Mapo-gu Offers 'Half-Price' Private Roadside Tree Maintenance Service

Pruning of Large Trees Privately Owned Adjacent to Road Boundaries with Road Widths of 20m or More and Maintenance of Hazardous Trees

Applications Accepted from the 13th, Only 50% of Work Costs Paid, Professional Companies Will Carry Out Maintenance Work

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo District, is having a conversation with employees about tree maintenance along the roadside near Sangam-dong last October.

Mapo-gu has a total of 25 roads with widths of 20m or more, with a total length of 56km. These roads not only have heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic but also have communication and electric lines along the boundaries, making the maintenance of large trees essential to prevent safety accidents caused by typhoons or heavy rain and wind. However, it is difficult for individuals to manage privately owned roadside trees on their own.

Accordingly, Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) is promoting the ‘Roadside Tree Management Support Project’ starting this month, which supports pruning of large privately owned trees adjacent to road boundaries with widths of 20m or more and maintenance of hazardous trees.

The eligible trees for support are large trees adjacent to roads with widths of 20m or more (trees fully grown to heights of 4m or more). If the tree management responsible person pays only 50% of the work cost, a professional tree maintenance company will perform pruning or hazardous tree maintenance on their behalf.

Tree management responsible persons who wish to apply can download the application form from the Mapo-gu website and submit the completed form to the Parks and Greenery Division by November of this year. The department will review the applications based on selection criteria and notify the tree owners of the results.

Selection priority is given in the following order: ▲ locations posing safety hazards ▲ trees obstructing traffic signs or traffic lights ▲ areas with many shops and heavy pedestrian traffic ▲ roads with larger widths.

This project is based on the Seoul Metropolitan City Mapo-gu Ordinance on Green Space Conservation and Greening Support, which includes provisions restricting severe pruning of privately owned trees.

This ordinance was first enacted nationwide by Mapo-gu in 2017 in response to numerous cases where severely pruned trees harmed urban aesthetics and impaired the public function of open spaces prepared for residents, citing management convenience as a reason.

Furthermore, to assist private owners in smooth tree management, the district has promoted the ‘Roadside Tree Management Support Project,’ supporting maintenance of about 100 trees along nine routes including World Cup Buk-ro last year.

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, stated, “We will spare no policy support to manage trees that are important not only for urban aesthetics but also for reducing fine dust and mitigating urban heat island effects beautifully and safely,” and added, “We hope for active participation and cooperation from tree managers in Mapo-gu’s ‘Roadside Tree Management Support Project.’”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.