
{"id":27144,"date":"2012-07-26T10:39:46","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T14:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=27144"},"modified":"2012-07-26T10:39:46","modified_gmt":"2012-07-26T14:39:46","slug":"flora-they-have-stories-to-tell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/07\/26\/flora-they-have-stories-to-tell\/","title":{"rendered":"FLORA: They have stories to tell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Ken Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think a day goes by that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reflect on Weaver Street Market staff member Teresa Hutson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response in February to my description of visiting the ancient hollow tulip poplar still standing sentinel in the Stillhouse Bottom Natural Area and Preserve.<\/p>\n<p>Following my reverential description of feeling that we humans will never live to experience as much of life as has that aged forest giant, Teresa softly responded that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an aged forest sentinel tree near her home that she frequently visits. And then, somewhat timidly, she described that those old monarchs of the forest \u00e2\u20ac\u0153have stories to tell and if we stand quietly enough, long enough, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell us some of those stories.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27145\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27145\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2012\/07\/26\/flora-they-have-stories-to-tell\/willowoak1a\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27145\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WillowOak1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"WillowOak1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"402\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27145\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WillowOak1a.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WillowOak1a-111x150.jpg 111w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WillowOak1a-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WillowOak1a-74x100.jpg 74w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27145\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many trees survive lightning strikes like this one. Our fingers are crossed that Weaver Street&#039;s willow oak survives.  PHOTO BY KEN MOORE<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nSix months later, now is an appropriate time to share Teresa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience and wisdom, because here in the midst of summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s extended heat wave the Carrboro community is faced with contemplation on the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heritage trees.<\/p>\n<p>Last week lightning struck the willow oak that dominates and shades the community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s iconic gathering place in front of Weaver Street Market. <\/p>\n<p>Relatively young for such a big tree, that willow oak, most likely planted in the 1930s, grew quickly to its present stature; one does not even want to contemplate how the loss of that tree will alter the social and economic well being of the south side of Carr Mill. <\/p>\n<p>The mall management has already called in professional services and the tree wounds have been treated to prevent attack from opportunistic, harmful insects during this watchful waiting period to observe how the tree responds to last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lightning strike. Many trees survive lightning strikes, and let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope this one does. Time will tell. <\/p>\n<p>Back in June we learned that one of the old post oaks across from the Century Center was examined and assessed as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hazard tree\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because of considerable decay in the trunk and roots, and immediate removal was recommended. How fortunate we are that town staff decided to postpone that action and pursue additional professional assessment and input from concerned citizens.<\/p>\n<p>Many factors are involved in considering how hazardous a tree with internal decay may be. For instance, it is known that some species of trees, like post oaks, stand for decades with hollow trunks, providing useful shade and necessary habitat for critters like owls, bats and flying squirrels.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the sacred hollow 200-plus-year-old Davie tulip poplar on the UNC campus, other hollow remnants of the original forest on campus continue to provide shade for students and visitors as well as protection for barred owls observed nesting in those tree cavities for several decades. <\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, the Century Center post oak will be deemed strong enough to stand and provide shade for several more years.<\/p>\n<p>That post oak is not alone. It is one of many 150-plus-year-old post oaks along Main, Weaver and Greensboro streets. Those oaks are remnants of the original forest, beneath the canopy of which early Carrborites built their homes on this broad hilltop we call Carrboro.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27148\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27148\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2012\/07\/26\/flora-they-have-stories-to-tell\/postoak3a\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27148\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/PostOak3a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"PostOak3\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27148\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/PostOak3a.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/PostOak3a-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/PostOak3a-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/PostOak3a-100x75.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/PostOak3a-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27148\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hopefully, the Century Center post oak will be deemed strong enough to stand and provide shade for several more years.  PHOTO BY KEN MOORE<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThose old trees define the character of Carrboro and, as Teresa from Weaver Street Market said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They have stories to tell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appropriate for all of us to pause quietly from time to time beneath these giants among us because, after all, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they have stories to tell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><em>Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com. Find previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at <a href=\"http:\/\/carrborocitizen.com\/flora\">The Annotated Flora<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think a day goes by that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reflect on Weaver Street Market staff member Teresa Hutson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response in February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-flora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27144"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27177,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27144\/revisions\/27177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}