Hurricane Juan caused some long-term damage to Halifax trees

Some of the mature trees in Halifax that look like a strongwind could blow them over might actually be suffering long-term effects ofHurricane Juan.

The Category 2 hurricane flattened thousands of trees in September 2003 withwinds of more than 145 km/h.

But even the ones that survived couldhave hidden damage.

"We can see damage 15 years after a major wind storm," saidKevin Osmond, supervisor of urban forestry with the City of Halifax.

"That'll be root damageand twisting and turning inside the tree that may be causing cracking."

Halifax has a high percentage of Norway Maples whichare susceptible to root issues and cracking. That's one of the reasons they are nolonger on the city's replanting list.

A dead or dying tree may not get taken down right away, even if someone complains. Osmond says acrew will come byand check it out.

"We're trying to preserve our trees in HRM," he said."We'll assessthe tree and if it's just a couple of limbs that have to be removed we'll do that."

Halifax loses about 300 trees a year.But since 2012 ithas replanted 4,000street trees.

Most of the city's pruning operations take place in the fall and winterwhen the trees are dormant.

Although problems for mature trees can't be blamed on last year'sbitter winter, snow removal and summer landscaping could kill youngertrees.

"We had issues with young trees dying in the spring due to sidewalkplow damage, lots of snow and ice piled around everything and we'retrying to clamp down on whippersnip damage," said Osmond.