I just found out that one of my parkway trees is going to be removed. It's a beautiful mature maple (the kind with the really wide, large leaves) and it was so gorgeous last fall with bright yellow foliage.

I called the village and they told me the forester had reported it as "almost dead". I don't know anything about trees, and I don't imagine that they would remove a perfectly healthy tree for no reason, but it seems hard for me to believe that this tree, from which I probably raked up nine bags of leaves last fall is almost dead.

I know it's not my tree and I don't really get a say, but I'll be so sad to see it go.

It may be rotten inside a pose a safety hazard. Don't worry maybe they'll replace it with one of those Ginkos from the CBD.

*shakes head*
Oh GEM....you and your Ginkos....

Mama, it's not wrong. Though I can't offer you advice on the health of the tree, I can advise you that losing something you've grown attached to can be upsetting.

quote:

Originally posted by GESingleMom2:
I can advise you that losing something you've grown attached to can be upsetting.

Then why are there divorce attorneys?!

What?? Uhm....they're here BECAUSE that can be upsetting....duh.

Mamattorney,

I would be more than happy to bring you a oak sapling this spring. I'm not sure what type of oak it is they just keep popping up all over.


Let me know.

If I am not mistaken, the Village gives you a choice of replacement trees. I chose a Ginkgo. Other than being very slow growing, what's bad about a ginkgo? It's not the smelly one and I think the leaves are cute.

No replacement tree for my parkway, ginko or otherwise.

From my letter: "Although there is room to plant a replacement tree, funds for this program have been suspended for the time being. This potential planting site will be kept on file, should funding become available in the future."

That is sad, I agree.

At least you could fall back on GEM's oak sapling in the spring....

Male ginkgo's are beautiful. Females- very messy- go figure.

I would think that you could expect an explanation of exactly why they feel this tree should be removed. I do remember hearing that the Village does want/allow not more than one tree per home in parkways. I would call and question what is their reasoning on the removal of this tree.

Mama - nice letter. You should keep it.

A couple of years ago, the village resurfaced the streets in my area. In doing so, they parked a fuel tanker (a tank/trailer of sorts) in front of my house, for more than just a couple weeks. At first I was mad and was going to call to have it moved – yet I realized that it had to be kept somewhere and let it ride, figuring it would only be moved to one of my neighbor’s homes.

Within a month of the street being finished and the tanker disappearing, the tree that was within 10 feet of where it was parked died. There were 3 small trees on that parkway and it seems odd that 1 went from OK to dead overnight. I then got a letter telling me that the tree was dead and would be removed and not to be replaced (at the village’s expense or even my own) as there wasn’t sufficient space in its location… which was news to me.

I didn’t plant those trees, and was more than a bit irritated in the “lack of space” letter, seeing that I am more than convinced in the village’s contractor’s liability in its demise – I wish I saved it (both the letter and the tree).

There is a new sheriff in town! Maybe one day you’ll get your tree.

Old trees (as Gem mentioned) can be a real safety hazard. They do not appear rotten on the outside but are ready to land large junks on your house or car in the next storm. Time for them to go.

Construction equipment can kill elderly oaks (100 year +) if equipment is parked on their root zone but death usually does not show up for several seasons after.

Bio,

I appreciate the thought.

This was a younger (roughly 6 inch diameter trunk) flowering tree – I wish I could tell you more about it.
The grass surrounding it, specifically on the curb/street side showed a bit of damage both from foot/machinery traffic and "other." It was summer and I mowed the area myself.

I am not asserting malice here, just… not the point. I should have fought harder to have the tanker moved. I would go so softly into that good night again.

Trees to me are well worth a hug. I have what R. Mohlenbrock calls an "Old Field Hawthorne" (usually one of the first trees to volunteer when a farm field goes fallow). It's like a giant umbrella and is the best shade to sit under on a hot summer day- but it's collapsing due to it's weight and age being probably 50+ years old now).

I suppose someone will bitch about this too but GE has an excellent arborist. Much better than most of the others I've met in DuPage (if they actually have one).

I know that tree - I think I live across the street from Mama Attorney. I saw the big red X on it and wondered. But like others, you never know if it's dead or not by its appearance. Years ago, on a perfectly calm summer morning, no wind, no rain, just beautiful and sunny, I was sitting in my living room and all of a sudden heard an enormous cracking sound, followed by a huge thud outside. Just across the street (2 doors down from Mama Attorney, in fact), a perfectly healthy looking tree, enormous, had simply fallen down. It fell across 2 driveways, fortunately did not hit a person or a child (the neighborhood was full of small children) or even a car, I don't think. But boy was it dramatic and scary and messy! No sign at all that it was sick or diseased, until it simply fell.

That's sad about there not being money in the tree planting budget, however. The CBD's bare; now our parkways have to be, too? Yikes.

The Village did everything they could to kill one of our three parkway maples. The roots got hacked from three sides from replacing curbs and a new sidewalk. There are ways to be careful with roots, and they didn't follow any of those methods.

Two years later, it was beginning to die, and they came and cut it down. Took another full year, and several phone calls to get them to remove the stump. That done, they told us they weren't going to put in another tree.

Trees don't much matter to this Village anymore.

Are you saying they didn't follow the Glen Ellyn Tree Preservation plan?

Had nothing to do with that. We did ask if there was a way a replacement tree could be planted. There is no ComEd or phone wires overhead on our side of the street.

They simply don't want to replace a dead tree with a new one, despite the next tree being 30 feet distant. Seems to me the plan is to eliminate trees on parkways if they can get away with it.