There are a few poor saplings among the large trees. Wouter sees it immediately: “Something is not going well here.” According to him, young ash trees have been replanted in places where old trees have died, but “those are the wrong ones,” according to Wouter.
He points to the row of new plantings. “They are too close together and these trees have already been pruned high. They will never grow into the wide trees they are supposed to replace. It’s like restoring a canal house with PVC frames.”