Sad…. Another ancient oak felled for no good reason

[19Mateo83]

It stood for 500 years and some ass cuts it down because a contractor said it “was dangerous”….

Toby Carvery faces outrage after carving up 500-year-old oak tree | CNN

A restaurant chain has apologized after sparking outrage when it cut down an oak tree in London that was believed to be up to 500 years old.

amp.cnn.com

 

[Don Blackmond]

I have similar problems with my insurance company making tree cutting/removal a condition for insuring my property. I have huge, old oaks they want me to cut down because one might fall or drop a branch and somebody might be injured. You can't go anywhere on my property where you are not at risk of being hit by a tree or branch. What am I supposed to do? Clear cut my woods? I suggested hiring a professional to inspect and prune out anything dangerous. The insurer became more reasonable and agreed. The whole process started out as pure stupidity then ended semi-tolerable.

 

[pandacular]

Wow, and the buried lede is that the tree and land was owned by the municipality and the lease owner felled it without permission. An ancient tree on public land destroyed for nothing. I hope there are consequences.

 

[vancehanna]

Reminds me of Bruce Catton’s book Waiting for the Morning Train about N. Michigan after the Civil War. ( the entire lower peninsula was logged off to rebuild the South.) He said that his grand father could ride at a full gallop from Benzonia to Traverse City some 30 mile North, through the White Pine forest the entire way!

When Catron was a kid in Benzonia MI, Benzie Co the village of Benzonia had drawn up a master plan and there was a Virgin Maple tree smack dab in the way of the township plan.
So the solution was to cut it down. Where it laid, it rotted to dust. He said that he remembered playing with his sisters and such on the giant tree stump which was a large as a small room!
I think that some people feel they must “follow the plan”….no thought to whether or not you have the means or the wherewithal to complete anything. Just the cut it down!

 

[Wulfskaar]

That English oak was there when my ancestors still lived there. Such a shameful act! I have a 400 year old oak in my back yard that I'm not legally allowed to cut. The tree has been here since the Chumash owned it.

 

[leatherback]

so odd.
As far as I know, in germany you are not allowed to cut trees in urban areas without explicit approval of the town. Even on your own land. Why would a lease-holder even think this would be OK.

I hope they kick them out of the property.

 

[hsaintandre]

That's sad. In France those kind of trees are protected under the remarkable tree label and it becomes very hard to do any harm to them. But I don't know what happens if there is a "safety risk".

Back in my homeland in Argentina, we had to cut down two +200yo oaks from my parents property because our neighbor didn't like the leaves falling into his pool !! The legal reason was that you can't plant a tree closer than 2 meters from the property line, which was the case for our trees but as they thicken with time the distance decreased and the municipality ruled in favor of the neighbor. Nature conservation was not a thing back then.

 

[rockm]

If they stop messing with it, it will regrow. A shadow of it's former self, but it's still alive.

 

[Joelshack2362]

They need to study the rings on these trees. They tell the true story about climate change.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

They need to study the rings on these trees. They tell the true story about climate change.

I doubt that the people who need any conviction believe some british person that spent time counting tree rings.
It's not that all those other tree rings measured world wide had any impact. This one tree will not change that.

 

[Joelshack2362]

True but a data point is a data point.

 

[Woocash]

Thing is, the tree was diseased and damaged and technically a danger to people on public access land so it was one of many such cases. It also had no tree preservation order on it until after the work was carried out. Unfortunately, while sad, it is not a terrible outcome as it could well come down in the next storm anyway, from what I've read.

 

[SgtPilko]

I think the tree was kinda unremarkable for veteran trees in the UK, but still unauthorized removal. There's a lot of shady stuff like this done in the name of 'health and safety' aka profit. Trees aint that dangerous, chain pub carparks full of 4x4s are

 

[shohin_branches]

I would like to see Western culture stop being so casual with the removal of trees. They're important members of our ecosystem and we have very few old trees left. Most people don't even know what a true old growth forest looks like and how massive trees are supposed to be.

In Japan they do everything necessary to protect and brace old trees and the trees they preserve are beautiful.

 

[BrightsideB]

I would like to see Western culture stop being so casual with the removal of trees. They're important members of our ecosystem and we have very few old trees left. Most people don't even know what a true old growth forest looks like and how massive trees are supposed to be.

In Japan they do everything necessary to protect and brace old trees and the trees they preserve are beautiful.
View attachment 593030 View attachment 593031 View attachment 593032 View attachment 593033

That is really cool! And I agree.

 

[vancehanna]

As Western culture goes: way back about 30yrs or so when I lived in Blfd Twp MI, there was a jog in the road (Evergreen at the Rouge River) where the home owner had a very crooked domestic pine on his property. Each time I drove by that site, I'd say to myself: "Wow you little (actually about 12' in height) crooked thing, I wonder how you got that way and it gives you character my friend. I wish you wellness and long life". That was year after year and as I'd begin the corner and down the slop towards the bridge over the Rouge, I'd say a little prayer for the tree, knowing full well that someday, some owner of the property was going to get out there and saw that damn crooked pine down because it was 'there'.
The day I drove around that corner and spotted the stump about a foot off the ground I was devastated. I knew it would happen but I could not believe that the damn fool really had that bug to knock it out.) A few weeks later the stump was removed and in it's place a straight as a Christmas tree about 4' Spruce was planted.
I said some prayers for the previous old fella who was an P. Strobus. (Eastern White Pine).

The mind of the Western: Bauhaus, Teutonic, Formal, rational and predictable. If it's in the way: cut it down! ( same mentality when it comes to tearing down the 'old 19th century buildings in an urban environment here in the US.) Witness: City of Detroit.

 

[MGTT]

@vancehanna - Interesting. I drive by there pretty regularly with my current job.

There’s a great pine at the public golf course, one that had that old red bark at the top, and a nice contorted shape. Unfortunately, it has died (along with many other pines around here). I’m not looking forward to the day it comes down.

 

[rockm]

George Masons plantation Gunston Hall is about two miles downriver from Mt. Vernon on the Potomac. It was built in1754. A formal English garden was planted in back completed with dwarf English boxwood seedlings brought from England. Those boxwood grew there for 250 years or so.

About seven years ago the management of the historic site decided to “return” the garden to its “original” plan. That plan didn’t include the old boxwood which were over eight feet tall and gnarled and interesting. They were bulldozed and some of the carcasses were used to make birdhouses and bowls

Before the bulldozers cranked up I was making phone calls to the National arboretum trying to save at least some of them. Didn’t work sadly. Below are a few of what was destroyed

 

[MGTT]

That’s incredibly sad!

 

[Woocash]

George Masons plantation Gunston Hall is about two miles downriver from Mt. Vernon on the Potomac. It was built in1754. A formal English garden was planted in back completed with dwarf English boxwood seedlings brought from England. Those boxwood grew there for 250 years or so.

About seven years ago the management of the historic site decided to “return” the garden to its “original” plan. That plan didn’t include the old boxwood which were over eight feet tall and gnarled and interesting. They were bulldozed and some of the carcasses were used to make birdhouses and bowls

Before the bulldozers cranked up I was making phone calls to the National arboretum trying to save at least some of them. Didn’t work sadly. Below are a few of what was destroyed

What a weird thing to do. In the grand scheme of things the USA (as is) is a fledgling country still, with those trees being older than the country itself. You would think someone in their wisdom may recognise the historical importance or at least interest in the fact that they were imported a couple of decades BEFORE the declaration of independence was even drawn up. Bonkers attitude.