For the Love of a Tree

Trees.  Without them, birds can’t nest.  Youngsters can’t have tree houses and adults can’t while away the day in a hammock. Trees provide so much; some bloom in spring, others produce nuts and fruit for wildlife, and others put their show on in the fall, blazing bright orange, yellow and red.  Most of us have our favorites.  Mine is a Cottonwood in the back of my home.

I live in a home that was built around a log cabin.  In the 1860s, 40 acres surrounded the little cabin.  I didn’t know my home began life as a humble log cabin until a previous owner stopped by for a visit and told me.  She also told me that, at one time, there was a shed below my Cottonwood tree.  The shed deteriorated, the Cottonwood thrived.  Many Cottonwood trees dotted the area in the 1950s, but most have been removed because of the fluffy cotton they produce.  Luckily, mine doesn’t produce any of the nasty fluff.

My tree is one of the tallest trees you’ll see in West County.  If you’re driving down Highway 40 and look to the north, at just the right time, you can see the top of my Cottonwood tree.  It’s majestic and not just I love it, wildlife does as well. 

A few years ago a pair of bald eagles roosted in the tree.  I ran in to get my camera and got some great shots of the pair.  I emailed the photo to KSDK and Mike Roberts put it on the news.  For years I have had Red-Tailed Hawks nesting there.  The hawks hang around year after year, becoming quite tame and perching on top of my SUV or my rose arbor in the back yard.  I unabashedly love my tree; it’s important to the wildlife as well.

Fast forward to December 2010.  I notice a large white piece of paper on my front door.  I have officially been informed that Ameren’s “Power On” program will be trimming trees in my neighborhood.  A few days later I was working outside and saw a group of gentlemen admiring my cottonwood tree.  Or, at least that’s what I thought they were doing. 

In reality, they were sizing it up because it had to come down.  I thought they were joking; oh, how wrong I was.  I then asked if I had an option.  I was told that there is always an option.  Mine was to sign an affidavit stating that if my tree did fall, and cause property damage and a power outage, I was financially responsible for it. 

I asked for a “guesstimate’ of what the cost might be.  “Well, 2 transformers are $20,000 each, plus the labor to remove and install them, plus the cost of tree removal, roof repair and so on…” 

I got the picture. In reality, I didn’t have an option.  I was really depressed.  I thought of all the wildlife that called that tree home.  I thought about the area surrounding the tree; this was the country 80 years ago.  Log cabins weren’t all that uncommon.  Actually, until 18 years ago, there was another log cabin across the street.  It was moved to Conway Park and is quite charming there.

I couldn’t stop thinking about my cottonwood tree.  My friends and family told me to just get over it.  In fact, my husband considered it a good thing - at least we didn’t have to pay to have the tree cut down.  Every day that passed was another day closer to the end of my majestic Cottonwood.  Later in the week the supervisor from the tree removal service came by.  He said that the job had been moved up and they would be in my yard in a few days.  My heart sank.  He explained that it was severely rotten and he actually was shocked that it still remained standing given the decay.

Monday came, and so did the tree company.  I had a large crew: a supervisor, the guy in the bucket of the cherry picker and 4 or 5 helpers.  The fact that the guy with the chainsaw was 6’5” and drop dead handsome eased my bruised heart a bit. 

The truck with the lift was driven to a safe spot under the Cottonwood tree and work began.  The crew figured out how tall the tree is by using simple mathematics.  The cherry picker fully extended is 60’ tall.  The guy in the bucket is 6’5” and the area above the trimmer is guesstimated to be over 40’; my cottonwood was over 100’ tall.  I asked the supervisor how many trees he had worked on that were taller than mine.  He said that he had been doing this for almost 35 years and the only one that was taller was off Ladue Road in Hunter Farms.

Little by little they chipped away at the tree.  I kept asking them to please try and save any part of the tree.  I was told not to get my hopes up. I don’t mind admitting that I’m pretty stubborn and I probably pestered the crew.  By the end of the second day, I saw a glimmer of hope in the eye of the supervisor.  He told me that the crew thought that the left side of the tree wasn’t as rotten as they initially thought.  I replied, “THANK YOU!”  He told me not to thank him just yet; but he was smiling and had a distinct twinkle in his eye.

The next day the good news came.  The entire left side of the tree could stay up!  The day was splendid; the weather was sunny and warm even though it was mid-December.  It was also the day I have an annual Christmas luncheon for my friends.  During cocktails we toasted the crew for saving my tree.  When it came time for dessert, we brought each of the guys a slice of my homemade cheesecake.  I don’t mind admitting that we enjoyed hanging out with the crew- they were a good-looking bunch of guys!

The crew packed up and we said our goodbyes.  By now, all the guys had heard my stories about the wildlife that called my Cottonwood home.  The last hour or two of the clean up the guys noticed a Red-Tailed Hawk circling the worksite.  They thought it was a little creepy.  I said that the hawk wanted her home back. They agreed with me.  My tree was missing its entire right side, but it persevered.  As did I.