Q. On the northwest corner of Granger and Olivia streets, my daughter noticed a tree that has a huge piece of sheet metal wrapped around it. We are curious about what it is. Maybe a giant Band-Aid for a past tree injury?
A. That is not the only sugar maple in the neighborhood with an aluminum band. In Ann Arbor over the last few years there have been severe instances of squirrels stripping the bark from branches. If a branch becomes girdled, it dies, and if enough branches die the tree may die.
The slippery aluminum prevents squirrels from climbing to the branches. This defense works only if the tree is more than a squirrel jump away from structures and the branches of other trees.
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