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Moving in or moving on, both are hard, for trees as well as human beings. Shiva Kumar Thekkepat draws parallels between tree relocation, a major project that is taking place in Al Ain, and expatriates relocating to the UAE, as happens every day.

"It's hard to feel at home in temporary housing," says Shazia Ali (name changed), whose husband has been transferred to Dubai from Abu Dhabi. She's staying in a hotel apartment till their new house is ready to move into. "But there's no place to call home right now. Our house in Abu Dhabi has been emptied out, the house we'll be living in here in Dubai will never be our 'house', and is still occupied by its present tenants. I feel displaced, disconnected, discomforted."

What does this have to do with a story on relocation of trees? Everything, if you ask Dr Raymond H. Hamden, clinical and forensic psychologist, Human Relations Institute, Dubai. "Like plants, we grow roots in our living environment. The length of time that we have lived in a place often determines the depth and stability of our roots. When the decision to move is made, we often feel our roots shrivelling beneath us. It takes an awful lot of energy to say goodbye, and each family member does need to say all of their goodbyes in order to achieve a feeling of closure, and a willingness to 'let go'.

When it comes to emotional matters, emotions do matter, says Dr Hamden.

"The first feeling may be euphoria everything about the culture and the overseas experience is new and wonderful. It is not as bad as we thought. New things to see, people to meet, things to do. The-big-fish-in-little-lake syndrome."

Relocation marks the end of life in one place and the beginning of a new life elsewhere. It is in fact, a sort of death, says Dr Hamden. Each family member needs time to adjust to the idea and mourn in their own way. Avoiding relocation trauma often depends on one's readiness to say goodbye and move on.

News of a move sends a shock wave through the family and our community of friends and co-workers, says Dr Hamden. "It is important not to minimise the effect of this news. Informing other people of your intentions to move can be somewhat traumatic for every member of the family. There are so many people to inform and each will have a unique reaction to the news. Some will be supportive and encouraging, others sad or angry, and still others will treat you like you just died! Absorbing all of these reactions can be disturbing and stressful." The more time that we have to adjust to the idea, the easier it is to adjust to the shock.

The same principles apply when moving trees, says Robert Crudup, president and COO, Valley Crest Tree Company, that's relocating the trees in the Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort. "Trees are like people; when people move to a new environment they are not used to, you have to spend a lot of time giving them ideas about the culture, education, health situation to be expected& all of these things make a transplant successful.

"That's exactly what we do with trees. We have to understand that we are taking them out of an environment, and we have to get them ready for that. We have to spend some time with them to understand what's going on inside them. Like people, if they are going to a new country. We don't just transport them over there; we make sure they have a safe place to live and all the things they need to survive, and we check up on them all the time; are they OK, did they make the transition, or are they struggling? Then you fix it. The same thing you do for a tree; you see them struggling, you've got to give them attention. They are living things like us; we can use the same type of metaphor for them."

There are so many things to be done before, during and after the move that some system of organisation must be adopted, says Dr Hamden. When a friend's family relocated to Canada recently, he found it useful to compile a large family notebook with three sections: the 'before' section contained all the information about discontinuing services and involvements; the 'during' section included nuts-and-bolts plans for the move itself; and the 'after' section was a list of things they would need to do in their new home upon arrival.

"If all members of a family contribute to making such a list, everyone's needs can be considered," says Dr Hamden. "It is therapeutic for everyone to make lists. Even those who are too young to write can dictate their lists so that their words can be respected too. When children are involved in the family's planning process, they are less likely to rebel or feel left out."

With trees, Crudup and his crew have to make all the decisions. But they have their list of dos and don'ts too. "One of the things we do is a little pre-irrigation before we 'box' the trees," says Crudup. "We go out there with the water trucks to irrigate them daily or a couple of times a week so that the trees we're going to move are hydrated. How long depends on how much time you have. If I had 90 days, I would do it for all of those days. But that's rare. Usually, in the US by the time we get a phone call asking us to remove the trees, the bulldozers are already on the job site waiting to mow the buildings down, so we have to work fast to stay ahead of the demolition, and the construction to save as many trees as we can.

"We move approximately seven to eight trees a day from out of the ground into the nursery. The only concern we may have is when we try to move those trees the same day or the same week we've dug them up and boxed them. Chances are you can lose more.

"During the transplant process, as the roots are cut, the trees start to drop their leaves, and eventually start to put out new leaves. This is a natural adaptation to the situation, especially in this environment. When they're water or heat-stressed, they drop their foliage which limits the amount of transpiration. They kind of close down, into survival mode, rather like people cutting spending during times of hardship.

"What we do is start giving it water again and then they decide it's time to wake up and put some nice new clothes on. We make sure there is enough water around the roots' cells so they don't go dry. One of the most critical elements of tree moving is water. There are only two reasons why trees die: too much water or too little water. You have to make sure it is never entirely devoid of water. Some of these trees don't require a lot of it, but they have to have enough. So, once they are out of the ground and if they don't get water within a day, they will go into distress immediately. That's where irrigation management comes in."

Relocating means saying hello to the unfamiliar. This can be terrifying even for those who are not shy, says Dr Hamden. Making new friends is difficult and always takes longer than one would think. It takes a long time to feel at home in a new place. "I feel it would be a good idea to withhold judgment on the new surroundings for at least one month, and to know that it will take at least six months to feel good about the move."

Like you need safety valves for people to adjust, so do trees. "You have to do things in tandem. You need a 75-tonne crane to lift a huge tree up on to the trucks& one group gets the trees ready to go, and another moves them to the temporary resting place here till the spot where it is to be replanted is ready," says Crudup. "When we replant them we don't have as much physical work; we excavate a hole roughly the size of the tree. In the bottom we place a drainage system, a perforated pipe, because a lot of times soil acts as a barrier to penetration. When you water it, it can turn into a bathtub. If we see any water accumulating, we put a hose down and sump the water out. We put the tree down into the hole, about half way up the box, cut the bands and lift the sides off. The bottom stays in the hole; the wood will rot. If we try to take the bottom off we risk the soil falling out and damaging the roots.

"Then what we have to do is make sure they get the right maintenance. One of the things that is really important is that they get proper aftercare and not a little water.

"These trees require extended care until they can grow on their own. Our crew will monitor them for the first year, with recommendations on nutrition and irrigation so that the tree has absolutely the best care. We have to maintain it as long as possible. So from every day, it goes to every week, then once a month, then maybe every 90 days, and then once a year. Then we just write our report, it's part of the ongoing horticultural care we give."

The physical aspects of relocating are often the easiest. It takes a great deal more emotional energy to make new friends, adjust to a new job and co-workers, the new neighbourhood, schools and resources. "Even more difficult, each community has its own values and customs which need to be learned before we can make the transition from outsider to neighbour," says Dr Hamden.

Simple things like getting used to a different shopping pattern and the sundry nitty-gritty, like grocery stores, launderies, post offices and other errands, require that we develop new habits and break the old. It is easy to compare our old familiar places with the new, and feel a bit homesick.

"You will feel at home in direct proportion to your willingness to become involved. By announcing your status as a newcomer to the school system, your religious community, and neighbourhood, you'll increase your chances of being welcomed into their fold," he says.

Speak up and be friendly, he advises. "Nearly every organisation has orientations, social events, and volunteer opportunities for newcomers. Volunteering is an excellent way to find your niche in the community and feel useful. Put yourself on their lists and allow others to help you learn about your new home. Most places are filled with helpful new friends for all ages. By connecting with others, you'll have the opportunity to build a new life and avail yourself of all that your new community has to offer."

Crudup offers much the same advice for trees. "A tree feels stress just like a human being. I am going out on a limb here, but there are people who believe that trees do have actual feelings and sensitivities. What we do know is that we can measure them electronically, and we can measure certain components: when a tree goes into distress, it changes the readings. We know these things happen; I don't need a scientific piece of equipment for me to know that a tree has stress while being moved.

"Insects are a sure sign of a tree in distress. They don't go after a healthy tree. The strange thing is when a tree is stressed, it can put out flowers and even fruits, probably because it thinks it's going to die. Much like a person who wants to go out with a bang. That's a response that's been recorded over thousands of years.

"Over the years, I've learnt the types of stresses to expect, the traditional responses that we'll give it, and to notice them very quickly. It's the same thing as people. I know when one of my crew is beginning to stress, so I go to him and say let's get this fixed."

Just as Dr Hamden advocates communication in a family that's relocating, Crudup advises talking to trees in distress. "I talk to them. I say, 'Come on, we can do this&' If you go to a tree, you can feel its dare I say thoughts. You can feel any change in it, positive or negative. I congratulate them on surviving, 'Good job'!"

While relocation has become commonplace, it is nonetheless an experience not to be underestimated. Like many other aspects of life, the process of relocating has many stages. "Our ability to handle each stage often determines our lasting satisfaction with the move," says Dr Hamden.

As moving means major change, you may encounter resistance by some family members, he says. Younger children may develop physical symptoms or regress to immature behaviour. Teenagers may threaten to revolt. Spouses may offer ultimatums.

"Families need to talk openly about their feelings... some battles may require a few family therapy sessions before they can be resolved. In short, it is valuable to assess the emotional readiness of all family members before you look for group enthusiasm."

But for Crudup, the question that bothers him is why some trees never take kindly to being replanted. "The usual reasons are: you probably under-water it, and it goes into stress, and you end up over-watering it, the cycle that eventually kills it. But it has to do more than that sometimes. What it is only the tree knows, and it will tell you if you are patient with it.

"The beautiful thing about this job is that when I drive down some streets back home, I can spot the trees I helped save and move some 30 years back which is giving kids a lot of fun now." But at what cost? "That would depend on the size of the tree, how much moving we have to, but on an average I would say around $7,000 for a tree," says Crudup.

"You have to realise how much it would cost to put a tree that size in your new landscaping," says Kirk W. Duthler, section head, branding and communication, Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort.

"These trees are quite valuable to us, because we don't have to source trees that are ethnic."

"There is value in a tree; it has real economic value, and more than that an intrinsic meaning to people," says Crudup. "When people come to this sort of an environment, and are surrounded by these trees, they feel different, they feel happy. There is an investment to be made for that, and I think we make a pretty good case for it."

Much the same as Dr Hamden has to say about people.