| Over mature heritage tree
Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Oregon
Posts: 465
|  Historic Artifact: Catalpa in Jacksonville, Oregon
Recently, I learned that a Tree Service in Jacksonville, Oregon, suggested to remove a Catalpa at the historic "Beekman House". I don't think its slated to come down yet, and they would still need to "run it by" the City of Jacksonville, which requires permits. I was asked (by someone with an important interest) to look at the tree for a second opinion.
When I was out there, after about 10 minutes, one thing was very clear, if I bought the house and it was my place, 100% I would keep the tree without one worry of it falling over. That's provided it can be maintained, pruned and the soil aerated. Maybe even remove some sod around it. If photos of the historic house could prove that it has leaned over more in just the past 5 to 10 years, I'd begin to think differently.
The soil is raised opposite the lean, but I've seen that before with several trees that were easily salvageable with correction of soil conditions. There are a few wounds on the tree, that are minor in comparison to it's size. The lower right limb that was stubbed-off once, and points toward and under the power lines, may have been a leader once, or may have been a limb. With that tree, either is possible. It's in one of the images. It is missing a strip of bark along the top, maybe 6' long. There is a lot of good wood and tissue on it, and without massive weight on it, I'd prefer to keep it for now, rather than make a huge cut at the main trunk to remove it.
The vine farthest from the tree is totally dead and can be removed. It's partially embedded into the big low limb, but most of it can be worked away. The other vine, I'd remove at least 50% of it's height. In this situation, some of it may have to remain if possible, due to the "artifact" matter. The vine is historic as is the tree. The image with the trumpet vine flower is just to show that the tree has good vigour and is closing over a cut nicely. May have been from the other tree service, or the power line clearing company. Anyhow, this is a tree I looked at today, and about all I can say at this moment, is that I'd be very happy to work on it if it was mine.
But I'm going to see if the person who called me can find images of the house from the street, showing the angle of the tree - maybe 10 years ago, 30 years ago, or 70 years ago. Either way, I'm interested see if the tree's lean can be pin-pointed to a certain year. Almost forgot - apparently, recommendation for removal by the other service is based on "root damage". The one dead root in the image is the only visible one like it. All the bark, tissue and flare of the tree trunk look normal. Unless someone has seen the area when excavated, I suspect that the damaged surface root may be the only one that's dead. There really are no surface roots around the whole tree. None can be felt under the sod when walking around it. |