©iStockphoto.com/John Seiler
DCL
A Tree Falls in Queens: What Does it Mean When a 600-Year-Old Great White Oak Decides to Rot?
Imagine a Great White Oak tree 70 feet tall, 18 feet around, and more than 100 feet end to end. Imagine it was born more than 600 years ago (well before Columbus invaded the "New World"). Imagine this amazing tree living all that time in (drum roll, please) Douglaston, Queens where it was granted landmark status in 1997. Now...imagine it being cut down, piece by piece.
After a severe storm this August, a branch supporting about one-third of the oak's canopy tore off. "In doing so," explains A.G. Sulzberger in the New York Times, "it exposed an unfortunate secret. The tree was rotting from the inside." The owners of the house near which the tree sat consulted "experts" who advised it be dismantled. The gang at Queens Crap is skeptical, citing a letter from a Douglaston resident which read, in part: "One of the barbarians I call a neighbor cut down the Great White Oak, this weekend, with LPC approval, citing storm damage. We are in mourning... I've spoken to the owner in the past--he's been dying for this occurrence so he can build a new dining room where the tree is...One of our experts investigated on site and said it could be saved (if one wanted to)... The core hardwood is brittle but sound."
While it is certainly possible that the tree was beyond saving, the bigger issue is and remains the prioritizing of the financial over the natural. If one were to close her/his eyes and attempt to imagine what that Great White Oak has witnessed, it would inspire awe and humility--a natural wonder that sprung to life in a time long before we humans became smart enough to know when a tree can't be saved. This magnificent tree thrived on a planet without nuclear weapons, without cell phones, and without pesticides. It continued to thrive long after these "advances" came to be. In the midst of the concrete metropolis, it was a daily reminder of our responsibility to ourselves and this planet. If indeed it was rotting from the inside out, well...can you say metaphor?
Something is rotten when tearing down Yankee Stadium provokes more tears than the loss of a tree, six centuries old. Something is rotten when a new dining room is valued above natural history. Something is rotten when "treehugger" is often viewed as an insult. Who speaks for the trees? Where is The Lorax when we need him?
How You Can Speak for the Trees Right Now
1. Plant some
2. Join your local community garden
3. Seed bombs
4. Visit old growth forests near you
6. Get serious about fighting deforestation