I just heard from Greer Tan Swiston this morning about an appalling and idiotic case of tree vandalism at Wellington Park in West Newton, which has the Friends of Wellington Park, and the park’s many users, very upset. The bark was stripped from a beautiful 13” sugar maple, which will kill the tree, and it will end up being removed. It also looks like someone chopped at the trunk with an axe, whether before of after stripping the bark it’s hard to say. And on the back side, it looks like the tree was ‘tagged’ with some sort of graffiti, that looks etched into the trunk with some type of burning device.
A park user told me the tree was fine on Tuesday, but like this on Wednesday, so the vandalism must have happened Tuesday night, since the park is used so much during the day. Greer said there has been other minor vandalism at Wellington Park (and I saw some other graffiti on the court pavement), but this is the worst. The Newton Police and Forestry h
ave been informed. I don’t know if the police have any leads, but if anyone saw anything or recognizes this graffiti style please let them know (617-796-2100). What was done to this tree must have taken some time. And take note if you see any odd activity around trees at night. It’s bad enough that we are losing hundreds of trees a year to old age, storm damage, winter moth caterpillars, gas leaks, and vehicle collisions. We can’t afford to lose healthy trees to deliberate vandalism.
Nasty stuff!
It’s strangely similar to what the beavers have been doing down by the river – but they’ve got a reason for what they do.
I contacted March Welch, Newton’s Urban Forestry Director, this morning and this is what he had to say:
I am working with Aaron Goldman in the Mayor’s office to set up a community meeting for the neighborhood. I spoke with a couple of folks who were there with children and who say they visit regularly and were shocked to see the damage on Wednesday morning. Everyone I have spoken to about this is quite saddened that we will lose a beautiful, mature maple tree in one of the nicest little public parks and playgrounds in Newton.
Julia, I would say the chopping was probably done after the bark was stripped. I got a close look at the tree this morning, and if it had been chopped before the bark was stripped, you would expect to see some bark in the wound. Instead, the wound was entirely clean and there were many wood chips on the ground which were either from the chopping or sawing off the limb that was removed. The bark that had been stripped off was laid near the tree.
Wicked Local’s Trevor Jones has this.
Just a quick update, I met Bernice Corpuz from WBZ radio over at Wellington Park to be interviewed about the vandalism and she took some pictures as well. She posted a close-up photo of the damage on Twitter. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I had the opportunity to talk to some folks with their children who all use the park frequently. They were all saddened by the fact that someone would destroy such a beautiful tree that provides the only shade for the tot lot. Nearby, another smaller tree was snapped in half some time back and a new tree has sprouted from its roots. The tree that was vandalized the other night, however, is not likely to survive.
Ted, I was puzzled by that missing limb. It actually looked like a proper pruning cut, so it makes no sense that the same person would do that and vandalize the tree.
If only there were some kind of stem cells for trees that could make artificial cambium that could be applied.
@Julia, the city’s tree crew came down and pruned the stump of the broken branch, which was lying on the basketball court. A 30 foot branch was literally hacked off the tree. As I told Bernice Corpuz at WBZ, I hope someone steps up and accepts responsibility for this because it was a terrible thing to do.
Ah, I see from looking at Trevor’s photo that the limb was broken off. The broken part must have been trimmed off by Forestry afterwards, which normally would help the tree seal over the wound, but maybe futile here given the girdling.
Sorry for double posting, but I was sincerely touched by what one parent said about loving this tree because so many children had learned to climb a tree on this one.
@Julia, I think there is very little hope for this tree. The bark was stripped four feet up from the base all the way around. There is no way this tree can survive.
My son Julian and I are looking at the tree and think it has a chance of surviving. While the bark is gone, the critical phloem outer layer that moves sugar to roots looks largely intact. The inner xylem layer that moves water is ok. The wet weather certainly is helping. Some gentle periodic misting could help when the weather dries out. The pieces of bark on the ground could possibly be gently placed back for protection from the elements.
If I ever get a fatal disease, sorry Ted, I want Nathan to be my doctor. Myself, I Googled “saving girdled trees” and learned about “bridge grafting”, and Googled that and learned some more. I’m not too optimistic it would work in this case because of the span of the stripped area (2ft to over 6ft vertical). You’re supposed to use “scion wood” that’s the previous year’s growth, but as best I can tell, from what I learned from Marc about how to tell a year’s growth (a sort of rough area on the twig), a year’s growth on this tree looks to be about a foot and a half, at least on the ground level branches. I’m not sure how it would work if you had to use two or three years’ growth to get long enough pieces. But maybe worth trying if the tree is doomed otherwise.
The tree looks fine as of june 5. Nice bandage job done (by Marc?)
@Nathan and Julia, we held a neighborhood meeting at the Police Department last night to get more information and talk about next steps. It was a very well attended meeting and I am grateful to all of the neighbors who care enough to show up, to Lt. Apotheker from the Newton Police Department, Marc Welch, our Urban Forestry Director, and Aaron Goldman from the Mayor’s office, who arranged the meeting. I also want to than Ann Dorfman and Ted Kuklinski, who have organized the neighborhood and city efforts to beautify and improve the park and have looked after it for many years, who reached out to their neighbors and brought everyone together to focus on some of the problems that are occurring at Wellington Park. In addition to repeated acts of vandalism, there is a lot of underage drinking and teenagers hanging out there in large groups after dark, when it is trespassing. One neighbor noted that an apparently homeless couple have taken up residence in the park, and are taking showers with the hose that is used for watering the flowers and shrubs.
At the direction of Marc Welch, the neighbors have been watering the tree, and have also applied the “bandage” to the trunk. Marc said the tree may or may not survive, and that in the fall, if it is still alive, the city may be able to treat it with nutrients in order to keep it going until it can heal. But he said it will take a very long time and the bark is not going to grow back, so even if it lives the tree is going to require a lot of care. I was incredibly impressed at how tight knit this neighborhood seems to be, and the focal point is the park, so the vandalism and other problems really strike at the heart of this neighborhood.
Tree seems to be doing well, but some unusual reddish leaf coloration on newest foliage.
Hi Ted, I’m belatedly reading your update on the meeting, which I wish I could have gone to but I was working that night. I hope the tree has a chance. I did see a much smaller tree, a sugar maple, that had been similarly vandalized in a Lowell park, although not as wide a vertical span, and it seemed to be trying to grow over the wound from both above and below, which kind of amazed me. (But I haven’t noticed it lately; I think Lowell Parks may have removed it.)
By the way, I learned from Marc, this is not actually a sugar maple. It looked like one to me, with different bark from a Norway maple but similar leaves, except that if you pull off a Norway maple leaf you see white fluid from the petiole. This tree Marc said is actually a Freemanii maple, a cross between a red maple and silver that is supposed to have the good features of both and avoid the problem silver maples have of breaking branches when they get old. Maybe that reddish new growth Nathan noticed is normal? Since I’ve been paying more attention to tree ID, I’ve noticed reddish new growth on a sugar maple near BC (it still had a label), and a hawthorn. Could be true of Freemanii maples, too, but does anyone who uses the park know what’s normal for this tree?
I’m sorry to hear about the misuse of the park, especially in view of the other thread on teenage drinking. Depressing.
Tree doing well on 4th of July. Graffiti tags on basketball court “sic”, “boston”, “ftp”.
Thanks, Nathan. I know the neighborhood has been watering and caring for this beloved tree.
With respect to graffiti, as we discussed at the community meeting with Lt. Apotheker, if you see something, say something. The police department would like neighbors to report anything suspicious. Vandalism and graffiti on public property is a crime so please report it to the NPD when it shows up.
Nathan, thanks for the update. I was looking at the tree a couple weeks ago and saw what you meant about the red leaves. They are staying dark red longer (til leaves are full size) than the reddish new growth leaves on a nearby tree which might also be a Freemanii maple.
The Wellington Park Silver Maple is budding & looks healthy, just about a year’s growth shorter than its sibling growing a few yards down the fence line. Scars are still visible on the trunk, but thick new growth has all but enveloped them.
May 25 will be eight years!
Correction freemanii maple per Julia & Mark Welch, & May 21st, not 25th.