Cutting down the trees

KAV · Post by **KAV** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:07 am

I've been directly active in several environmental issues and wound up pretty much feared and hated by both sides. No loss, I was there for whales and redwoods,not hippies and greedheads.
People seem unaware of a great urban slaughter- our city trees. Every city and town has, or had trees and grand fountains in the town center.
The reason wasn't ornamental but mercantile necessity. Horses needed shade and water to keep commerce flowing. I can just remember when DeSoto in the San Fernando Valley was a oiled dirt road ( the Gable film IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT was largely filmed on it) shaded by eucalyptus for the horses and windbreaks for rapidly disappearing orange groves. There was a milk wagon pulled by By a yaller horse named Red I fed carrots to. Gone, all gone replaced by strip malls,cheap people and cheap housing.
Cities have cut back proper pruning and arboreal care. Trees are crudely decapitated at best or just removed entirely because of budget cutbacks.
This week my apartment complex did likewise. I'm sitting by the window and suddenly a guy is chain sawing the tree merely inches from my computer desk. It wasn't even used for firewood or lumber, merely ground up with another machine following to grub out the rootball.
Pyewacket's squirrel friend has disappeared too. In fact, the entire complex is silent and a pest company has been busy with bait stations and spraying.I've been busy too; monkeywrenching traps at night.
Pye keeps staring out our window adn meowing to me. I've walked the complex, peanuts in pocket in hopes of seeing our friend.
Nothing.
My nieghbor, a newly arrived masseuse who wants to date me said 'It's just a squirrel anyway' when I mentioned all the animals leaving. I don't think I'll date her after all.
I briefly dated a girl this past winter from Mississippi. She talked about the trees back home. I hope she comes back to town. Liking trees is as good a measure of women as anything else.

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:30 am

Too bad shipmate. Me, I'm busy planting trees, at least the ones that will survive in the desert, so the selection is somewhat limited.

Regards,
David

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:42 am

Know what you mean Chris. In the back yard of our new place (not really new, it was built 110 years ago) is a large pecan tree that probably predates the house. The rock fountain at the base of the tree was resuscitated last week and while sitting on the deck with early morning coffee I noticed the squirrels and birds have established a sort of Pax Romana over watering rights in the small pool behind the waterfall.

Yeah, trees make the neighborhood.

GregPQ · Post by **GregPQ** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 5:01 am

Then there is the tragedy of Dutch Elm Disease:

Greg

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:58 pm

There's some kind of disease going around now that's killing pine and cedar trees. Disease plus the past two years of extreme heat and drought has killed untold numbers of trees.

JayTrek · Post by **JayTrek** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:46 am

I can understand the frustration with the trees. The land owner behind our home cut down a load of really pretty big trees a number of years ago when he was efforting to sell the property. So a part of what made living there really nice was gone. And some 7 years later...the property still has not sold.

However, I would reconsider the masseuse, Chris. There are great benefits to being in good with one...especially when you are sore and achy.

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:32 am

Three years ago a residential developer stripped out a wonderful green space with plenty of trees not far from us in the middle of suburbia ---- only to build more suburbia -- on both sides of the same boulevard. What used to be a lovely hillside with trees and a meadow on either side is now more townhouses with a playground. Sheesh!

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:54 am

A doctor friend of mine bought a beautiful spot of about 20 acres in the country to build his dream house. To erect this sprawling mansion the builder convinced him the site had to be 'cleared'. So down went the trees completely destroying the charm of the place and he was charged gobs of money for the clearance.

I didn't have the heart to tell him I knew that builder and the fellow always 'cleared' the land and sold the timber on the side for a handsome profit.

IanM · Post by **IanM** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:59 am

The problem with trees in public places is their inconvenient habit of getting damaged by wind, and then bits falling off them.

I suspect that the local authority thinks "if this falls on anybody, we'll get sued" - as is the culture these days. So they simply chop them down.

For the last 12 months I have been doing some volunteering at a local RSPB reserve, and again, any trees or branches that are close to a footpath, and that have been weakened by wind or rot, are dealt with.

Ian

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:34 am

I believe they are correct Ian. A limb of about 2 1/2 inches in diameter can crater the roof of a Buick.

DreadPirate · Post by **DreadPirate** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:02 pm

Tragic. At least trees are a renewable resource. Still, I am floored when I read that we cut down a HUGE percentage of the giant conifers on the West coast in the late 1800's to early 1900's.

KAV · Post by **KAV** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:17 pm

I better not start with my past involvment in Redwood Summer.
A more hopefull story is a true anecdote. One of the colleges in England-perhaps BASENOTES knows- had a magnificant chapel. The oak roofbeams
on inspection were found in advanced dry rot and imminent collapse. The college owned lands with tenured foresters, but apparently little working knowledge of what they actually did.
They approached the foresters and asked what could be done? The foresters, standing before mature oaktrees and many younger generations replied only " we've been waiting for you."

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:11 pm

I say install metal beams and paint them oak color.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 1:14 pm

Squire wrote:I say install metal beams and paint them oak color.

The Friends of the Woodworm know where you live....

Chris

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 1:34 pm

True but a moving target is hard to hit.

Rufus · Post by **Rufus** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:55 pm

GregPQ wrote:Then there is the tragedy of Dutch Elm Disease:

Greg

Last summer we had to cut down 5 choke cherries on our property due to an infestation of black knot. It was a real shame, not to mention expensive, but we're replacing them with paperbark maples.

AACJ · Post by **AACJ** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:17 pm

Ironic that I should come across this thread. The neighborhood where we just build our new home is named after a very old and very LARGE Elm tree. There are 50 lots, most of which are built already. We have all asked the developer to sell us, the neighborhood association, the lot so we can save the tree. He refuses to do so because that would be lost revenue to him. We even offered to pay him what he would have made on commissions for the lot and a home but he refuses.

Today, they took down the beloved Elm tree, both my daughters were crying since they have been playing under it for the last 6 months or so with their new friends. I asked the builder (not the developer) if I could at least have a slice of the trunk so I can make a table out of it. I also want to get a 6 ft x 6 inch x 6 inch piece so I can make a mantle to install over the fireplace.....

I am at school right now and have not seen any of the work they have done but my wife and kids are heartbroken, they tell me the tree is down and awaiting the chainsaw tomorrow.

kronos9 · Post by **kronos9** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:57 pm

Land "developers". Quite the oxymoron. More like environmental rapists.

Don't start me.

dosco · Post by **dosco** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:23 pm

I live in a development in Maryland that was initially built in 1963/64. It is essentially an oak forest. I have several very large oaks (perhaps 60+ feet in height and the trunks are probably at least 2 feet in diameter) on my property (I think they are white oaks but I am not entirely sure, a neigbor gave me several pieces of red oak for use in my fireplace). There are other hardwood species such as maple and hickory.

I very much love them, however they create quite a bit of yardwork. In the spring there is oak hair ... this is often a problem for the roof gutters which are easily clogged by the stuff. In the fall the acorns are ridiculous and the leaves are a bit of a project.

I am OK with that, though, as I like the trees.

The squirrels ... I am not so much a fan of them. There is probably at least 1 squirrel per tree, and there are many many trees in the neighborhood. The squirrels are destructive ... I have an apple tree in the backyard that has very little fruit in the fall because of the squirrels. They chew anything made of metal (including lawn chairs, patio furniture, and gutters), and the digging in my yard is a nuisance. I am reluctant to kill them (I would use a pellet gun) because I am worried my 2 kids will be scarred for life as a result.

The surrounding area of my town, however, is being progressively deforested to build business parks (mostly empty), strip malls, etc. I hate that. I am originally from upstate NY and the same thing happened to my small town ... the businesses are largely unsuccessful but the trees are mostly gone.

Good news is that when man is (partially or mostly) extirpated by the next comet impact (or whatever nature decides to throw at us), the trees will quietly return.