Letter to the Editor | Why healthy tree removal in the Town of Erin | By Susan Graham

November 2, 2020 – Town of Erin, WI – Dear Town of Erin Board,

My name is Susan Graham. I am not a resident of your lovely town, but I enjoy visiting my sister and her family here often. My sister is Jenny Graham, who as you probably remember has attended some of your meetings regarding her strong concern about the plan to clear-cut trees along some of the rustic roads in Erin Township.

She asked for my assistance in looking at the trees along some of the rustic roads that are marked orange for removal. As background, my undergraduate degree is in botany, and I learned tree identification and took many ecology courses. As a naturalist, I know about restoration and habitat health. I currently work as a water resources scientist. I hope this information will help you make good decisions about how the tree removal project moves forward.

Jenny and I walked the length of Emerald Drive from Donegal Road to St. Augustine. We tied blue flags on orange flagged trees that we urge you to spare in the course of your upcoming road repair project.

We found a very small number of ash trees, already marked orange. We support the removal of these trees if they would fall on the road. There are literally millions of ashes dying in forests across the Midwest, and the only ones being actively removed are in urban areas, or managed yards. If they lean away, and they are well off the road, it’s not clear why the Town would spend the money to remove them but in the big picture, we don’t have a problem with it.

We mostly blue-flagged basswood trees as they were the most common species along the road. These trees are excellent native trees — yes, they are “softwood” but this is no reason to cut them in particular. The cut trees are not being used as firewood, so there is no difference between softwood or hardwood in this context. They produce profuse flowers in spring, providing a veritable feast for honeybees and many other pollinators. As most of you probably know, pollinator insects on the North American continent are declining, and efforts across all levels of government, nonprofits, and private people are working to support them for the benefit of our agricultural industry. Pollinators need all the help we can give them.

A possible misperception about basswood trees is that because most have multiple trunks arising from the ground together that they are in unhealthy condition. This is not the case — it is a normal growth pattern for basswoods. Some people also call these linden trees, and they are plentiful in urban areas.

After basswoods, the other tree species we put blue flags on large-toothed aspen, American aspen, slippery elm, sugar maple, shagbark hickory, and hop hornbeam. These are all wonderful, native trees growing in a healthy forest community. None of the trees I observed along Emerald Dr. are invasive species or problematic in and of themselves — with one exception. There was one buckthorn shrub marked for removal closer to St. Augustine Road. If this shrub is killed, it would be doing this lovely forest a favor to reduce the spread of this species as it is extremely harmful ecologically, but the stump MUST be treated with an appropriate herbicide or it will resprout readily, with even more sprouts. The forests in this area are really remarkable in that they aren’t already infested with buckthorn, honeysuckle, burning bush or any other harmful invasives that are so common in most other places.

After carefully considering each tree slated for removal, we did mark a lot of them with blue ribbon to ask that they not be removed.

If it’s for driver safety, people simply need to do what people do on roads everywhere — drive the speed limit, unimpaired, and not too fast for conditions. If it’s for school buses to pass each other safely, well, they should not be driving off the roadway to begin with, and again, safe speeds would obviously be called for. All bus drivers are hired with this good sense and trained to reinforce that. A good number of the trees flagged orange are on top of a soil bank, well out of the way of any swerving traffic or other conceivable road navigation. Driver safety is clearly not the reason for removing those.

If the reason is to make snowplowing easier, (and we did note two trees on Emerald that showed damage consistent with being dinged by the lower corner of a plow blade), the plow drivers should slow down just a little, and accommodate the trees that make these roads so scenic and special. They accommodate mailboxes, fire number posts, and utility poles, in addition to the banks of soil in places. I’m sure it’s quicker to plow a wide-open highway but doing a careful job in a variety of conditions is something civil servants take pride in doing. It is just necessary in spots along these rustic roads. As we inspected the orange blazed trees, it was clear that this rationale didn’t apply in the vast majority of cases as they were up on top of a soil bank, down low off the slope of the roadway, or just back off the road where they aren’t in the way of snowbanks.

If the tree removal is because of some sense of stewardship of the woods, the removal of most trees marked orange would be contrary to sound ecological forest management. The forest through which these roads travel is not being actively managed. Dead trees are generally left to provide food and habitat for woodpeckers and many other species of birds that rely on standing deadwood and fall when they are ready as they have in unmanaged forests long before Europeans settled here. Many species of birds and some mammals need standing dead wood.

Some of the trees along Emerald marked for removal are growing up into the canopy of old oak trees. These shorter trees we did not mark to save, because these younger trees penetrating an oak’s canopy will cause the untimely death of large branches, harming the oaks. If the Town wants to be in the business of managing roadside trees for ecologically sound purposes, this would be one small example, but it doesn’t look like that is your purpose, either.

Some trees are growing near the power line. Removing these trees to reduce conflict with the line is the power company’s responsibility, not the Town’s.

Are the trees considered a serious falling hazard to drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists using the road? Even removing the trees near the road will not reduce that hazard due to the sheer number of large trees — this is a mature forest. Very few of the trees marked for removal are leaning over the road, and many are leaning away, but still marked for removal. One was nothing but a 10′ tall stump, about 10 to 12′ from the roadway, leaning away from the road. Cutting this makes no sense. Clearly this falling hazard is not the purpose to remove them.

One last possible rationale we could imagine is if someone felt tree roots near the road would interfere with digging down to refresh the bed of the road during reconstruction. Well, those roots would be present for many, many years whether or not the trees near the road are removed this winter. I know the road reconstruction is scheduled to happen soon, so that can’t be the reason either. Tree roots do not continue to grow after a tree is felled (with the exception of buckthorn, which isn’t killed by chain sawing).

The trees we added a blue ribbon to are stately and beautiful, providing shade and cool during the summer, and habitat for pollinators, birds, and mammals throughout the year. They are a crucial element of a healthy forest and were a prime incentive to the Town of Erin’s original designation of these rustic roads. The trees we marked to save are well off the road, not creating a maintenance problem or any special hazard. They are not hurting other trees, leaning excessively, and not interfering with normal snowplow operations. Many are large and must be very expensive to remove. During the few hours we were walking and talking and looking at the trees, we saw so many people bicycling, driving slowly on that cool Sunday morning, and we spoke with no fewer than 4 curious drivers who stopped to ask what was going on. All 4 individuals or families were unhappy to learn of the proposal to remove the trees, and one already knew, and vehemently stated their opposition, although they want the road resurfaced.

Finally, we could not imagine any other logical justification for this very expensive, disruptive and unpopular proposal. After all the objections, why do residents still have to wonder what is the reason for it? What possible benefit is there to the Town residents?

In summary, by being more judicious about tree removal along these roads, you, the Town board, have the opportunity to save a significant amount of taxpayer money. You can also protect the unique aesthetic pleasure for those who treasure this rustic road. The newly renovated road will be a beautiful place to walk, cycle or drive without the excessive number of trees removed. The area will continue to attract visitors who marvel at the beauty of this township, with outstanding fall color, intimate feel of the forest enclosing the roads, and contributing to the business interests in the area. We feel that in the absence of clear, logical justification, the Town should significantly scale back this arbitrary, harmful, and unpopular waste of taxpayer money, and listen to the residents you were elected by.

Thank you for listening,

Susan Graham

Madison, WI

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