TREE PRESCRIPTIONS

Onebark can prepare any kind of tree prescription plan, whether it is for the City of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Alpharetta, or Decatur.  If you would like to find out more about tree prescriptions or would like to have us prepare one for your project, we will first need to review your construction design documents.  Contact us using the button below:

What is a Tree Prescription?

A tree prescription is a documented plan that described how a tree will be treated in response to impact.  Most of the time, the impact is from construction or land disturbance activities.  The tree prescription will have any one, or a combination of, the following:

• Instructions on how to minimize the impact to the tree, when the impacts are very close to the trunk, branches, and roots
• A specification of treatments that will improve the tree’s recovery from the impact, and the timing of such treatments
• Followup procedures for long-term care

What is the definition of Impact?

Impact is simply an event that affects the condition of a tree.  This could come from environmental or human-related activities.  Storms, soil excavation, soil grading, limb pruning, and insect attacks are all examples of impact. Construction-related impacts are the most common form we encounter.

Construction and land disturbance are mostly thought of as impacts that only affect the root system of a tree. However there are many other ways that land disturbance causes stress to trees.  A change to the site’s hydrology, or water availability, can be detrimental.  Too little or too much moisture in the soil causes immediate stress.  The clearing of surrounding vegetation and tree canopy will also have an impact on soil temperatures, soil organisms, and neighboring root relationships. 

City of Atlanta

Atlanta has thresholds of impact that trigger the need for a tree prescription.  A generalized model of the tree’s root system, called the Critical Root Zone, is used by the city to calculate these thresholds. There are multiple site factors in determining the expanse of the Critical Root Zone, as site features such as walls, foundations, and other impervious concrete may affect how the Critical Root Zone is calculated. Once the expanse of the root system is determined, Atlanta requires that trees having between 20% and 33% impact to the Critical Root Zone integrate a tree prescription into the building permit process. The city will require:

• Arboricultural Prescription Form - this is a standardized form published by the Office of Buildings - Arborist Division. Onebark will provide this completed form as part of our work product.  An assessment of risk and feasibility is part is included.
• Arboricultural Prescription Budget - usually required, we prepare a treatment protocol and timeline to help minimize the effects of construction impact. Onebark executes the treatments for the project. However, if you are already working with a treatment provider, we can write the specifications necessary to obtain a budget from your provider. 
• A receipt showing the Prescription Budget has been prepaid in full.

City of Brookhaven 

Brookhaven also requires prescription budgets as part of land development. These are submitted during plan review and must be prepaid in full, prior issuance of the building permit.  Brookhaven requires trees having 20% or more impact to the Critical Root Zone integrate a tree prescription into the building permit process. However, in situations where trees are especially vulnerable to construction pressure, a prescription may be required even if the impact is less than 20%.

City of Decatur

Decatur requires tree prescriptions in cases of significant tree impact. Like Brookhaven and Atlanta, a prepaid receipt for the treatment budget is often required. The City of Decatur also requires a survey and arborist’s inventory of all other significant trees, their condition rating, and canopy size. 

City of Alpharetta

Alpharetta requires a Tree Care Plan as part of land development and construction, instead of a Tree Prescription.  A tree prescription is generally thought of as the treatments performed on existing trees, and is part of the larger and more comprehensive Tree Care Plan.  The Tree Care Plan takes into account many factors that exist on site, such as the condition of existing trees, species tolerances, impact severity, changes to hydrology and topography, building architecture, and an analysis of the proposed landscape plan.  Monitoring, treatments (prescriptions), consultations, and site analysis are all components of Alpharetta’s Tree Care Plans.

An overview of Alpharetta’s tree prescription plan requirement can be found here.

Onebark prepares the Tree Care Plan as a group of specifications that can be integrated into both construction documents or the land development plan set.

City of Smyrna

Smyrna requires a Tree Care Plan as part of land development and construction, instead of a Tree Prescription.  A tree prescription is generally thought of as the treatments performed on existing trees, and is part of the larger and more comprehensive Tree Care Plan.  The Tree Care Plan takes into account many factors that exist on site, such as the condition of existing trees, species tolerances, impact severity, changes to hydrology and topography, and root loss.  

Onebark prepares the Tree Care Plan as a group of specifications that can be integrated into both construction documents or the land development plan set.