A Tree’s Farewell
Decatur Metro | November 12, 2012
Gary sent in this announcement on a West Hill Street tree.
- rss
Gary sent in this announcement on a West Hill Street tree.
OakhurstMama
Scott
Davis
Rick Julian
Notgruntled
smalltowngal
Dr B
Nelliebelle1197
Nelliebelle1197
Deb
Bin Birru
Ridgelandistan
BethB
gri5thj
Warren Buffett
you rock, gary!
Gary- what kind of tree? Diameter at chest high?
It was an awesome tree but even more awesome was this sign. It prompted lots of discussion about life and nature at our house and some awesome tree work watching on behalf of Don’s Tree Service. Amazing heights were climbed and physics-defying cuts were made the day it came down this weekend. Can’t wait to see the new baby tree taking its place!
Having recently moved from Oakhurst to Eastlake, have been very pleased to learn more about the Tree Protection in Atlanta. http://atlantatreecommission.com/tree-ordinance/a-the-basics. Was very disheartening to continue to see massive trees removed in “Oak”hurst on almost a weekly basis.
Our thick tree cover is certainly of great value to our community – trees provide beauty, an environment for animals, shade to reduce our energy bills.
But very large trees also can pose a danger to our homes and our families. And they may make it impossible to have a garden or expand your home to accomodate a growing family. Sometimes a homeowner has to make a decision to remove a tree. Those decisions are not made lightly, as it is very expensive to have a large tree removed.
IMHO, I am very glad that Decatur does NOT have significant restrictions or a bureacratic process that restricts our ability to remove trees from our property. We have an abundance of trees that help to define the character of our community, and I do not see that defining characteristic to be at significant risk.
“Had” an abundance of trees. I am sure things will look like the “safe” burb’s soon enough.
“Had” an abundance of trees. I am sure things will look like the “safe” burb’s soon enough.
I’m a bit biased on this issue. A few years ago, my neighbors giant poplar came down and came within a few feet of killing my pregnant wife and I while we slept. Thankfully, it just destroyed our cars, garage and deck. But if it had fallen at a slightly different angle, our entire family would be gone.
As noted by RenfroeMom, we have a very mature canopy and we need to allow homeowners to manage the trees on their property. I don’t know about Oakhurst, but my street is not even visible from Googlemaps.
Lately, homeowners have had no problem chopping big trees down. Just think how safe we will be when they are all gone.
We have an aging canopy. As long as we are letting the seedlings take root along the way or replacing with established trees, we’ll be ok.
Over the last 12+ years in Oakhurst, I have seen some large tree removal for convenience that makes me sad. But I have seen far more trees removed because they were dead or dying and dropping large limbs (which were called “widow makers” when I was a kid). The canopy over my yard has been cut in half because large trees fell or died and had to be taken out by neighbors. Do I miss the trees? Definitely, and my house is hotter now, too. I also recognize that we are lucky no one has been hurt when the big one went down. Other families and nearby neighborhoods have not been so lucky.
If you have any worries about any trees in particular, Hugh Saxon’s office includes the city arborist and they will help you.
Isn’t it possible that a lot of trees in the area were planted (or took root) around the same time, and have lived out their lives at roughly the same pace? Trees don’t last forever, you know.
What? It’s a tree we’re talking about, right, not an Ent?
In my recollection of the history, most of Oakhurst was either farmland or groves 90 years ago, and the suburbs were forests. In 20-30 years it might very well be the opposite again. Mother Nature is rather old – I suspect she takes little notice.
We removed two huge pines from our yard, one of which was clearly dying, and the other which was leaning way over our next-door neighbors’ house. We hated to do it, but our insurance agent (who was over inspecting our house for a new policy) said it would be smart to take preventive action. These trees had circumferences you don’t often see in pines on the East coast, and we were very sad to take them down. But after the residual windstorms we got from Sandy, I’m very thankful we did. Having a tree fall on our house would’ve been bad enough, but having one fall on our neighbors would’ve been horrible (even more so if someone had been hurt). We’re planting hardwoods to take their place– at the BACK of the property!