When Tropical Storm Pabuk battered Nakhon Si Thammarat in early January, it not only flattened homes and buildings, but also left large and precious trees on the verge of collapse.
Many that were barely left standing are rare, around 700 years old and are in danger of being felled by residents who fear they might topple over at any time.
However, most of the trees deserve the chance to live and can without endangering public safety if the right know-how is applied to save them, according to a team of arborists and experts.
The team consists of Dr Bunchar Pongpanich, administrator of the "Talk with Mor Bunchar" Facebook page, the Thai Arboriculture Association, the Big Tree Project group, Ideal Care Garden group, Good Attitude Consulting Co, Home and Garden website, Thanbok Khoranee National Park, Ruk Kha Korn Social Enterprise Co as well as Kiatnakin Bank Plc and various volunteers.
They recently visited the province to assess damage caused by Pabuk and mapped out plans under their "tree maintenance" project.
The project got under way with a Jan 20-23 assessment with a focus on devastated areas that included Wat Chaeng Worawihan and Wat Suan Luang in Muang district. The team descended on the province again from Feb 4-10 to jointly draw up plans to protect large trees in the event of further natural disasters.
In early January, Pabuk left a trail of destruction and displaced many residents in the province.
After the storm passed, Dr Bunchar, from Nakhon Si Thammarat, surveyed his farm and found that the storm had knocked down around 10 coconut and some yang na trees. A nearby resort and a house also sustained extensive damage.
During the trimming, specialists are tied to safety equipment to move to different heights on the trees.
At Wat Chaeng, large trees fell on adjacent houses causing about 200,000 baht in damage, according to Dr Bunchar.
He said some Muang municipality residents have urged local authorities to pull down large trees, some more than 700 years old, which were in a precarious state and looked dangerously close to toppling over.
According to Dr Bunchar, large areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat sit on a coastal sandbar where yang na, takien as well as mango trees grow in abundance. As urban communities expand, large trees have been bulldozed to make way for housing and commercial projects.
"If we do not act now and protect these large trees, they will disappear," said Dr Bunchar, adding if no conservation efforts are made, these large-sized trees may only be found at temples and schools in the near future.
He said some residents have complained about sweeping up leaves from these trees, which are also prone to being uprooted in heavy storms, threatening public safety.
"But I don't think this is enough justification to cut them down," Dr Bunchar said.
As complaints about the trees mounted, Dr Bunchar took the issue up for discussion on his Facebook page, which grabbed the attention of environmental volunteers, the Big Tree Project group.
The group explained that in the aftermath of a natural disaster, some large trees, although high in economic and sentimental value, may not be worth saving if they pose too much risk to people's safety.
However, others can and should be protected.
At Wat Suan Luang, a historical site dating back 700 years to the Sukhothai era, 40 old tree had toppled over in the storm although about 100 others remained largely intact.
"These trees are hundreds of years old. Some are still strong and some not so strong. Road construction was taking place close by [which affected their stability] and the trees were not properly cared for," Dr Bunchar said.
Local organisations and agencies need specialised skills to look after trees and this knowledge must be built from scratch.
Dr Bunchar Pongpanich spends time researching tree preservation.
In the near future, training in this field will be organised for local municipalities and Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya's Nakhon Si Thammarat campus as well as private organisations.
"We must figure out how to preserve and reinforce the strength of these trees to make them safe for locals," said Dr Bunchar, adding some require occasional pruning to make them more resistant to strong winds so that when storm strike, the trees take less impact and are less likely to fall.
Wat Suan Luang abbot, Phra Athikarn Sakchai Karuno, said the temple is home to what many experts regard as "living treasures" -- takien thong, bunnak, tasua and juang hom trees which are hard to find these days. He said the temple needs all the help it can get to keep them alive.
The abbot added that he finds it distressing when temple vendors approach him and ask him to cut some of these old trees down.
The vendors say the trees take up too much space.
Phra Athikarn Sakchai says he rejects these requests.
The senior monk also recalled how a state agency next door sought temple permission to "trim" a tree on temple property whose branch jutted into its compound.
The temple gave the green light, but soon regretted it after the agency basically cut the tree in half from top to toe.
At Wat Chaeng Worawihan, Tropical Storm Pabuk had blown two large branches off a century-old takien, leaving the tree lop-sided.
La-eiad Panpat, general manager of Rukkakorn Social Enterprise, said the challenge was to retain its balance by trimming remaining twigs and leaves to redistribute the weight and prevent it toppling over.
Trimming, at the same time, must be kept to a minimum because trees need enough leaves to produce food, she said.
Torn branches and trunks caused by the storm also had to be mended quickly to prevent the "wounds" turning into dead wood or exposing the tree to insects and diseases, which could harm the tree as a whole.
Surasak Choothong, a lecturer at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, who joined the team, noted some large trees toppled during storms on account of weak roots and a lack of proper pruning.
He noted trees along a road between Suan Pak junction and Tham Phannara were in a sorry state and had been covered in parasitic plants, which were sucking the nutrients out of them, killing them slowly.
He said selecting plants unsuited to grow in certain soil or geographical conditions is also a problem. Also, other acts of carelessness such as pinning placards to roadside trees or keeping rope tied to tree trunks over a long period of time can lead to stunted growth and weaken trees.
In many places, concrete is poured around trees for footpaths. This can kill trees within five years as the roots cannot get water which would usually seeping down from the top soil, Mr Surasak said.
He said people should avoid building too close to trees as the structures could constrict the expansion of the underground root network.
Some trees which have roots protruding from the soil require mulch in order to strengthen them, he noted.
"We need to realise that trees provide substantial benefits to us humans, not just giving us shade. They keep the ecosystem functioning," said Mr Surasak. "Each tree is capable of absorbing a large amount of carbon dioxide."
Giving examples of trees to plant in public areas, he suggested tamarind and khilek trees. With the tamarind, the leaves are ideal for making organic fertiliser while the fruit is a popular treat. The khilek, on the other hand, produce flower buds that are eaten, raw or parboiled, with the sweet nam pla wan (sweet fish sauce) dip.
These trees can survive for over a century if they are tended to well and provided they grow strong roots and branches, Mr Surasak said.
Meanwhile, Ms La-eiad expressed concern about a 100-year-old takien tree in Wat Chaeng Worawihan, whose large branches were damaged by the storm.
She said pruning is needed to fine-tune the tree's balance, while arboriculturists must look at the new structure of the tree to make sure its new branches form a beautiful crown shape.
