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TT: Heritage Oak tale



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Forwarded from LARCH-L listserve:


Date:    Thu, 12 Feb 1998 06:33:17 -0800
From:    Maurer Mark <MAURERM@WSDOT.WA.GOV>
Subject: FW: Heritage Oak

I am forwarding this from the list server URBNRNET. It's something to
consider next time we design a parking lot.

Mark Maurer
705-7242
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/cae/design/roadside/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>The Heritage Oak
>I prepared for battle that day in 1993
>fighting for life was nothing new for me.
>Fires, floods and insects that swarmed,
>I withstood them all, not fatally harmed.
>This day was different. The enemy was new,
>With modern technology, it takes just a few.
>This time though, they came with a great plan,
>"We'll do proper development for the good of man."
>They look at me and seemed awed and surprised.
>"He must spread over a hundred feet - from here to that side."
>Such a specimen, we must carefully protect.
>"Let's rope him off, regroup and reflect."
>In conference they went all well-intentioned.
>The cost of this project was not even mentioned.
>You see, I am an oak tree three hundred years old.
>To save me, and the project was considered as bold.
>No price is too high, no stone be unturned,
>even thoughts of my passing were immediately spurned.
>"We'll hire a designer to plan it all right.
>Such a tree in the parking lot will be a delight."
>The drawing board yielded a special protected zone.
>In this small area, my roots to feed on.
>Ten fen from my trunk the asphalt was begun,
>A paltry distance my roots to run.
>I am an oak and my species, you see,
>has roots which extend beyond my canopy - times three.
>The job was finished to the foreman's delight.
>Asphalt and new buildings, it was quite a sight.
>Functional, convenient and all that is new, and look!
>They saved the Heritage Oak too.
>Gasping for air, my roots in decline,
>Passers by admired me and thought I was fine.
>I thirsted for water, each drop my roots sought,
>though little can enter a roof of asphalt.
>For four years I struggled, no need for dismay,
>Slow decline of surroundings goes unnoticed today.
>One day a traveler, on his way into town,
>remarked that someone should cut that old oak down.
>This alarmed the store owners and citizens too,
>So they got organized to see what to do.
>"Let's call in a surgeon to take on this work,
>In dead, dying branches diseases do lurk."
>Dehorned and disgraced with stubby branches left,
>I didn't resemble my original self.
>Attempts at vigorous re-sprouting defeated,
>all stored food-starches and sugars depleted.
>"We'll pamper and fertilize, even deep root feed it too.
>In a couple of years it will be as good as new."
>I got just a taste of root feeding as it passed.
>It was injected under pressure - I thought I'd been gassed.
>"Deeper is better" - it was meant as a treat,
>But most old oak roots only go a foot deep.
>More limbs died as they watched me each day.
>"Call the County Agent", I heard someone say.
>The agent who came already knew my fate.
>Five years after paving is five years too late.
>I barely remember that infamous day,
>that they cut me down and hauled me away.
>They cut me low and ground up my base.
>What was once my home is now a parking space.
>I didn't die from old age, bugs or disease.
>Good intentions alone don't save big oak trees.
>
>Florida Cooperative Extension Agent Daniel E. Mullins wrote this poem aft=
>er a
>frustrating day of diagnosing tree disorders in a rapidly developing area=
> of
>his county.  It is meant to provide information as well as to encourage
>better protection of trees.
>
>--------------667DD47BC649B5EF660326C6
>Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="vcard.vcf"
>Content-Description: Card for Tom  Haxby
>Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="vcard.vcf"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>begin:          vcard
>fn:             Tom  Haxby
>n:              Haxby;Tom
>org:            Florida Division of Forestry
>adr;dom:        3125 Conner Boulevard;;;Tallahassee;FL;32399-1650;
>email;internet: haxbyt@doacs.state.fl.us
>title:          Rural Development Coordinator
>tel;work:       850-414-9955
>tel;fax:        850-921-6724



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