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\"We\'ve got a tree that was scaring people.\"
Hokie Headache
Stadium Woods tree's end leaves splintered feelings
Virginia Tech officials said an old oak felled on Thursday was a danger to passers-by.
By Tonia Moxley
381-1675
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/312639
Photos by Christina O'Connor | Special to The Roanoke Times
A stump and logs are all that remain of a white oak that was cut Thursday in Stadium Woods on the Virginia Tech campus.
Advocates for Stadium Woods light a wish lantern Thursday evening in honor of a tree that was cut down in Virginia Tech’s old-growth forest. The gathering drew about 15 people.
BLACKSBURG — About 15 people gathered on the edge of Virginia Tech's controversial Stadium Woods to commemorate the cutting of one of the forest fragment's several dozen large oaks, some of which are estimated to be more than 300 years old.
"We are here to mourn the loss of tree No. 131," Environmental Coalition President Erica Largen told the assembly that gathered at 9 p.m. near the roped-off site where earlier in the day a crew had cut down the old oak. Students and community members lit candles around the site and stood in a circle for the ceremony.
Despite the estimates of the tree's age, "the Virginia Tech administration decided to go forth with chain saws," Largen said.
But Largen encouraged the group to see the lost oak as a "reason to fight back, to never give up and to protect the rest of these trees."
Tech officials said the 85-foot-tall, 4-foot-diameter oak was cut Thursday because two certified arborists hired to evaluate it found that it was at risk of falling, and was a danger to people and property. The tree stood beside the Corps of Cadets rappelling tower and near a popular walking and biking trail.
"Safety trumps everything," university spokesman Mark Owczarski said. "It posed a threat to our community. When it comes to matters of safety, we will act."
At the urging of the university's Arboretum Committee — an advisory group that includes forestry experts — the university commissioned two professional evaluations of the tree. Certified arborists from Total Tree Health Care in Radford and Bartlett Tree Experts out of Roanoke have inspected the tree and found that a hollow section near the base of the trunk rendered it unstable. Both firms recommended the tree be removed.
But Tech forestry professor and Stadium Woods advocate John Seiler questioned the arborists' conclusions by email Thursday. There is no scientific proof that "trees with bad rankings actually fall more often than trees with good rankings," Seiler wrote.
Stadium Woods tree assessments
Stadium Woods tree asessment report
Stadium Woods tree asessment report 2
Furthermore, Seiler pointed out, the tree was left standing in good condition after the devastating winds of the June 29 derecho storm that knocked down trees and power lines across Southwest Virginia.
It's likely, Seiler wrote, that the tree could have been hollow in sections "for 100 years or more" and posed no significant threat.
Tech's Arboretum Committee was informed earlier this week that the tree was slated for removal. But about a half-dozen members of the 15-member advisory group asked "that the tree be cordoned off to keep pedestrians away â? until a decision about the fate of the woods was made because that decision might influence the judgment of risk and liability associated with the tree," committee chairman and forestry professor Eric Wiseman wrote in an email.
Facilities officials didn't respond to the request, Wiseman wrote, and the tree was cut. It was one of dozens of white oaks that have been dated from 100 to more than 300 years old. The discovery of those trees prompted a grass-roots effort to stop the university's athletic department from building an indoor football practice facility on about 3 acres of the 14-acre woodland.
The Faculty Senate, Graduate Student Assembly and Student Government Association have all passed resolutions advocating that the woods be kept intact. Tech urban forestry professor Susan Day has said the forest fragment is unique on the East Coast, and a consultant's report valued the woods' ecological impact at about $5 million.
After public and campus outcry on behalf of the woods, Tech President Charles Steger ordered a study of the issue. In June, an ad hoc committee of stakeholders recommended that the practice facility be built outside of the woods.
The cutting of the tree Thursday was not related to the practice facility debate, university spokesman Larry Hincker said. "This is totally independent of that decision," which is pending.
Vice President for Administrative Services Sherwood Wilson is expected to make a formal recommendation on the practice facility to Steger in the next few weeks. There is no timeline for the president to make a final decision, Hincker said. How the tree was cut - between semesters without any notice to the public when faculty and students are often out of town - irked many who support keeping the woods intact.
According to Seiler, "officials indicated the cutting would be delayed and the whole thing was done in a deceitful manner."
Tammy Belinsky of Virginia Forest Watch, who attended the gathering Thursday night, said "the fundamental problem here is that the university has not learned any lessons about community and trust."
Officials have been considering cutting the tree since February, and knew thousands of people had expressed interest in the fate of the woods. If officials had informed the public, they could have heard alternatives to cutting the tree, Belinsky said.
"I'm a little embarrassed to be a Hokie today," Largen said. While she said she never wants to see someone's safety put at risk, cutting the oak tree "in secret â? is not OK."
University officials first became concerned about the oak a year ago, when a grounds crew noticed a large hole at its base, Hincker said.
No one was eager to cut it down, he said. "But we've got a tree that was scaring people."
Tree Structure EvaluationTree Risk Rating and Recommendations
RecommendationsArborist Risk RatingStructure
CrownClean to reduce the risk of branch failuresModerateRoot FlareRemove tree to eliminate the potential for failuresHigh
LimbsLow1Clean to reduce the risk of branch failures
Stems CriticalRemove tree to eliminate the potential for failures
Interpretations Critical Risk: Failure imminent; personal injury and/or property damage inevitable.High Risk: Failure likely especially during storms; personal injury and/or property damage likely.Moderate Risk: Failure possible especially during severe storms; personal injury and/or property damage possible.Low Risk: Failure unlikely; personal injury and/or property damage unlikely.
The defect(s) that have been found pose an unacceptable risk of failure of the tree. The removal of the tree is thereforerecommended. Any treatments, other than removal, that may be recommended, can only reduce the risk of tree failure to a lesserdegree. Such remedial treatments will not reduce the risk failure to an acceptable level. These options should be discussedthoroughly with the arborist representative prior to making a decision.
Hokie Headache
Stadium Woods tree's end leaves splintered feelings
Virginia Tech officials said an old oak felled on Thursday was a danger to passers-by.
By Tonia Moxley
381-1675
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/312639
Photos by Christina O'Connor | Special to The Roanoke Times
A stump and logs are all that remain of a white oak that was cut Thursday in Stadium Woods on the Virginia Tech campus.
Advocates for Stadium Woods light a wish lantern Thursday evening in honor of a tree that was cut down in Virginia Tech’s old-growth forest. The gathering drew about 15 people.
BLACKSBURG — About 15 people gathered on the edge of Virginia Tech's controversial Stadium Woods to commemorate the cutting of one of the forest fragment's several dozen large oaks, some of which are estimated to be more than 300 years old.
"We are here to mourn the loss of tree No. 131," Environmental Coalition President Erica Largen told the assembly that gathered at 9 p.m. near the roped-off site where earlier in the day a crew had cut down the old oak. Students and community members lit candles around the site and stood in a circle for the ceremony.
Despite the estimates of the tree's age, "the Virginia Tech administration decided to go forth with chain saws," Largen said.
But Largen encouraged the group to see the lost oak as a "reason to fight back, to never give up and to protect the rest of these trees."
Tech officials said the 85-foot-tall, 4-foot-diameter oak was cut Thursday because two certified arborists hired to evaluate it found that it was at risk of falling, and was a danger to people and property. The tree stood beside the Corps of Cadets rappelling tower and near a popular walking and biking trail.
"Safety trumps everything," university spokesman Mark Owczarski said. "It posed a threat to our community. When it comes to matters of safety, we will act."
At the urging of the university's Arboretum Committee — an advisory group that includes forestry experts — the university commissioned two professional evaluations of the tree. Certified arborists from Total Tree Health Care in Radford and Bartlett Tree Experts out of Roanoke have inspected the tree and found that a hollow section near the base of the trunk rendered it unstable. Both firms recommended the tree be removed.
But Tech forestry professor and Stadium Woods advocate John Seiler questioned the arborists' conclusions by email Thursday. There is no scientific proof that "trees with bad rankings actually fall more often than trees with good rankings," Seiler wrote.
Stadium Woods tree assessments
Stadium Woods tree asessment report
Stadium Woods tree asessment report 2
Furthermore, Seiler pointed out, the tree was left standing in good condition after the devastating winds of the June 29 derecho storm that knocked down trees and power lines across Southwest Virginia.
It's likely, Seiler wrote, that the tree could have been hollow in sections "for 100 years or more" and posed no significant threat.
Tech's Arboretum Committee was informed earlier this week that the tree was slated for removal. But about a half-dozen members of the 15-member advisory group asked "that the tree be cordoned off to keep pedestrians away â? until a decision about the fate of the woods was made because that decision might influence the judgment of risk and liability associated with the tree," committee chairman and forestry professor Eric Wiseman wrote in an email.
Facilities officials didn't respond to the request, Wiseman wrote, and the tree was cut. It was one of dozens of white oaks that have been dated from 100 to more than 300 years old. The discovery of those trees prompted a grass-roots effort to stop the university's athletic department from building an indoor football practice facility on about 3 acres of the 14-acre woodland.
The Faculty Senate, Graduate Student Assembly and Student Government Association have all passed resolutions advocating that the woods be kept intact. Tech urban forestry professor Susan Day has said the forest fragment is unique on the East Coast, and a consultant's report valued the woods' ecological impact at about $5 million.
After public and campus outcry on behalf of the woods, Tech President Charles Steger ordered a study of the issue. In June, an ad hoc committee of stakeholders recommended that the practice facility be built outside of the woods.
The cutting of the tree Thursday was not related to the practice facility debate, university spokesman Larry Hincker said. "This is totally independent of that decision," which is pending.
Vice President for Administrative Services Sherwood Wilson is expected to make a formal recommendation on the practice facility to Steger in the next few weeks. There is no timeline for the president to make a final decision, Hincker said. How the tree was cut - between semesters without any notice to the public when faculty and students are often out of town - irked many who support keeping the woods intact.
According to Seiler, "officials indicated the cutting would be delayed and the whole thing was done in a deceitful manner."
Tammy Belinsky of Virginia Forest Watch, who attended the gathering Thursday night, said "the fundamental problem here is that the university has not learned any lessons about community and trust."
Officials have been considering cutting the tree since February, and knew thousands of people had expressed interest in the fate of the woods. If officials had informed the public, they could have heard alternatives to cutting the tree, Belinsky said.
"I'm a little embarrassed to be a Hokie today," Largen said. While she said she never wants to see someone's safety put at risk, cutting the oak tree "in secret â? is not OK."
University officials first became concerned about the oak a year ago, when a grounds crew noticed a large hole at its base, Hincker said.
No one was eager to cut it down, he said. "But we've got a tree that was scaring people."
Tree Structure EvaluationTree Risk Rating and Recommendations
RecommendationsArborist Risk RatingStructure
CrownClean to reduce the risk of branch failuresModerateRoot FlareRemove tree to eliminate the potential for failuresHigh
LimbsLow1Clean to reduce the risk of branch failures
Stems CriticalRemove tree to eliminate the potential for failures
Interpretations Critical Risk: Failure imminent; personal injury and/or property damage inevitable.High Risk: Failure likely especially during storms; personal injury and/or property damage likely.Moderate Risk: Failure possible especially during severe storms; personal injury and/or property damage possible.Low Risk: Failure unlikely; personal injury and/or property damage unlikely.
The defect(s) that have been found pose an unacceptable risk of failure of the tree. The removal of the tree is thereforerecommended. Any treatments, other than removal, that may be recommended, can only reduce the risk of tree failure to a lesserdegree. Such remedial treatments will not reduce the risk failure to an acceptable level. These options should be discussedthoroughly with the arborist representative prior to making a decision.
