As fans of the Tidal Basins best-known cherry tree mourn its impending demise, many are wondering: Why cant Stumpy the famous stump-shaped tree be saved?

Readers commenting on a recent Washington Post article on the issue suggested replanting the tree with a backhoe, couple guys with shovels and volunteers. The hollow cherry tree on the south side of the basin will be removed by the National Park Service this spring during construction of a new sea wall for flood prevention. Approximately 150 cherry trees will be cut down during the project.

But the Park Service is holding firm to its plans and it has prompted a question among the trees fans: Why cant the tree be moved to higher ground?

While in some cases trees can be successfully moved, the likelihood that Stumpy would not survive the move combined with the cost rules out transplantation as a viable alternative. The trunk is in advanced stages of decay, Matthew Morrison, an arborist for the National Park Service, said in an email to The Post.

Transplanting the tree to a new location would not be conducive to her success. It would be doubtful that the woody portions of the overhead branch, the trunk, and/or the roots would stay intact without fracture during the process, Morrison added.

Stumpy became popular in 2020 after a Reddit user joked that the tree was as dead as his love life. Over the past four years, the trees popularity has grown because it has survived daily flooding from the Potomac River and in ways became a symbol of resilience.

But thats also contributed to its deteriorating health.

The tree has long been a victim of twice-daily flooding, sun scalding, compacted soil and fungi, and is already in what botanists refer to as its mortality spiral, Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said in an email. Due to its loss of structural integrity and its extremely weakened condition, Stumpy simply would not survive an attempt to move it.

This spring, Stumpy the tree will pass the baton to Stumpy the mascot, which will celebrate its spirit during future Credit Union Cherry Blossom races, including races this weekend.

While the organizers of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom [races] along with legions of devotees will be saddened to see Stumpy go, the mission of Stumpy the Mascot is to make sure that Stumpy is not forgotten in the years to come, Phil Stewart, director of the cherry blossom races, said in an email.

And on Saturday, Stumpy the mascot will also appear at the Blossoms and Baseball game at Nationals Park. Stumpy will join the Racing Presidents to greet fans before the Nationals game and will guest star in the mid-fourth-inning Presidents Race.

So, while the tree will disappear from the Tidal Basin later this spring, the image of Stumpy will live on. And little Stumpy clones, produced from its clippings, will be planted in D.C.

The Trust for the National Mall, the non-profit partner of the National Park Service, and its Adopt A Cherry Tree Program help care for the 3,700 cherry trees, including the future saplings genetically matched to Stumpy.

If you want to visit Stumpy the tree before its gone, it can be viewed during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which lasts through April 14. Stumpy is located just west of the Jefferson Memorial.

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Fans mourning cherry tree's removal ask: Why can't Stumpy be replanted? - The Washington Post

STORY AT KCTV DOT COM. WELL, NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS IS CLOSING A PART OF A GRETNA PARK. THE ARCHERY RANGE IN SOME OF THE HIKING TRAILS WILL BE CLOSED AT SCHRAMM PARK STATE REC AREA. THIS STARTS TOMORROW. THATS SO CREWS CAN REMOVE SOME INVASIVE TREES A

Portion of a Gretna park will be closed for invasive tree removal

Updated: 4:43 PM CDT Apr 4, 2024

Nebraska Game and Parks is closing part of a Gretna park. The archery range and some of the hiking trails will be closed at Schramm Park State Recreation Area, starting Friday. The closure will be so crews can remove invasive trees and shrubs.There will be signs showing which areas are closed off.Click here for the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7

Nebraska Game and Parks is closing part of a Gretna park.

The archery range and some of the hiking trails will be closed at Schramm Park State Recreation Area, starting Friday.

The closure will be so crews can remove invasive trees and shrubs.

There will be signs showing which areas are closed off.

Click here for the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7

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Portion of a Schramm Park will be closed for invasive tree removal - KETV Omaha

L.L. Bean has just added a third shift at its factory in Brunswick, Maine, in an attempt to keep up with demand for its iconic boot.

Orders have quadrupled in the past few years as the boots have become more popular among a younger, more urban crowd.

The company says it saw the trend coming and tried to prepare, but orders outpaced projections. They expect to sell 450,000 pairs of boots in 2014.

People hoping to have the boots in time for Christmas are likely going to be disappointed. The bootsare back ordered through February and even March.

"I've been told it's a good problem to have but I"m disappointed that customers not getting what they want as quickly as they want," said Senior Manufacturing Manager Royce Haines.

Customers like, Mary Clifford, tried to order boots on line, but they were back ordered until January.

"I was very surprised this is what they are known for and at Christmas time you can't get them when you need them," said Clifford.

People who do have boots are trying to capitalize on the shortage and are selling them on Ebay at a much higher cost.

L.L. Bean says it has hired dozens of new boot makers, but it takes up to six months to train someone to make a boot.

The company has also spent a million dollars on new equipment to try and keep pace with demand.

Some customers are having luck at the retail stores. They have a separate inventory, and while sizes are limited, those stores have boots on the shelves.

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Several road closures planned along Hwy. 82 in Burlingame for tree removal - NBC Bay Area

INJURY REPORTED IN TREE REMOVAL PROJECT ON COUNTY ROAD 461  3B Media News

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INJURY REPORTED IN TREE REMOVAL PROJECT ON COUNTY ROAD 461 - 3B Media News

SHORELINE, Wash. A major re-design of a roadway will create a more walkable route for people to reach light rail in Shoreline, but it comes at the expense of hundreds of trees.

Huge Douglas firs, big leaf maples and red cedars got caught in a collision course with the project and protesters showed up as crews began chopping them down on Thursday. The first of 317 trees began being cleared Thursday morning along North 145th Street near Interstate 5, and the removal is expected to continue into the weekend.

Protesters with the group Save Shoreline Trees and other grassroots organizations held up signs advocating for the trees as they were being taken down. Many had spent months lobbying to save them.

We have to have trees. There is nothing we can manufacture that will do for us what the trees do for us, said Sandy Shettler with the group Tree Action Seattle. We held out hope that because of the craziness of taking down the very thing that enables us to survive, that their minds would be changed, that something could be done with this project."

RELATED | 7-month road closure, tree removal begins on North 145th Street near I-5 in Shoreline

For the next seven months, a section of North 145th Street will remain closed between 1st Ave NE to just west of I-5 as improvements are made along the corridor ahead of the opening of a light rail station later this year.

The city wants to widen the sidewalk and make traffic flow improvements along North 145th Street by replacing the traffic signals at the access ramps to I-5 with roundabouts, calling them a better option for cars, bicycles and pedestrians to access the light rail station that will open later this year.

A city spokesperson said the current layout is congested, accident prone and largely inaccessible to people walking or riding bicycles. Getting people out of their cars and using public transit, such as light rail, will help the city achieve its climate goals, the spokesperson said.

They could easily be building around many of these trees but they are choosing not to, said Richard Ellison, one of the protesters. Somebody is posturing and saying, 'Oh we have to just mow them all down and we can't build around them,' and they could be looking and saying, 'Hey here's a cluster of some really nice trees, let's make the sidewalk go around them."

ALSO SEE | Lynnwood light rail extension, 4 new stations to open Aug. 30

According to the city, modifications have been made to some aspects of the project to save more trees. They will also eventually plant nearly twice as many trees as are removed to make up for the loss.

They will not provide the cooling for people or the habitat for wildlife that these trees provide," Shettler said.

Hundreds of additional trees will be cut down as future phases of the transportation project get underway, and demonstrators called on city officials to adjust the plans.

I hope that somehow we can stop them from doing that. They can change their plans. There's nothing that says you can't change your plans, said Joe Olson, one of the demonstrators.

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Protesters gather as extensive tree removal begins for Shoreline transportation project - KOMO News

County to Begin High-Risk Tree Removal on the Columbia Trail Tentatively Next Week  TAPinto.net

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County to Begin High-Risk Tree Removal on the Columbia Trail Tentatively Next Week - TAPinto.net

New Castle News | Newspaper Ads | Classifieds | Services | Based in Pulaski, PA and Serving the Surrounding Areas  New Castle News

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New Castle News | Newspaper Ads | Classifieds | Services | Based in Pulaski, PA and Serving the Surrounding Areas - New Castle News

Todays round of questions, my smart-aleck replies, and the real answers:

Question: As I sit through yet another day of saws buzzing, listening to my neighbors take down enormous trees in Kenilworth, I have to wonder how this is allowed in a place like Asheville? I grew up in Atlanta and even there I believe we had requirements to replant if trees were cut (an inch of diameter of trunk replanted for every inch removed). Why doesnt Asheville do anything to protect trees, even ones that are hundreds of years old?

My answer: Ive always been a little suspicious that the tree commission is sponsored by Stihl.

Real answer: I commiserated with this reader because in my neighborhood in Fletcher a couple of neighbors have recently mowed down a lovely stand of pine trees in one case and a row of Leyland cypresses in another. Both species can get big and pose problems, and sometimes disease could be a factor, but I always hate to see the trees go.

In Asheville, the city has made serious efforts to preserve trees and the tree canopy, according to spokesperson Kim Miller.

Asheville residents and city leaders cherish the beauty of our mountain home and have established ordinances, staff positions, and a community-led commission designed to protect and maintain our forests and trees, Miller said via email.

You can find the citys tree ordinance here. Its not that long but is a little dense to read.

The ordinance dates back a number of years and was spawned in part by outrage over tree cuts similar to what the reader expresses above. The intro to the ordinance states an October 23, 2019, study by Davey Resource Group found that from 2008 to 2018, the city lost 891 acres of tree canopy, a 6.4 percent reduction. The study also found the city has suffered measurable increases in airborne pollutants and damaging stormwater runoff as a result of its loss of tree canopy.

The city has a seven-member Urban Forestry Commission, which City Council appoints. The director of Planning and Urban Design administers the commission to protect and preserve the citys trees. The commission meets the first Tuesday of each month.

While it is not within the citys ability to require that all trees, or even specific trees, be preserved, the current ordinance uses a system of incentives focused on the preservation of existing trees, essentially making compliance easier when trees are saved versus cut or opting for a fee-in-lieu, Miller said.

The current tree canopy preservation ordinance has resulted in 2,473,521 square feet of canopy preserved, versus 336,850 square feet of canopy planted for compliance, Miller noted.

The city also hired an urban forester, Keith Aitken. You can find his contact information here.

The city can do only so much when it comes to ordinances, as property owners have rights that have to be respected. Also, the state, not cities, has ultimate authority in North Carolina.

The North Carolina state (General) Assembly has also established state rules, which limit the citys ability to regulate tree removal, Miller said.

But we do have a lot of folks around here who really cherish our trees, and its worth noting that Asheville GreenWorks, the nonprofit environmental group, expends a lot of energy to bolster our tree canopy.

We know that we are losing too many trees to development, the organization states on its website. Thats why were planting 2,500 trees each year to restore the tree canopy. To ensure we have enough trees to plant, we grow thousands of native trees each year at our two tree nurseries.

The Buncombe County Parks & Recreation Department provided a grant to install the tree nursery, according to the website. GreenWorks says the goal is to help the City of Asheville restore its tree canopy to 50 percent from 46 percent.

If youre interested in that program, send an email to volunteer@ashevillegreenworks.org.

Question: In what secret place are the Vance monument rocks being kept? And what will happen to them now that the court says the removal was OK?

My answer: I dont know, but the citys new all-granite block ice cream stand in Pack Square sure is nice. I imagine they dont even need air conditioning for that baby those stones must be two feet thick!

Real answer: No dice yet on this one, even though the states highest court ruled in late March that the citys removal of the controversial obelisk was legal.

I can certainly understand the desire for information on this, and I think there is a light at the end of this tunnel where disclosure will be possible, Asheville City Attorney Brad Branham said via email. However, in the immediate wake of the Supreme Court decision, I feel that the risk of providing that information is as high as it has ever been.

As reported by WLOS-News 13, the North Carolina Supreme Court announced its unanimous decision in the case on March 22, rejecting a lawsuit from a historic preservation group that had challenged the citys removal of the Vance Monument in Pack Square Plaza in 2021.

Vance, born in northern Buncombe County, served as the states governor during the Civil War, and in the United States Congress after the war. While he was a champion of public education, Vance, a slave owner before the war, also espoused horrible racial tropes and was unapologetically racist.

The city, which removed the monument in 2021, prevailed in the case, which was brought by the Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th Regiment North Carolina Troops. That group had paid for a rehabilitation of the monument several years ago.

The city removed the 75-foot obelisk, which had towered over Pack Square since 1898, block by block and put the stones in storage.

Those who disagree with the courts ruling may feel compelled to seek out the materials in a desperate attempt to preserve the materials, Branham said. Therefore, in order to ensure that the final steps of this process can be carried out in a safe and effective manner, the city will only disclose the storage details after the removed materials have been disposed of. At that point, we will be happy to provide the requested details.

Branhan said he hopes that wont be too far in the distant future.

Both the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and the Asheville City Council voted to remove the statue in 2020, saying it had become a public safety threat in the community, WLOS reported.

Asheville Watchdogis a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday.TheWatchdogs reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go toavlwatchdog.org/donate.

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Answer Man: Does the city have tree protection rules in place? Still no answer on where the Vance Monument stones ... - Asheville Watchdog

Tree and brush removal along Highway 101 next week will mark the first stages of preparation for a road improvement project scheduled to begin in the summer.

Crews will remove trees and brush within the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) right of way along the highway, spanning from Highway 5 in Chanhassen to County Road 62/Townline Road in Eden Prairie.

From Tuesday, April 9, through Friday, April 12, Highway 101 will be temporarily reduced to one lane with flagging in both directions at some locations between Highway 5 and County Road 62. These lane closures will occur from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

According to MnDOT, these closures could result in delays of up to 10 minutes. MnDOT notes that all timeframes are approximate, subject to change, and weather and schedule dependent.

Motorists are encouraged to plan their travel in advance, consult 511 for real-time updates, and allow extra time to reach their destinations. Officials remind drivers to exercise caution and patience when navigating through work zones, highlighting the importance of obeying speed limits and remaining alert to changes and the presence of workers and equipment. The fine for speeding in a work zone is $300.

The summer construction on Highway 101 will include road resurfacing, trail reconstruction on the west side, installation of overhead pedestrian signals at Twilight Trail and Valley View Road, drainage improvements near Purgatory Creek, and the creation of accessible pedestrian crossings and curb ramps.

Completion is projected for October.

For further details and updates on traffic impacts, visit the Hwy 101 project webpage or contact the project team.

We offer several ways for our readers to provide feedback. Your comments are welcome on our social media posts (Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn). We also encourage Letters to the Editor; submission guidelines can be found on our Contact Us page. If you believe this story has an error or you would like to get in touch with the author, please connect with us.

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Tree removal starts April 9 along Hwy. 101 in EP, Chanhassen - Eden Prairie Local News

The Rock Creek tree crew from left to right: Josue Guevara (in the bucket), Supervisor Kevin Freeman, Sherwood Hall, and Bobby Rutkowski. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Freeman/NPS)

by Marlene Berlin

I wrote in January about a drivers close call with a falling tree in Rock Creek Park. By the next day, the tree was no longer blocking Ridge Road.

The tree removal was the work of a National Park Service crew that keeps Rock Creek Parks roads and trails clear and safe for the park staff and the public. Kevin Freeman is the supervisor of what will be a five-person team once two additional hires are cleared to start work. Freeman and Josue Guevara are the certified arborists on the crew, with a third to join them.

Freeman and the three crew members who were on the team when I spoke and corresponded with him have worked in Rock Creek Park anywhere from three to 40 years. This is his second tour with the Rock Creek tree crew, and his first as its leader. Freeman joined the team in 2016, then left a few years later to work at Yosemite National Park as a supervisor. But he wanted to return to the East Coast, so when he heard that the tree crew supervisor position had opened up, he applied.

Kevin Freeman with one of the tools of the trade.

Freeman explained that it took two crew members about three hours to clear the tree that had fallen on Ridge Road in January, with the assistance of their crane truck. And when they dont have trees to remove, they still have plenty of work to do.

The crew also identifies and removes dead trees that are hazardous to the safety of visitors, whether they are near roads, trails, and picnic areas, or next to private residences. They are also responsible for pruning, to preserve trees and protect the public. They cut foliage back from roads. And they do snow removal.

Also: Our area of responsibility is vast, Freeman told me in an email. We are responsible for all federal green space and parks from the Maryland border (North side of Rock Creek park proper), west to Chevy Chase Circle and Fort Bayard, East to Fort Bernard Hill/Fort Totten and south to Canal Road. This includes Meridian Hill Park, Montrose Park/Dumbarton Oaks, Battery Kemble, Fort Reno, Woodley Park/Playground, Georgetown Waterfront Park and Glover Archibald, just to name a few. We are also responsible for the entire length of the Rock Creek Parkway and adjacent lands, down to Thompson Boat Center. There are 32 miles of trails that the tree crew is responsible for keeping clear as well as many community gardens.

If its green, Freemans tree crew has probably worked there.

Most treefalls occur between July and September, Freeman said. This period is when thunderstorms are most powerful, and he said he has noticed an increase in the severity, frequency and impact of these storms over the years. But as we know, trees can come down anytime it rains.

And if those fallen trees pose a hazard or a barrier to hikers and drivers, the Rock Creek Park tree crew will soon be there to take them away.

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Meet the crew that quickly clears fallen trees from Rock Creek Park roads and trails - Forest Hills Connection