||| FROM B. SADIE BAILEY |||
It hurts my heart to see our Community Tree at the Village Green looking so bad. I didn’t notice how damaged it had become until several weeks ago when I was walking past it. I saw between 8 and 10 people – mostly young adults and teens with several kids in tow – all filing in and climbing up the tree; some near to the very top on the thinner branches. I stood watching the entire spectacle for about 40 minutes, witnessing the complete oblivion and disregard for our rare tree and its non-human inhabitants. I said out loud as the people kept filing in that this is our Community tree, we care about it, don’t hurt it. They ignored me.
Our Town Tree is getting worse abuse each summer. There’s a huge gap at ground level in the North side that goes up a long way, and another, bottom NNW. People can just walk in and start climbing. Many of the bottom branches are dead; snapped off and removed. The roots are getting damaged by all the feet treading on them. You can see bare branches and dying needles through the once-solid curtain of soft cascading needles. There are other gaps and holes higher up the tree where branches have been broken from people shaking them or whatever- with no foliage left to protect from the strong winds we get much of the year, or the drought summers. (See photo).
That tree should be dressed to the ground with green. As more branches die and more gaps appear, the tree will suffer and have less protection against the elements and human-caused damage. It was, and still is, beautiful – the pride of our Village Green. We light it every year for the winter holidays and gather around it for celebrations and events. Some of us remember it being planted when it was so small, years ago.
There’s no sign or plaque saying what kind of tree this is, when it was planted, how rare it is, and why protecting it is important. It’s disheartening to witness how many people blithely go along not recognizing other life forms besides human as Relatives to cherish, honor, respect, and protect.
How about we use some of those tourism tax dollars to pay for some kind of fund to protect our beautiful Town Community tree from further damage, and to pay for an educational plaque? (How’s the Tree Protection Ordinance coming along that San Juan County promised us?)
If locals and tourists have so little regard for a Living Being, maybe it’s time to cordon it off from people climbing all over it. We already have a playground on the Green for the kiddos. Our Community Tree is not a toy, a playground, or an entitlement meant for hundreds or thousands of people to climb all over each year. It was planted for many generations to love, care for, and enjoy. Let’s not ‘love’ it to death.
Planted in isolation, “specimen” trees like the redwood on the village green, often struggle to thrive, even without physical abuse by bands of young hominids. Most trees do best in diverse forests, modifying their own micro-climate collectively and generationally. Exposed to drying winds from every direction, with a minimal or completely absent plant/fungal soil community, that young tree is growing in a difficult location even without physical damage to shallow roots and fragile limbs. That said, I think that kids climbing trees is beneficial for the kids and generally only moderately damaging to the tree. If the community tree is sustaining real damage, then perhaps it makes sense to put a low picket fence all the way around it for a while? Or perhaps it should be limbed up 6′ so that it is impossible for kids to climb up to the young, fragile branches? There would still be a protected “kidspace” hidden from the adult world around the trunk, sheltered by the upper limbs.
As always, thank you, Sadie, for taking on the role of Lorax and “speaking for the trees.” This time, why don’t we listen and do something proactive?
Climbing the Sequoia? Really? Signage sounds like a great idea.
We have lots of Sequoias on Orcas, all apparantely planted about the same time. We have oen;, as do our neighbors up Crow Valley Road.
We certainly should take care of the one on the Village Green. It’s our Christmas Tree!
Signage, at the least, sounds appropriate.
Thanks for the heads up!
Sadie, thank you as always for being the unofficial guardian and spokesperson for the trees and wetland vegetation in Eastsound. I also agree with Ken’s comments, above. But your letter reminds me of a comment I meant to make on your earlier letter on the broader subject of development vs. natural preservation in Eastsound: San Juan County doesn’t have a tree ordinance. We rely on state regulations–basically forestry practices–regarding clearing land and the cutting of trees. Nothing at all on their preservation. These regulations should be locally defined for this county (via the Comp Plan and Development Code) and, more specifically for Eastsound. A good place to start would be to incorporate a tree ordinance into the Eastsound Subarea Plan, which is long out-of-date, although it has been revised in draft form by the last generation of the EPRC (which also did quite a bit of work in planting new replacement trees along the North Beach entrance to the Village).
Currently, there is a completely new EPRC membership (3 members for a 7-member board, 4 open seats) and no public participation at meetings. My suggestion, then, is that you recruit a committee of good folks as Tree Guardians to draft a tree ordinance, identify Eastsound’s iconic trees for preservation and plan to advocate and care for them and replace lost trees as necessary.
Excellent practical suggestion Brian! Tree Guardians are exactly what we need!
I totally agree there should be some signage and attempts to curtail the children climbing the tree. It is not their toy. They have a nice place to play nearby. A sign might encourage parents to prevail against their kids on climbing it. I noticed a similar thing happening with what is left of the fruit trees near the museum as well. People. we need to step in and ask or tell the kids to knock it off. Those trees deserve some respect. There seems to be a war against trees going on on this island. People feel like they have the right to just cut whatever they want. No respect. We need to teach our kids and community to take care of things. Thank you Sadie for bringing this to our attention. Hopefully something will come of it, soon, before our tree suffers any more damage.
Hi Brian; thanks. To answer a bit of what you brought up:
1) EPRC: Charles Toxey reapplied for a seat for EPRC and was turned down! He was one of the best voices EPRC ever had; did his homework, knows county codes, is collaborative and respected by all. He was actually guiding the new people, showing up at meetings, helping them wade through permits, catching things for the County to look at or where it might get into trouble not looking. Other EPRC members did multiple terms and nothing was ever said to stop them from sitting the EPRC again, considering it’s down by 4 seats and we don’t just want realtors, developers, and tourism industry people on it. I would LOVE to see Cindy et all change their minds and let Charles sit another term. He knows so much and is willing – what are they thinking?!
2) About the tree ordinance: SJC was supposed to be working on one, due to be finished in 2025, which would give us some local control. So unless they gutted the plans for it, it should still be in the works. But I like your idea even better. IF Council actually respected our SubArea Plan as originally visioned, none of what has happened, would have happened. Time to bring it back and – your great idea – add a tree ordinance just for Eastsound SubArea, since that is where it’s most crucial that we preserve Urban Forests. Would the Land Bank have ideas on helping us with that? the Friends?
Thanks to others who commented. Our trees are getting slaughtered wholesale in the UGA with little forethought or planning, as our forested wetlands are being gutted. Time to stop, take stop, and recognize what Eastsound UGA is – environmentally. I hope someone from the Chamber and Tourism Industry is reading and will pass this letter on to all the players involved. Time to put some of that money into preservation and walk the talk of how beautiful and special this place is – as advertised ad nauseum.
SubArea Plan long out of date? It was completely re-written and the Conservancy Overlay protections gutted! I have the whole story about that, should anyone want to know. We should revisit it and reinstate the Conservancy Overlay protections while we’re at it. And the Gates, two of which have been destroyed and were supposed to be preserved.
oops. in a hurry. should have said take stock. but whatever. stop would be good. a water hookup moratorium for another year while we assess the damage of cutting down our windbreak, water filtering systems, and what forests do for us in a wind tunnel, is a great start. I want to see our Christmas redwood thrive. Cutting the bottom branches off is the worst idea. It would make it a wind sail, Ken. but thanks for the thought. Something needs to be done.
This is available on the County website: https://www.sanjuancountywa.gov/1948/Tree-Code-Project
The initial Docket Request appears to be February 2021.