The Chestnut tree has been a neighbor of the home where I live for about 80-85 years. It was planted, or maybe its male flower got carried by the wind or buried in the ground by a squirrel around 1935. Dunno. But it’s older than I am, and it’s probably older than anyone reading this. It towers over the three-story house across the street. It’s witnessed a lot of life come and go.
The small yard where the tree has been living is about to be or has sold and may be developed. This tree was just cut down to create an additional parking space for a building that has had a single parking space for who knows how long. Because the tree is on private property, it has no legal rights. A former mayor is making sure that this will happen.
It's easy to take nature for granted and to assume that it will take care of itself. It doesn’t. Increasingly, human choice dominates the well-being of nature.
The loss of a grandparent tree like this one makes a difference:
- Trees connect communities, cultures, and generations.
- Neighborhood trees have shown the ability to reduce stress, improve overall health and development in children
- They encourage physical activity.
- Trees are natural air filters, capturing particulate matter, dust and pollutants in their bark and leaves.
- A healthy tree canopy fosters economic advantages and civic pride.
- This specific tree sequesters somewhere between 1,000-2,000 lbs greenhouse gases/year. That’s comparable to the amount of CO2 generated by a passenger from Logan to LAX.
- The Arbor Day Foundation estimates that this tree’s overall economic benefit at ~$200+/year
- There are ~ 17 trees on my street. This was one of the largest. Cutting down this chestnut will have a negative impact on the look and feel of the street as a whole.
Trees can be annoyances to homeowners and their abutters. Many households have two cars and want two parking spaces. It costs about $10/year to park on the street in front of your home in Newburyport, and this property already has one parking space. Its driveway could accommodate an additional parking space with a bit of an adjustment.
That compromise was unacceptable to the owners. And, a tree this size sheds its leaves every autumn, which entails a lot of clean up by the folks next door. It costs money to keep the tree alive.
But the fact remains that a tree which once flourished in The Port for who knows how many years was just DOGE’d by someone’s version of progress and efficiency.
If a tree falls in The Port, who will hear it cry?