For many people used to the plush, green vegetation of New Providence, it could be depressing to drive around and witness the assault Hurricane Frances unleashed on trees across the island.
Many of them are now dry and brown, with branches hanging limply, if not lying on the side of the road.
Many of the trees blighted by the strong winds of the hurricane were actually purchased by the former government after a past hurricane.
Prime Minister Perry Christie noted recently that the Free National Movement Government and the former Progressive Liberal Party Government spent millions of dollars importing palm trees.
He spoke of his governmentﾴs intenTion to save the trees from total destruction.
ﾓIf they are not attended to in a very short period of time we would have caused by our own failure to address this issue to allow millions of dollars of trees to disappear,ﾒ he said. ﾠ
One agriculturist explained to the Bahama Journal that because the rainy season has not yet ended, the trees should be ﾓbrought back to lifeﾒ in a matter of weeks.
But local officials are helping to speed the process.
Dole Burrows, a supervisor at the Department of Roads and Parks, said efforts have started to save the trees, particularly the palm trees.
He said many of them need to be replanted in areas such as West By Street, Harrold Road, Blake Road and Independence Highway.
ﾓWe are propping trees up with braces and the ones that were toppled we are trying to replant them,ﾒ Mr. Burrows said. ﾓMost of the time when the trees are toppled only half of the root is destroyed and they lean on the side, so we are attempting to upright those trees.ﾒ
He said workmen from his department are attempting to ensure that the trees do not get the axe from any other government workers involved in hurricane cleanup efforts.
ﾓWorkmen from the Ministry of Works who clean the roads tend to go off the road and just cut down trees and think nothing of it,ﾒ Mr. Burrows said. ﾓWe are trying to save as many trees as we can.ﾒ
Kingsley Ferguson, a foreman at the Department of Environmental Health, told the Bahama Journal that some trees have to be uprooted and replanted. ﾠ
ﾓWe are going to lift some of them out of the actual holes that they are in and dig them a little deeper and then prop them up with braces,ﾒ Mr. Ferguson said.
Mr. Burrows, meanwhile, admitted that replanting the trees is a lot of work ﾠ
ﾓNot only are the trees costly, but we need to take care of them,ﾒ he said. ﾓPeople look at them and say they are just trees, but those trees cost money to be brought here and planted.ﾒ
He said one palm tree costs $300 to be imported, but caring for the tree costs much more.
Yvette Rolle-Major, The Bahama Journal
