The giant was much smaller in 1983
Taking down a Giant!
When we bought our property in the early eighties, we were delighted that the house was surrounded by small pine trees. Although they were a little too big for a Christmas tree, they nevertheless looked great. The house was three times their height, with one exception. In front of the house, perhaps 8 meters (25 feet) away, there was a big yellow pine tree …. ‘guarding the house’.
It stood in front of the prevailing westerly winter winds, and sheltered the house from snow and wind, with its thickly needled boughs. What more could you ask for? It had grown proudly on a steep incline in front of our house, for about 90 years before we took over the property. It was a an icon and an anchor for most everything that happened in front of our house! It not only provided shade in the summer and shelter from the winter winds, but was also a host for a whole variety of wildlife!. All the birds (hummingbirds included), gray and red squirrels, chipmunks, racoons, etc., lived off this giant! It has been a font of life!
Unfortunately, after almost 40 years, the scenario has changed. The wonderful smaller trees have grown to a considerable height, and the big pine tree “guarding” the house, had developed into a considerable threat to the house. It weighed many, many tons, and given the species’ shallow root system and steep incline upon which it stood, if it toppled it would utterly destroy our house and anyone inside!
I have learned in the meantime, that pine trees can grow almost a foot a year. Now the house is surrounded by so many huge trees, most of them are posing a real danger.
I have learned in the meantime, that pine trees can grow almost a foot a year. Now the house is surrounded by so many huge trees, most of them are posing a real danger.
I was in the house in March, when one of the yellow pine trees fell down in a snowstorm, with its crown hitting the side of the house - splitting its branches on either side of the chimney, and then sliding down and hitting a corner of the porch. The noise was frightening, and the whole house shook. I found branches pushing against the windows on the second floor. The basement windows just shattered. Pieces of roofing shingles and siding littered the snow and broken branches were stabbed into the house walls.
That experience made us a lot more mindful of the condition of the trees surrounding our house. For example, we’ve had a wetter than average year in our region this year. This will make tree species with shallow root systems more prone to toppling in a windstorm. The denser the foliage on the tree, the more it will resist heavy winds and more likely it will be blown over. You can feel this if you hold your arm out your car window with your hand cupped against the wind, while driving. At 50 miles an hour- not an unusual wind speed for a winter storm, your arm will be bent almost painfully backwards. Now spread your fingers widely apart, and feel how much less resistance there is. It is the same for your trees. Sometimes careful pruning can extend the life of your favorite tree for just this reason.
That experience made us a lot more mindful of the condition of the trees surrounding our house. For example, we’ve had a wetter than average year in our region this year. This will make tree species with shallow root systems more prone to toppling in a windstorm. The denser the foliage on the tree, the more it will resist heavy winds and more likely it will be blown over. You can feel this if you hold your arm out your car window with your hand cupped against the wind, while driving. At 50 miles an hour- not an unusual wind speed for a winter storm, your arm will be bent almost painfully backwards. Now spread your fingers widely apart, and feel how much less resistance there is. It is the same for your trees. Sometimes careful pruning can extend the life of your favorite tree for just this reason.
So now I look at trees with very different eyes. As much as I need them for nature, I need to manage them close to my home. I need to be able to preserve my home, so I can preserve my trees!
Now I look at trees more like a doctor. Are they still healthy? Do they have poorly formed forks, and which ones? (Please see our post of April 23, 2018 “The Fork in the Tree) Are they balanced? Do they stand on even ground? Where would they fall, if they do? Are the leaves showing signs of distress?
Twenty years ago, when the trees had grown higher than the house, we had some trees removed. Their branches were resting on our roof in the winter with their snow loads; and squirrels used the branches as a convenient bridge to get to the roof, enjoying their new playground, and looking for gaps in the eaves so they could find their way in for a cozy winter shelter.
Now I look at trees more like a doctor. Are they still healthy? Do they have poorly formed forks, and which ones? (Please see our post of April 23, 2018 “The Fork in the Tree) Are they balanced? Do they stand on even ground? Where would they fall, if they do? Are the leaves showing signs of distress?
Twenty years ago, when the trees had grown higher than the house, we had some trees removed. Their branches were resting on our roof in the winter with their snow loads; and squirrels used the branches as a convenient bridge to get to the roof, enjoying their new playground, and looking for gaps in the eaves so they could find their way in for a cozy winter shelter.
Pine trees have very shallow roots. If a tree, for example, is not balanced and accumulates snow on its branches - which are only on one side because the tree backs up to other trees, they can just topple over and will take their roots out of the ground. That happened to us last March!
So I looked at the patriarch tree in front of the house and asked those questions. The result was sobering. In the course of almost 40 winters since we took over stewardship, the tree showed many battle scars. Each winter branches broke off from snow loads, but it was still standing on the embankment, very close to the house. It was not properly balanced anymore. It was now over 100 feet high and two people together were unable to hug the trunk, as it was too big. With a big snowstorm and fierce winds, it would come down and would fall on the house, destroying it with everybody and everything in it.
So I looked at the patriarch tree in front of the house and asked those questions. The result was sobering. In the course of almost 40 winters since we took over stewardship, the tree showed many battle scars. Each winter branches broke off from snow loads, but it was still standing on the embankment, very close to the house. It was not properly balanced anymore. It was now over 100 feet high and two people together were unable to hug the trunk, as it was too big. With a big snowstorm and fierce winds, it would come down and would fall on the house, destroying it with everybody and everything in it.
Of course, we did not want to remove the guardian of the house, but a wait and see approach was too risky. When we lost the yellow pine behind the house last March, which did thousands of dollars in damage, the responding insurance adjuster told us that she had just come from another house in the neighboring county. During the same storm, a smaller tree than ours, had been unbalanced by the snow load, and had crashed directly into a house. A limb about as thick as a man’s thigh, had speared itself through the roof and directly into the center of the bed in which the owner slept. Fortunately for the owner, she had decided to sleep on the couch downstairs during the storm based on an uneasy feeling.
Unfortunately, trees are good at hiding if they are plagued with a disease. The tree that came down in March was considered healthy by the loggers we had here only three years ago. When I look at the tree stump now, after half a year, I see that the inside of the stump turned black and only the outside rings are still good. According to its rings the tree was 49 years old. When we bought the property, it was a teenager of 13 years!
Unfortunately, trees are good at hiding if they are plagued with a disease. The tree that came down in March was considered healthy by the loggers we had here only three years ago. When I look at the tree stump now, after half a year, I see that the inside of the stump turned black and only the outside rings are still good. According to its rings the tree was 49 years old. When we bought the property, it was a teenager of 13 years!
We called a professional tree company that looked at all the trees around the house, but they zeroed in on the “guardian”. In their opinion, the tree was kind of a ‘loaded gun’. It was a yellow pine - a shallow-rooted species, set on a steep embankment, overshadowing our house, that had no supporting root structures on the downhill side facing the house. It had also been shedding large (tree trunk sized) branches during snowstorms for several years, that repeatedly had taken out our electric or phone lines. So the expectation could only be that - at the very least, more branches would take out the restrung utilities. But, more concerning, the dozens of tons of weight that would crush our house if the roots let go!
So we were forced to schedule the take-down. As difficult as it was for us, to make the decision, it was necessary to prevent our house from eventually being taken out by this massive tree.
Here are the pictures and videos of the procedure that lasted a whole day:
So we were forced to schedule the take-down. As difficult as it was for us, to make the decision, it was necessary to prevent our house from eventually being taken out by this massive tree.
Here are the pictures and videos of the procedure that lasted a whole day:
The man is 6 feet tall As you can see from the above pictures, The 60 foot reach of the boom truck, could only get the logger half way up the 100+ foot tall tree. (He is the tiny orange dot in the middle of the tree in the second picture). From there he had to climb using spikes strapped to his feet. Once at the top, he had to cut it into sections and send them hurtling to the ground. Eventually, the lowest sections measured 4 feet in width and weighed up to a thousand pounds. We had to bring in a logging truck with a crane to haul them to another part of the property to dispose of them.
The tree stump still stands. It was cut about 2 meters (~6 feet) above the ground for several reasons. Counting the tree rings, we determined that this yellow pine tree started growing about 125 years ago when Grover Cleveland was President of the United States. That is very old by American standards! But our house is a bit older. So this giant started growing when a rock was in the way of the original homesteaders gardening, and it was allowed to grow unmolested ever since, on this steep embankment.
Over the years, this growing tree was used as a target, a fence anchor, a way-point, and an anchor for many different needs. As a result, protruding bits of iron and wire, forbade the logger from cutting the stem any lower than the highest point we could divine from the historical record. This was the anchor point for an existing pole’s support wire. Below this wire, you can’t cut without possibly hitting old iron, much of it lost to history as it was swallowed by the ever expanding trunk.
Now things are very different and nature is adjusting quickly. There is more grass growing on the front lawn and in places that always struggled. The light in the house is stronger and the temperature is a little warmer in the front of the house. Birds and squirrels had to find new ways to get to our bird feeders. In the Fall, I certainly will not miss the mountains of pine needles and cones on the driveway and the roofs, which had to be swept regularly. Of course, I am wondering how our driveway will change during the winter. The massive shade footprint of this tree always made the ice linger longer in front of the house.
Things will be very different in the future ….
The tree stump still stands. It was cut about 2 meters (~6 feet) above the ground for several reasons. Counting the tree rings, we determined that this yellow pine tree started growing about 125 years ago when Grover Cleveland was President of the United States. That is very old by American standards! But our house is a bit older. So this giant started growing when a rock was in the way of the original homesteaders gardening, and it was allowed to grow unmolested ever since, on this steep embankment.
Over the years, this growing tree was used as a target, a fence anchor, a way-point, and an anchor for many different needs. As a result, protruding bits of iron and wire, forbade the logger from cutting the stem any lower than the highest point we could divine from the historical record. This was the anchor point for an existing pole’s support wire. Below this wire, you can’t cut without possibly hitting old iron, much of it lost to history as it was swallowed by the ever expanding trunk.
Now things are very different and nature is adjusting quickly. There is more grass growing on the front lawn and in places that always struggled. The light in the house is stronger and the temperature is a little warmer in the front of the house. Birds and squirrels had to find new ways to get to our bird feeders. In the Fall, I certainly will not miss the mountains of pine needles and cones on the driveway and the roofs, which had to be swept regularly. Of course, I am wondering how our driveway will change during the winter. The massive shade footprint of this tree always made the ice linger longer in front of the house.
Things will be very different in the future ….
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