![[Dexter Daily Statesman]](http://www.dailystatesman.com/images/nameplate-small.png){kind=small}
RSS
Print
Email link
Respond to editor
Read comments (11)Jeff Lesley, owner of his own local tree cutting service, was well camouflaged within the upper limbs of the red oak, estimated by Dexter City Park Director Lawson Metcalf to be about 150 years old.
Although the tree appeared healthy, it was decided to take the tree down for safety reasons.
"The tree has begun to lean toward the playground equipment at the park, which of course presents a dangerous situation and so we elected to go ahead and take it out," Metcalf explained.
Many of the limbs on the upper portion of the huge old oak appeared larger than even other nearby trees. Lesley attracted several spectators during the course of the morning Tuesday as he swung from limb to limb secured with his waist belt and rope. What took 150 years to grow took less than a few hours to destroy.
 |
| Noreen Hyslop photo Jeff Lesley of Lesley Tree Service can be seen among the huge limbs of the 150 -year-old red oak that was cut down Wednesday at West City Park. The tree was showing evidence of decay and threatened nearby playground equipment at the park. |
"It's a shame to lose such a huge, beautiful tree," Metcalf said, "but it served its purpose well and it was time for it to come down."
Much of the debris from the tree will be chipped and the large limbs, Metcalf said, will be burned, since they are too large even to cut for firewood.
oooops sorry didn't read your comment all the way thru sorry, no it wasn't storming but also the trees were said to have fallen because of water around the roots, at least that is what I was told, they did come out of the ground root system and all. A hollowed out trunk would have had no bearing on the reason they fell because it was not a trunk issue as they did not snap in 2 above ground.
dexter lady actually I did see those trees, my mom's house is just a few houses down from those 2 and she has 2 or 3 big trees around her house :)
Obviously a lot of people did not get the opportunity to drive down Ray Street when the two big trees fell on the two houses, almost directly across the street from each other. The third house thought, "MY GOD, what if this huge tree in our yard falls", so they made the decision to have it cut down. Turned out it was in much worse shape inside than either one of the other two that fell on their own. Yes it is sad to lose a tree, but I would think much sadder to lose a life. No one likes to lose a piece of great history but I think the city made a very wise decision. I have seen several more that need to be topped at least if not cut down totally. Who would have known that the tree at the third house would have a 3 and 1/2 foot diameter rotten hole in the middle of it as far up as you could see. All the way up the main trunk. Mind you that it was not storming when the other two fell.
What a shame to lose such a beautiful and huge tree like this one. It seems like that is all everyone wants to do is cut down every tree they see. Have you no respect for all the years it took to acomplish such splendor? SHAME ON YOU, DEXTER!
I agree the tree was beautiful, but honestly...Did you see the thing?! I was at the park the day before he cut it down and it was leaning horribly. Of course their not going to let a leaning tree be a risk of that brand new $50,000 (real price, i promise) playground equipment. Jeff Lesley was the perfect man to do this tree. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's been in the tree business since he was 17. He's a great man. I'd reccommend him to everybody in the town. He's been a little slow, though. So don't get mad at him. He's really busy!
I agree sad to cut it down, and with all the tree trimming that Ameren has been doing they have left some trees with all the weight on one side so how dangerous are these? Not dangerous to their power lines anymore but what about the homes they are near? Electric poles all over the place are leaning too and a danger to falling onto cars or highways, so what are we going to do with those? Safety is important, so I am fairly divided on the issue of what they did to the tree. I do not know the true facts of exactly what the possibility of the tree falling was and what could have caused it to fall. If it were a storm, well no-one in their right mind needs to be on the playground equipment at the time. Who knows what the true facts of the dangers were.
I too hate to see a landmark such as this have to go, but the safety of our children should be first and foremost on everyones minds. They couldnt have picked a better Tree Surgeon than Jeff Lesley, he grew up swinging from trees like a little monkey (he is my nephew), if you read the full article in the paper you will note he cut the tree down by himself, which I thinks speaks highly of his qualifications. He is right at home in the tree tops.
I understand the safety concern of the tree, it gave good shade and was a wonderful tree. It seems like this past year, many large, older trees are being lost due to weather and underground water issues.
I have seen trees that are much older than this tree, be anchord down by cables so the tree would not fall. They are large, more of an endangered tree that this wonderful red-oak.
I remember that park had many large oak trees and it seems like many of the are being cut down. That park has so much wonderful shade, it is time to start saving it.
SAD, SAD, SAD. It takes 150 years for this to grow so big and beautiful, and they decide to destroy it. Many trees lean, but that does not mean that they are going to fall on you. SAD
Sounds like somebody needed something to do.
What a shame!!Trees are a thing of beauty regardless of their shape...