Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 37(5): September 2011 successful and sustained effort to maintain the green environ- ment of the city wherever possible, and to bring greenery into the concrete jungle via extensive tree planting and landscaping. Among the popular tree species used were P. indicus, P. pterocar- pum, Samanea saman (rain tree); Cinnamomum iners (wild cin- namon, Indian cassia, kayu manis), L. speciosa, Ficus benjamina (ficus), Swietenia macrophylla (mahogany), Delonix regia (red flame), Mimusops elengi (bunga tanjung), and M. atropurpurea. The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) started a serious ur- ban tree planting program in 1973 with its famous “instant tree planting” concept, where large stem cuttings were used for planting. Some species of the trees has the capacity to root from stem, which created a green city almost overnight (Ayoub 1989). The city greening program of Kuala Lumpur was prop- erly instituted in the planning process when the 1973 Act 267 was revised in the Federal Territory (Planning) Act of 1982 (Act 267), which stipulated the rules and regulations for plant- ing, cutting, and conservation of urban trees. Apart from the tree planting program, an emphasis on urban tree planting has also been stated in the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan (Kuala Lumpur City Hall 1984). This includes planting of shade trees, establishment of theme gardens, beautification and ornamental plantings, slope planting, roadside planting and beautification, and ground cover. In 1995, the Landscaping the Nation program was initiated, paying particular attention to tree planting along roads and rivers, together with the establishment of nurseries by state and local governments to ensure ample plant supply. In March 1997, the Prime Minister launched a nationwide tree planting campaign with the aim of making Malaysia a “Garden Nation” by 2005. With this campaign the City Hall of Kuala Lumpur was given a mandate to plant 220,000 trees by the year 2000 (Nordin 1997). To date, more than 400,000 trees and six million shrubs have been planted. In addition, the ex- pansion of highways and city link roads in Malaysia also invite more roadside tree plantings. Trees are grown as screens, to pro- vide motorists with pleasant scenery by selectively blocking off unsightly features. Conversely, the trees may be grown for the benefit of people living next to motorways to screen traffic dust and noise and to provide a view of trees rather than of traffic (Salleh et al. 1990). This program has been carried out with the support of the private sector, city dwellers, and other government agencies. However, achieving the quantitative target is only one aspect of the campaign. Trees planted should not be neglected or left unattended, but should be nurtured and maintained to reach maturity and to avoid potential hazards and nuisances such as obstructing motorist’s vision and damaging public properties. Generally, Kuala Lumpur has achieved its objective in green- ing and beautifying the city. However, if one closely examines the aspects of planting from the urban forestry or arboricultural point of view, an entire range of problems emerge. These prob- lems lead to poor performance in newly established as well as matured and old trees. To facilitate effective tree maintenance and management, information about the urban forest structure of Kuala Lumpur is vital. Detailed survey of a representative sample of urban trees can provide information on tree manage- ment, particularly in finding cause to the chronic problems of poor performance and low survival rate (Sanders 1981; Gilbert- son and Bradshaw 1985). After nearly four decades of growing trees in Kuala Lumpur, it is especially important and timely to examine the status and management aspects of the street trees. 227 Consequently, this study focuses on street trees along five ma- jor roads in Kuala Lumpur with the aim of establishing infor- mation about the composition of street trees in Kuala Lumpur, to determine the diversity index and to assess the hazard status of the street trees in Kuala Lumpur. These roads were consid- ered busy and prominent by DBKL. Apart from that, it was a request from DBKL to establish information on the trees at these streets primarily before moving to other streets in future. MATERIALS AND METHODS Description of the Study Site Kuala Lumpur is located about 3°08’N and 101°44’E. The city of Kuala Lumpur, which is equal in size to the federal terri- tory officially called Wilayah Persekutuan, covers an area of 243 km2 . Based on sources from Department of Statistics and assumptions derived from the existing number of housing units in Kuala Lumpur, it is estimated that the population for Kuala Lumpur in 2000 was 1.42 million people. Basically, Kuala Lumpur and the merging Klang Valley conurbation are located in a bowl-like topography with an opening into the Straits of Melaka and to the south towards Seremban. The rest is sur- rounded by relatively hilly topography reaching the foothills of the Main Range to the east. Kuala Lumpur is warm all year with temperatures ranges from 21°C to 35°C. It rains year-round, but it’s heaviest and most frequent during the Northeast Monsoon, which runs November to February. The total annual rainfall is high, averaging 2,370 mm. The region is well served by road net- works whose efficiency is hampered only by traffic congestion. Street Tree Survey A 100% tree survey was conducted from April to October 2007. This survey was conducted on five major roads in Kuala Lum- pur; namely Jalan Ampang, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Cheras, Jalan Raja Laut, and Jalan Kuching. These roads were chosen based on the request from DBKL. For the purpose of the sur- vey, street trees are described as trees situated on the pave- ment or road verges between the curbs and the property lines. A comprehensive range of qualitative as well as quantitative information was collected in the field. A form was used to record data such as types of species, tree structure, tree health and hazard status. A record form (Appendix) was designed, pilot tested, and finalized. The inventory was carried out by the authors in an attempt to collect data on tree structure in terms of height, trunk diameter at breast height (DBH), crown spread, and their association with species composition, hazard status, and tree health and vigor. For identification purposes, each of these trees was tagged accord- ing to their street. Tree species were identified at the site. Where species identification was uncertain, leaf samples were collected and then taken to Forest Research Institute Malaysia Herbarium for keying. Tree height was obtained by using Hypsometer, while DBH and crown diameter were measured using diameter tape. Diameter at breast height was measured 1.4 m above ground level. Since there is no complete record giving planting dates, tree status was classified into newly planted if the tree was still present with stakes and ties attached. When the tree passed this newly planted phase and no longer needed support it was noted as young. Trees were noted mature if they had reached a ©2011 International Society of Arboriculture
September 2011
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