When we moved to Adams Avenue 26 years ago, one of the most appealing aspects of the property were the tall trees, many of them 100 years old, providing delicious shade in summer while housing our furry and feathery friends. This week, our neighbors announced to us that in order to rebuild their garage, they intend to remove the black cherry tree that stands taller than our three story house. It is rooted on our property line, along with a crab apple tree, which they also intend to remove.
Ever since we heard the news, we have been coping with the impending doom of losing such a vital part of our immediate natural surroundings. The tree has been the place where our bird feeders hang, where raccoon families forage for berries, where the squirrels fly from branch to branch, where the woodpeckers search underneath the bark for tasty morsels. Our cities rely on the mature neighborhood tree canopy to mitigate the effects of climate change. They provide the shade that is needed to prevent the heat beating down in summer from radiating back at us. The roots are vital in preventing the soil from eroding, and instrumental in preventing flooding.
As a society, we are beginning to understand how vital it is to care for our trees. Those focused on expanding the built environment have been too flippant in eliminating shade trees from our city. Nature takes decades to build them up, only to be chain sawed from a cherry picker in a single day.
For the sake of saving our urban forest, the Watertown City Council needs to consider protecting trees from those who wish to cut them down for expediency by enacting a tree protection ordinance that could take precedence over private property rights. In this instance, other solutions besides tearing down a monumental and beloved vibrantly healthy black cherry tree should have been considered.
Trees are the heartbeat of our connection to nature. We are going to morn the loss of this black cherry, so on the occasion of its destruction, we wish to tell the people of Watertown: please care for your mature shade trees, we are fortunate to have so many, but they are getting taken down at an alarming rate, please do not take them for granted.
Jean & Gretchen Dunoyer
Watertown Residents
I feel your frustration. Our neighbors’ landlord took down some beautiful silver maples and an oak last year. The maples could have been pruned and the oak was perfectly healthy. We were extremely upset and there was nothing that the city could do to stop them. Instead we asked Watertown’s tree warden to put in new trees by the sidewalks. They won’t be mature for quite some time but it was the one thing we could do. I agree that there must be some kind of policy to ensure that trees are not removed willy nilly. Some communities require landowners to plant a new tree for every one taken down.