Many times I’ve walked or ran through a wooden trail near my house and observed trees marked for removal or a bare stump where a tree had already been removed. I’ve observed trees that had fallen on a trail and were partially removed before even seeing the tree. This past week though, I saw something fresher. I had been on the trail since winter ended, but while running on Monday, there was a tree across the path that wasn’t there a few weeks ago. I looked around for the stump and finally found it when I looked up – roughly 6.5 m (4 times my height) in the air.
The tree was an old and lovely Eastern White Pine. The wood was still fresh and I could see sap where it split. The brush off to the side of the path was still green. All of this indicated that it had fallen recently. I looked around wondering who would have heard this beast crashing down.
When it fell, the fallen trunk split in two, one piece on each side of the path allowing pedestrians a way through the tree instead of over or around it. Hopefully, this will be its saving grace when the city learns of it. On both the fallen log and on the remaining stump, there were several large woodpecker holes. These may have weakened the tree, but I expect it was the high winds we had a few days prior that knocked it down.
I dragged my husband and kids back later in the day for further exploration. We measured the base to be a circumference of 184.5 cm, which equates to a diameter of 58.8 cm. My husband estimated that the neighbouring Eastern White Pines were likely 100 ft (30 m) tall.
The Eastern White Pine grows up to 30 m, with a diameter of 100 m and lives to be 200 years old (https://tidcf.nrcan.gc.ca/en/trees/factsheet/50). Given the measured diameter and estimated height, it’s safe to say this tree was 100 or more years old. The trees around it may be offspring.
A couple of years ago, I was speaking with an older neighbour, who built his house about 40 years ago when the area was starting to be developed. Our house is about the same age. He remembered when an entire section of the neighbourhood was still forest. It’s hard to imagine that when you see so many houses, schools, parks, and sidestreets. It’s likely that much forest has come down to make room for housing. But not all. Before development started, even 50 years ago, there may have been 100’s of Eastern White Pines in the area. Slowly removed to make room for human residents. Now, we’ve lost another. This time due to natural causes. And while it is sad, it is the circle of life. I do hope that the city leaves it where it fell so it can be a part of the circle. Woodpeckers benefitted from the tree while it was alive. Many, many species will benefit from it now as the ground slowly absorbs it. It will also serve as a reminder that the residents of the forest were here long before humans.
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