It's a never-ending battle to save habitat. Today a company employed by the city of Alpine came to cut down an elm tree in the alley. The tree came up about 15 years ago right at our fence-line, about a foot into the alley. So we left it, figuring it wouldn't hurt anything. When birders visit in the hot weather and bird from the alley it provides the only shade plus usually has good birds in it.
When a serviceman came to our door and, in broken English, said we needed to sign for the tree removal, my husband resignedly took the pad and asked where he had to sign. I jumped in like a mama bear protecting a cub and asked, hey, wait, "what happens if we won't sign?" He said we should write "refused" by our signature and then the supervisor would visit us. "Good," we said. I was so relieved my husband backed me up on this. That doesn't happen often.
A short while later the man came back and said he'd talked to the supervisor and if they could cut everything hanging into the alley, they'd leave the tree. So they pruned our whole alley vigorously, but the tree is still there. They did remove a mesquite tree farther down our alley but that one wasn't as valuable. Here is the elm tree after they left.
We shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn't been home.
No comments:
Post a Comment