went to a LOT of effort to get the tree to look presentable in the past year or so. Now...., and your poor shade plants are going to suffer. Can you rig up a shade cloth-like canopy over them for the short-term? It will give you some shade as well if rigged properly.

Now you know why the tree looked like what it did when you began, so you can assume that it WILL recover - the only question is how long it will take. Some judicious training will help prevent the same problem you had to deal with previously, but that is little consolation!

Can you get up in there and thin the remaining leaves/small branches out a little? That would lessen the chances of a branch breaking.

There are a few communities in the US which do regulate tree trimming/cutting, but mostly it isn't regulated. I have seen ALL the illustrated power-line trimmings done to trees in this area, by one or another of the tree-trimming companies hired by the 3-5 different power companies that service this section of NC and SC. I think they all look ugly, but the power companies have a legal right of way surrounding the wires for 15' in all directions, whether or not they have a ROW along the ground, so the tree trimmers tend to be proactive in their aggression, since they usually come through a section of line only every 2-4 years - they've trimmed the one across my 11 acres twice in the 7.5 years I have been here. I am really afraid that they will mutilate a gorgeous old oak along my driveway the next time they come through - they already almost halved an old cedar, about 30' tall, but that is slowly growing back (as I thought/hoped it might), so I didn't have it felled, lopsided as it looked(s). I may have to have the oak felled if they do as much damage to it as I am afraid they will, as if it does come down from the uneven weight on the roots, it will possibly take out my barn.

I can see the point of the power co.'s, as the prospect of no power from a severe wind or ice storm is not pleasant - I think the trimming was much less aggressive up to about 10 years ago, and a couple of really bad storms, with long-time power-outages from limbs or trees falling on the lines created a backlash/public outcry - which I can see, just not like the results of, when it comes to mutilated trees, especially my trees. Large trees falling can still make blackouts, but less so.

The extent of the problem here prompted the formation of this membership organization.

Here is a link that might be useful: PlantAmnesty

Sometimes and someplaces there is an attitude that ... MANKIND must show its control of nature, that this is a condition of civilization, and that an unpruned plant/tree is uncivilized. That plants and animals are here to be used by humans, and that is their only value.

Formality associated with sophistication. Shearing in particular formalizes plants, topping can also make all the trees in a grouping more uniform and therefore closer to producing a formal effect, even if not planted in a regimented arrangement (street trees often are, in fact, distributed like fence posts).

Sure looks like they are trying to give the tree a new topiary shape. This time, they formed Mickey's ears. Perhaps you should prune the new growth from all those shoots to make Mickey's head!

Really too bad.

Depressing... The sheer ignorance of some people is appalling, especially when they should know better. Don't do something unless you know what you're doing - a simple rule to follow.

This crud happens all the time in the US - trees get mangled every which way because the pruners have no clue and won't take the time to learn what they are doing. In new developments, they "fix" this problem by having huge houses that are crowded too close together for any trees, or the only trees you see are tiny, short-lived, ugly things like Bradford Pears or freaky, purple-leaved Norway Maples. I think these people would have a heart-attack if placed in the woods surrounded by big, tall, healthy, and un-mangled shade trees.

Quite right. There are crimes committed against trees all the time. In Toronto there is a group who are known for cutting down or trimming trees until there is hardly anything left. They plant fruit trees but no ornamentals. Which is a great surprise because they are known as excellent horticulturalists. In my area in early spring and fall you can hear chain saws and there are trees fifty and sixty years old being cut. It used to be house builders would cut everything on the lot before they start construction. Not anymore. City of Toronto demands now all trees to be protected during construction and protect soil from compaction. There have even been demonstrations to prevent cutting of trees in some areas of Toronto. I still think not enough is being done to protect trees.

In my town, the phone number for the tree warden (yup, that's the title of the guy who takes care of our town trees) is in the phone book. I make sure I stay in contact with him, and, while I'm always polite, I know he knows that I care what happens to the street trees in front of my house. He's aware that he'd better not muck around with them if he doesn't want a battle on his hands. And, since they're awful trees to begin with (Norway maples, in decline) he's also been good about removing one when I've got something ready to replace it with.

I suspect that most people don't bother to make contact with town employees, but it's well worth the effort in the case of the tree department.