The large evergreen that sat for years at the corner of Route 571 and Clarksville Road, across from High School South, and which was the main attraction of the annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, has been taken down by West Windsor township.
“It was a matter of safety,” explains township landscape architect Dan Dobromilsky. “The tree was very unstable and posed a serious safety risk to people and property. We have known for some time that it would need to come down — it was just a matter of when.”
Dobromilsky explained that the township had consulted the Shade Tree Commission to determine whether the tree could be saved. The Shade Tree Commission inspected and evaluated the tree, and agreed with the township’s assessment that it could not be saved.
“We met again in October, 2013, to decide when the tree should be cut down. It was decided that it could be utilized for one last tree-lighting ceremony, but that it would have to come down in early 2014. We have just been waiting for the snow to dissipate before removing it,” said Dobromilsky.
“Years and years ago, when the tree was quite young, guy wires had been wrapped around it to stabilize it. This is a fairly common practice used on evergreens. However, the guy wires were left in place instead of being removed as they should have been, and grew into the tree. When I became the landscape architect and discovered the guy wires, it was already too late to remove them. Guy wires can slowly strangle a tree, causing it to become unstable and eventually to die. That is what was happening with our Christmas tree.”
“Plus, it had already been severely damaged by a storm, which had forced us to remove the top, and has since been damaged again, causing a large branch to snap but to remain attached. This branch was by itself a safety hazard. In addition, the tree was further damaged during the storms this winter, to the point where it could lose many branches suddenly, or in fact come down. So we had to take it down as a preventative safety measure.”
In anticipation of this, the township planted a Douglas fir near it, with the idea that this would replace the damaged tree and become the “new” Christmas tree. In addition, a sapling from the NASA space shuttle, a white pine, had been planted nearby. (WW-P News, April 29, 2011). According to Dobromilsky, there are plans to plant a deciduous tree of some type in between the two conifers, creating an “entranceway” into the Ron Rogers arboretum also located on site.
“There are absolutely no plans to do away with our tree-lighting event,” assures Dobromilsky. “We will utilize the Douglass fir and continue to hold this important township event.”
