Hello fellow tree lovers, today I would like to share a sad story of careless vandalism committed against trees on my property.
I was out cleaning up leaves, mostly around the old the old apple trees on the property. Now these aren't spry young sprouts, these venerable trees have been around for a long time, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them are over a hundred years old. The property used to have an orchard on it but that orchard has long since returned to nature, the apple trees are now covered in variety of lichens and have increasingly been crowded out by birch and pine trees.
While their wilder comrades have been untended for many decades the apple trees by the home on the property have been lovingly looked after for many many years. They have survived windstorms, ice storms and lightning strikes. They are hardy old things that have many scars to mark the passage of time. But today I found one of them missing one of its largest fruit bearing branches.
The only tree climbing critter around here that is large enough to break off a branch that big would be a black bear. So I assume that some time in the night a bear tried climbing the tree to get what was left of this years fruit. The greedy gourmand overextended itself, breaking off a fairly large branch and a bunch of smaller ones on the way down.
It would be bad enough if it were just the apple tree but I soon discovered that bears were the least of the trees problems. While out inspecting the property I also noticed that there were signs of a vicious beaver incursion. I had seen the portly rodent sunning himself along the river's edge earlier in the year. I have not seen his home or any felled trees nearby before so I thought he was just passing through.
Turns out he was more than just a visitor, he is also a voracious little vandal. I would not begrudge a beaver his building materials if that's what he was after. But the irksome creature decided to fell three trees and just leave them there. Two of them were just small, hardly any thicker than my forearm but the third was a nice ash tree. Which is unfortunate because there aren't many ash trees on the property. Though perhaps it was a mercy, the emerald ash borer continues its tireless conquest of the continent and the tree probably would have succumbed to infestation when the beetle finally reaches this part of the country.
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Topic: Tree Appreciation Thread (Read 27097 times)