Our grand sugar maple, the
signature tree of our lake property, became too sick to save and had to be
taken down.
It was a glorious tree, with
a trunk six feet in circumference, and just over two feet in diameter. I won’t
know its age until we cut the stump closer to the ground and count the growth
rings. Sugar maples can live 200 years or more.
I noticed that the tree was
not quite right early in the summer. Its leaves were well formed but stunted.
By early fall they still had not grown to full size.
Summer was a washout, much
rain and little sunshine and warmth. So I thought maybe that was the reason the
leaves were not growing, even though those on other trees had reached maturity.
Then I noticed a scabby area
near the ground. Poking around with my fingers revealed a large area of rot.
I called in Josh Burk of
ArborView Tree Care who confirmed the tree was sick and would not recover.
I wanted to let it stand as
long as possible but it was a 40-to-50 foot tree and if it came down in storm
it would hit a building, or land heavily on the septic field. So, sad as it
was, it had to come down, in pieces.
That old maple was an important
part of life at the lake. It sheltered us as we cooked, ate and slept while
clearing the lot for a building more than 30 years ago. Later, it shaded the
south side of the cottage from the afternoon sun and protected it from snow and
rain.
Children played games
beneath it and one spring we tapped it to show them how its sap could be turned
to maple syrup.
And of course at this time
of year it provided a beauty pageant with leaves turning pale yellow, then
orangey, then brilliant scarlet.
It was a larger-than-life
example of how trees are givers rather than takers and why they are critical to
life on our planet.
Trees are the largest plants
and the longest living species on earth. The benefits they provide are
extensive.
To begin with, trees absorb
carbon dioxide, an important factor in climate change, and they give off
life-giving oxygen. It is estimated that one large tree can supply oxygen enough
for four people for one day.
Trees are earth’s most
important pollution filters. It is believed that a large tree canopy removes up
to 1.7 kilograms of dust and other pollutants every year.
They filter the soil as well
as the air, absorbing chemicals and sewage with their roots. Their large root
networks are important in slowing flash flooding and erosion. That’s why some
governments forbid the cutting of live trees along lake shorelines.
Tree canopies reduce wind
and lower temperatures. They also absorb sound, lessening noise from road
traffic and generally reducing noise pollution by as much as 40 per cent.
They are good for human
health. Research shows that being among trees lowers blood pressure and slows
the heart rate.
They supply us with many
material goods. They provide fruit and flowers, fuel for cooking and heating
and lumber for building.
The giving nature of trees
is illustrated exceptionally well in The Giving Tree, a 1964 children’s picture
book by Shel Silverstein. Early on the Giving Tree provides a boy with a place
to climb and play. Later it gives him apples, then wood for a variety of
building projects.
When the boy becomes an old
man, the tree has given him everything until it has been reduced to a stump.
Even then it still gives – the stump providing a seat on which the old man can
sit and rest.
The Giving Tree is one of
the most popular books in the history of children’s literature, and one of the
most controversial. The controversy relates to whether the relationship between
the boy and the tree is about selfless love, or an abusive relationship.
It is a silly controversy.
All I know is that trees are good and that I am going to miss our old sugar
maple.
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