Chainsaw Horror: Residents Furious as Beloved Trees Are Uprooted

Upper Berry (Cher), report

One tree down. « And yet, there was no storm. » That was Kathleen’s first thought when she drove past the meadow that November day. Then, she noticed a second fallen tree, and then a third… In total, seven oaks and a willow lay amidst the grassland, lining the road in Upper Berry (Cher). The green and yellow leaves still clung to the crowns of these giants, toppled just a few days earlier.

Kathleen, a local from a nearby village, was stunned. Along with Thomas, she decided to document and investigate what they describe as a « devastation »: Why were these giants uprooted? Were legal procedures followed? How can this be prevented in the future? Most of these trees had a circumference of about 3 meters, with the largest measuring 3.95 meters. They had stood there for over 200 years. « Trees of this caliber, with such diameter, are no more. Due to droughts and climate changes, no tree today could reach such sizes. A friend of mine called them ‘dinosaurs’. It’s a whole heritage that is disappearing. » Kathleen speaks quickly, her anger palpable as she recalls the events by the meadow, more than two months later.

These trees weren’t just felled; they were uprooted, she points out: « Their roots were cut all around, then they were pushed over with a bulldozer. You could see the whole root system shattered. » At their base, gaping holes filled with water were evident, a result of the rising water table in these moist lands, bordered by a river. The oaks were remnants of old hedgerows, still prevalent in this grazing and hedgerow-rich region. From the wreckage, only a few branches and two pieces of trunk remain scattered in what is still a meadow, though not for much longer. If the land operator has cleared the area, it’s because he plans to plow and convert the meadow into a crop field.

Kathleen and Thomas are not the only locals devastated by the fall of these oaks, and the endangerment of the biodiversity they hosted. Around forty people attended a picnic they organized on November 15 « to pay tribute to the trees and the ravaged hedgerow landscape ».

Since then, efforts have been organized with the help of the Cher Environmental Watch Association (Avec 18), with public meetings held monthly. By mid-December, over 65 people attended. Besides continuing efforts to verify the legality of the tree removal, attendees decided to establish a network of local committees to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Named ‘Vigilant Life’, it nods to the ‘Vigilant Neighbors’ program designed to prevent crime and burglary. Here, citizens commit to monitoring the landscapes and trees around them, conducting surveys, raising awareness, and negotiating with institutions to better protect the hedgerows.

On January 17, about twenty people gathered in a local community hall. They came from various surrounding towns. The atmosphere was friendly yet focused. The afternoon’s agenda included a mapping workshop and the formation of working groups. On IGN maps of the area, participants placed red stickers on locations already threatened by projects, blue on places to recognize and promote, and green on those to protect.

Nelly, for her part, has nothing left to protect: the oak near her house, which brought her joy daily, was cut down a few months ago. « It might have been 200 or 300 years old. It sheltered dozens of birds, and the cows enjoyed its shade. When I heard the chainsaws, I just broke down crying », she recalls, still visibly moved. The farmer she knew had passed his farm to his grandson who decided to convert the meadows into a field. « The meadow was plowed, he dug large trenches for drainage and plans to install a sedimentation basin for pesticides just 20 meters from my house », she worries.

Danielle and Gilles know what a treeless landscape looks like. They live about fifteen kilometers to the south. « In the 1960s and 70s, hundreds of hectares of woodland were cleared in our area, Gilles explains, still having « flashes » of that period of consolidation. Now, it’s just fields of cereal as far as the eye can see. »

Like many here, he fears that cereal farmers from the Champagne berrichonne will gradually nibble away at the hedgerow lands of Haut Berry, which have so far been well preserved from chainsaws and plows. « No one wants to do livestock farming anymore! » an agriculturist told Kathleen. Indeed, when transferring livestock farms, more and more farmers prefer to switch to cereal monoculture, which is more profitable. Trees and hedges are sold for timber or heating, meadows are plowed and then drained. « We’re erasing an entire biotope », Kathleen warns, believing that the conversion of meadows is not sufficiently regulated.

For Jean, citizens already have tools at their disposal to make their voices heard: « During the modification projects of PLUI, the files are available at the city hall. Workshops are also organized within the framework of the Climate Plan 2030-2050. We can influence the course of things. »

Marie-Hélène, a municipal councilor who participated in modifying the last PLUI in her town, notes that hedges are a very sensitive issue: « When we wanted to integrate some into this new plan, the discussion in the municipal council turned to tears. Farmers can no longer remove them, once they are integrated into the PLUI, without risking the loss of public subsidies. Yet, maintaining these hedges is expensive for them. »

Anne confirms by sharing a personal example. One day, returning from summer vacation, she and her husband discovered that the hedge near their home had been razed. « The farmer who owned it told us it was bothering him, that it was scratching the tractor. We eventually negotiated with him to maintain that section of the hedge ourselves, and it has regrown. »

Several participants emphasize that they are also there to find ways to create bonds with the farmers and support them. Although it pains her, Nelly says she understands her neighbor’s decision: « It’s logical for farmers to make choices in line with their interests. » Elisabeth cites the example of a breeder, a tenant on his farm, who decided to give up. « He has a small operation. He does things right, respecting nature, but he just can’t make ends meet! » she laments.

How can he be helped? A working group is launched. Other participants have decided to organize a naturalist inventory in a hamlet. « This type of walk is also an opportunity to meet farmers. We could organize farm visits to better understand how they work », suggests Catherine. These initiatives are not meant to be limited to Haut Berry, Thomas believes. « The goal of Vigilant Life is to experiment with methods that can be duplicated elsewhere. This network could be expanded across the territory. »

Reflecting on the case of the felled oaks, Marie-Hélène makes a sad observation: « What hurts the most is that now that these trees are gone, it’s as if they never existed. We get used to the new landscape and forget what was before ! » However, this destruction was not in vain: a citizen movement has now taken root.