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01-05-2005, 02:39 PM
Thumbs down for historic Okeena oak
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
JOHN LEEPER
(Photo)
Aldermen voted Monday night to remove this landmark oak from Okeena Park
[Click to enlarge]
A landmark oak tree in Okeena Park that was given a stay of execution last spring by Dyersburg's board of mayor and aldermen will now have to come down after a third tree specialist warned the city it was a hazard to public safety.
This will be the third landmark oak to be cut in Okeena in less than a year.
In April the city board called a special meeting to discuss the fate of several large trees in the park. Kay Fermann, who was the assistant urban forester for the state of Tennessee, began conducting surveys of the Okeena trees a few months earlier after a limb from the top of a white oak collapsed crushing two picnic tables and damaging a water fountain. James Earl Johnson, director of the recreation department for the city, asked for help from the state alarmed by the possible liability issues involved.
In March, Fermann produced a list of 24 trees in the Okeena Park area that she felt constituted a serious liability to the city. Her assessment of 67 trees in the park found only one in excellent condition. Fourteen were in good condition and 15 in fair. But 31 were considered trees in poor condition and four were dying.
The trees that the mayor and city aldermen voted to keep were located in areas of the park that many local residents felt were sensitive. The landmark oaks were especially a source of heated debate as it was felt they were signature trees for the park.
Ultimately, the board members took the advice of Fermann on two of the giant oaks. The tops of both had fallen due to internal rot and there were visible signs of damage to the trunk and root systems.
The board specifically spared the oak in question, which is located along Country Club lane. The forester for Dyersburg Electric System had asked for it to fall as well because its thick limbs stretched over electric power lines and parked cars. At the request of residents the board agreed to have some limbs and damaged upper sections of the tree pruned. They expressed a willingness to accept the potential liability for the city in order to spare as many landmark trees as possible since they held historic significance for the park.
This week Sam Bryant, a certified arborist from Jackson, Tenn., who was hired to do tree maintenance on all trees in Okeena Park recommended that this white oak be removed for the safety of the public.
"This tree in my opinion needs to be removed as it is located in a high-traffic area and has a very real risk of randomly dropping limbs," Bryant said in a report to the board.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
JOHN LEEPER
(Photo)
Aldermen voted Monday night to remove this landmark oak from Okeena Park
[Click to enlarge]
A landmark oak tree in Okeena Park that was given a stay of execution last spring by Dyersburg's board of mayor and aldermen will now have to come down after a third tree specialist warned the city it was a hazard to public safety.
This will be the third landmark oak to be cut in Okeena in less than a year.
In April the city board called a special meeting to discuss the fate of several large trees in the park. Kay Fermann, who was the assistant urban forester for the state of Tennessee, began conducting surveys of the Okeena trees a few months earlier after a limb from the top of a white oak collapsed crushing two picnic tables and damaging a water fountain. James Earl Johnson, director of the recreation department for the city, asked for help from the state alarmed by the possible liability issues involved.
In March, Fermann produced a list of 24 trees in the Okeena Park area that she felt constituted a serious liability to the city. Her assessment of 67 trees in the park found only one in excellent condition. Fourteen were in good condition and 15 in fair. But 31 were considered trees in poor condition and four were dying.
The trees that the mayor and city aldermen voted to keep were located in areas of the park that many local residents felt were sensitive. The landmark oaks were especially a source of heated debate as it was felt they were signature trees for the park.
Ultimately, the board members took the advice of Fermann on two of the giant oaks. The tops of both had fallen due to internal rot and there were visible signs of damage to the trunk and root systems.
The board specifically spared the oak in question, which is located along Country Club lane. The forester for Dyersburg Electric System had asked for it to fall as well because its thick limbs stretched over electric power lines and parked cars. At the request of residents the board agreed to have some limbs and damaged upper sections of the tree pruned. They expressed a willingness to accept the potential liability for the city in order to spare as many landmark trees as possible since they held historic significance for the park.
This week Sam Bryant, a certified arborist from Jackson, Tenn., who was hired to do tree maintenance on all trees in Okeena Park recommended that this white oak be removed for the safety of the public.
"This tree in my opinion needs to be removed as it is located in a high-traffic area and has a very real risk of randomly dropping limbs," Bryant said in a report to the board.