Tree disease & treatment as alternative to cutting?

I have a big beautiful Maple tree a couple of feet back from the curb on my property. Well actually it's the Town of Smithtown's property.

I started to put some pieces of the puzzle together this week when I was looking at the tree. There's been some considerable branch die back and there are at least 10 large branches (at least 6 inches in diameter) that have just broken off.

The soil around the tree is compacted from road salt and no one taking care of it. The base of the tree gets no sun and there are green fungus spots going up the trunk.

It's not lifting the pavement around it, but it's not looking so hot and I'm trying to find a glimmer of hope that I could work on it instead of having it removed.

Has anyone ever done this with a Maple tree? I've read a bit and the other signs of disease will have to wait till spring when the leaves come in. In the meantime, I'm going to remove the shrubs around the base, aerate the soil, and take some pH samples to see if there's anything I can do for it.

I will have to lose an Oak tree this year, because that one barely grows any leaves and is really too far gone. I don't want to cut down the only other mature tree I have left.

Re: Tree disease & treatment as alternative to cutting?

due to the saturated soil in the Town Of Smithtown, this is an ongoing problem. we have several trees on our property that may need to come down or they will become dangerous. I know the owners before us tried to salvage the trees with a specilast, but it did not work.