Widowmakers in Peterswood Park

Apparently, Peters Township doesn’t have enough money budgeted to remove hazardous ‘widowmaker’ trees from their Bebout Road community park in Venetia, Pa since some of these dead trees have been standing for a few years, despite citizens’ repeated safety concerns to Peters Township Council.

The problem with delaying their removal that long, is that upper branches become much more brittle, making it even more of a hazard for tree removal crews. We definitely hope to avoid another tragic incident like the one in an Upper St Clair Park in Summer 2021:

Woman killed, husband injured by falling tree branch in Upper St. Clair park
“The couple was on the Morton Ravine Trail when they were hit by a falling tree branch, officials said. Leo died from her injuries at a hospital hours later. The man was seriously injured.”

More recently, on May 3, 2020 was this headline:

1 dead after tree falls onto car in Upper St. Clair during storm
“A Bethel Park man died Tuesday when strong winds toppled a tree onto the man’s vehicle in Upper St. Clair.”

Some of the trees could be ‘dropped’ in place and left to decay, while others would need to be cleaned-up from lawn, picnic or parking areas. In any case, the most important thing is getting them down on the ground, so they can’t cause severe injury, or even death, to unsuspecting park visitors.

Photos were taken in early March 2022.
Videos were recorded on May 14, 2022.

Bob