Tree experts from the US have completed inspections of trees listed on the Register of Old and Valuable Trees yesterday and they said most of the trees were healthy.

The inspections started on Aug 27 after the collapse of an old tree that killed a girl in August and were jointly carried out by local tree experts from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and experts from the US.

The experts completed examining all 470 trees on the register yesterday.

Consulting arborist from the US Kevin Eckert said their job was to assess the general health of the trees and to identify any signs of structural defects.

After their initial inspections they have rendered most of the trees on the register healthy, he said.

The overseas experts used different tools to examine possible decays in the trees.

For example, when diagnosing a big-leaved fig yesterday, they hit the tree with a special hammer and obtained an image of its core through sonar detection.

The image showed that the old tree suffered from 19 percent decay.

The experts also drilled a hole on the tree and measured the cavity of the tree.

"Like many old trees it has a few cavities but the defects are not serious," said Eckert.

In regard to the tree that collapsed and killed a girl in August, he said they did not conduct an extensive investigation into the tragedy but pointed out that while the inspection frequency varies from species to species, in general, trees are inspected once every two years.

He added that he was pleased with the LCSD's inspection frequencyand the techniques that they adopted.

The LCSD conducts tree inspection every six months and adopts many international standards, he said.

The overseas experts are going to give the LCSD an initial report on the trees in a few days.

Florence Tsui, chief leisure manager (special duties) of the LCSD, reassured that before removing any trees with defects, they would consider conserving them first.

For public safety, the LCSD has removed four trees listed on the register since Aug 27.

(HK Edition 10/09/2008 page1)