Brattleboro’s Stump Streets, formerly Forest Square, are succeeding in ridding the neighborhood of pesky trees. Our landlord has joined the in-crowd and has taken down a 150 year old maple tree with the encouragement of a tree cutting service.
They’ve nagged her for years and she finally gave in. The tree is in pretty good shape. They are out there right now being very careful to preserve all of the nice wood they are getting paid to harvest.
The tree was planted in the middle of the 1800’s by a group of Brattleboro residents that had formed a Shade Tree Association. They wanted to make sure future generation would have lovely shaded trees for cool, summer walking.
They knew that adding shade trees would be a long-term investment, raising the value fo the neighborhood.
Since we moved to the Tree Streets almost 15 tears ago, these old trees have come down at a steady rate. It always follows the same pattern: A tree service tells a homeowner horror stories about possible damage, and the homeowner capitulates. So much for the tree.
Brattleboro has no tree removal permits required, not is any replacement of trees called for. We are free to clear the town of trees, and have been doing a good job of it. Cedar Street used to have a shady, comfortable walk in the summer. Now there is little relief from the sun for long stretches of sidewalk.
This tree was born about the time of the Civil War. It stood through World War I and II, and moon launches.
The large trees of the neighborhood were one of the defining and attractive features of the neighborhood not so long ago. It’s all been lost. The few remaining large trees know their days are numbered. No one is making an effort on their behalf.
The maple out front had a bit of damage, but was solid as a rock in the wildest of storms. It provided shade, and had enough of a canopy to keep people dry in the rain.
Home to many a bird, it was also a favorite passageway for squirrels to get safely up to wires and across the street without dealing with cars.
So, here I sit, awakened at the crack of dawn by a truck and chainsaws, to cut down an old friend, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I feel so good!
A better use of petitions...
Saving the town trees.
A few hours and a chainsaw
This Stinks
I’m sorry for your loss, it was a beautiful tree. 🙁
Thanks!
I’m especially pleased to be able to forever associate MLK Jr. Day with a chainsaw massacre of a 150 year old pal. : )
Not good, I respect the once
Not good, I respect the once longevity of this shade tree too and it seems the tell tale butt log cross cut reveals the trunk was pretty solid for an older maple, not sure what was going on with upper story branching (fork). Tree services sometime exhibit a conflict of interest in assessing tree health, but I hope I’m wrong for most instances.
Tree Committee?
Piping in as a non-Brattleboroer, & indeed very sad not only this tree but, as you’ve reported, previous ones in the neighborhood. A question & likely this isn’t relevant but I know there’s a TREE COMMITTEE in Brattleboro, some sort of branch, as it were, of the Town Govt? What is their function? & why wouldn’t it be a good idea for them to have some say in what trees go down? (My recollection is that their mandate has to do with trees going up.)
Or, echoing your earlier post about Measurer of Shingles, or whatever your non-functional position is, is this a committee designed to “look good” but not actually annoy the establishment by actually doing anything?
I imagine insurance companies
I imagine insurance companies take some of the responsibilities for these drastic measures taking out a valued neighborhood tree such as this when they pressure home owners to take out large trees upon inspection that seem otherwise healthy but could possibly, I suppose in a severe storm, pose a threat falling on the insured home, car or property.
If a neighbor sees a leaner tree as a threat to his home he may request a tree be cut on an abutting neighbor’s property, and if you did nothing about it I believe you become liable if it were to cause damage on his/her property. I’ve had to take two trees out because of this reason on both sides of my property and now my insurance company is requesting I take out another old oak which is perfectly healthy and I really don’t want removed.
Ahhh . . .
This news makes me sad.