Save The Trees

The Old Silver Maple Tree by Michael Hooper

By Michael Hooper

Every time I hear a chainsaw, I cringe a little, fearing some poor tree is about to be cut down.

I live near Gage Park in Topeka so any trees cut down in the area affects the local ecosystem, including the traffic of hawks, woodpeckers, squirrels, and insects.

When the Topeka Zoo and Gage Park leadership proposed cutting down a multitude of trees in fall 2018 -- to create a stormwater drainage system and Kay's Garden -- I was trying to save the trees, writing articles about them, and raising my opposition.

These old growth trees, such as the old pin oaks, provide habitat for up to 300 species, mostly insects. The woodpeckers and lizards depend on these insects for their livelihood.

McKenzie Davis, news reporter, interviewed me and another neighbor about our opposition to cutting down the trees. I was upset that there was no public involvement in the decision.

The Zoo was on a mission to expand with its Kay's Gardens, and some consultant said the park needed this wetland to recycle the pollution that is left in the park from cars, which I thought was totally bogus.

I was in a state of mourning hearing the chain saws roar every day in winter 2018 and 2019, the winter of my discontent. Gage Park lost more than 70 trees, including a historic a Champion Tree -- a rubber tree in the zoo. I believe Gage Park has at least two remaining Champion Trees. An 87-foot tall willow oak (near Sunken Gardens) And a 66-foot-tall sugarberry.

The Kansas Forest Service's Champion Tree program recognizes great trees by measuring their circumference and crown spread, depending on volunteers for nominations.

On a cold winter day, Don Chubb, Skyler Troughton, Gordon Haight and Tobias Schlingensiepen and I all joined together in Gage Park to pray for the loss of the trees. We stood together in the grass in the zone east of Reinisch Rose Garden where so many trees were cut down for the new wetland. Skyler offered nuts and corn for the animals who lost their habitat. Squirrels typically store up food inside these trees for the winter and it was now winter time and they just lost their place to live and all the food that they had stored in it. 

It’s no wonder some of these homeless squirrels came looking for new habitat in my own yard and tried to chase out the squirrels who were already living inside our old growth maple tree. The local squirrels did not give up their homes so I don’t know where the intruders went but they left angry and homeless.

I am sad that one of the park's casualties was a beautiful old red oak, which shined spectacularly in the fall -- it was probably 120 years old and in great shape, people used to park their cars under this tree and eat their lunch over the noon hour.

Anyone living 100 years should be cherished and honored. There is a lovely burr oak at St. George, Kansas, the oak is over 350 years old. Nearby is a cottonwood tree that is probably about the same age, both near the Kansas River. The canopy of trees in this area is fantastic, I can imagine native Americans meeting there before white men arrived.

Topeka Country Club went through a recent renovation and lost many old growth trees in the process.

About 10 years ago, I allowed the electric company contractor to trim the old silver maple on the south side of my house. The trimmer said I should cut down the whole tree. I’m glad I ignored his advice. The tree continues to supply valuable shade on hot days and wonderful habitat for all kinds of wildlife.

I painted this silver maple tree sitting in my backyard, looking at the tree every day for a week. I was thinking of Claude Monet as he painted in his gardens, I sat in my garden and painted this tree and fell in love with it all the more.

The tree is perhaps my favorite metaphor. The deeper its roots, the broader its span. Much like our lives, the deeper we dig our roots into our family and community, the broader our span in life. Think of all the butterflies and birds who take refuge in these big trees, a shelter from the storm, a place to raise a new family, a place to store food for the winter, all of this, and much more in this lovely tree.

Trees suffer damage in storms. They need trimmed from time to time. The scars of old age remain but the tree survives and carries on. When the tree finally dies, it naturally decays and goes back to the soil.

We are all damaged in some way, but we carry on anyway. In our end, we return to the Earth to complete the cycle of life.

Trees talk to each other. Their whispers can be heard in the winds. The owl prefers the shelter of an old growth tree. I can hear the bard owl whooping in the night from my tree.

Trees fight global warming. A cathedral of trees shades a house from the heat and protects it from winds. In deep shade, the temperature is 5° to 10° cooler than in the open summer sun.

Plant a tree, help it grow; save one life, save yourself. Save the world.

Here are some of my paintings of trees in northern Minnesota, painted plein air this summer:

Below is a photo of me with an old white pine in northern Minnesota. There used to be millions of white pine in Minnesota but loggers cut most of them down in the 20th century.