Tree appraisal question - please help me!

lsullivan

A "neighbor" massacred our trees. We are on 1 acre outside NYC and came home one day to find over a dozen trees cut down on our property. We hired an arborist to complete a report for litigation purposes and I want to make sure that it is accurate because the numbers seem low to me and I don't understand how the bigger trees in the best condition are only a few hundred higher in value than the smaller trees of the same species in worse condition.

This is not my field of expertise and I would be grateful for your opinion please.

Here is an example:

38 year old Norway Maple in 10 condition with a 13 inch diameter was valued at $2800

47 year old Red Maple in 10 condition with a 10 inch diameter was valued at $2600

63 year old Common Locust in 10 condition with a 12.5 inch diameter was valued at $2400

14 year old Tree of Heaven in 10 condition with a 5 inch diameter was valued at $1200

I was then perplexed by the following values based on the ones above. They don't make sense to me.

27 year old Common Locust in 7 condition with a 7 inch diameter was valued at $2200

14 year old Common Locust in 3 condition with a 8 inch diameter was valued at $2400 (it says decay present)

Unknown age Common Locust in 1 condition with a 7.5 inch diameter was valued at $2200 (it says dead fall)

Unknown age Red Maple in condition 3 with a 6.5 inch diameter was valued at $2000

I just want to make sure that my trees are not under-valued when I go to court.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and respond. I am really appreciative. I just need the re-affirmation since I cannot afford to hire another arborist to to another report and compare them myself.

Eric Frei

OK,

You need to find out what valuation method he is using.

You need to find out what other valuation methods are available and if there has been any previous case precedents to refer to.

These things matter, if there is a precedent then you have won half the battle.

I assure you that if I was acting on the defence side I would be looking for the lowest value and argue that, I would also research any previous cases.

As you want to save money you need to do the research.

Often court records are search-able. Talk with the court clerks and try to find out which court may have cases, like Environmental court, Planning etc. Could also be that council has fined some-one and the victim used valuations as an argument to diminish the fine amount (often fines are higher than the value of the tree).

We do have a method here in Australia that's reasonable to use but not flawless (no method is flawless though).

Revised Burnley Method Tree Valuation Online Calculator

Monetary value| Tree Valuation Methods

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TreeSpecialist

Contact ASCA. American Society of Consulting Arborists.

Get a copy of the Guide for Plant Appraisal, 9th Edition.

It would be more helpful if you could download the report.

The round numbers look a little strange to me. I've been doing appraisals for 30 years and never come up with round numbers like these.

Trees are appraised by assessing their species, size, condition, location, and contribution to the landscape. A wide variety of factors goes into each assessment. The trees that were removed can be appraised either using formula methods (very subjective) or replacement numbers (easier for everyone to understand.)

Get a second opinion from a local consulting arborist - preferably an ASCA member.

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