A huge crack along the trunk of this maple tree on the corner of Walnut and Center Streets in Fairhaven is the reason it was swaying in the wind and needed to be taken down on 2/24/23. Photo by Beth David.
By Beth David, Editor
If you frequent the corner of Walnut and Center Streets in Fairhaven, you probably noticed a tree that had lost a few limbs over the course of time. On Friday, 2/24, you may also have noticed that it was gone. The beautiful old maple tree had seen better days. Big limbs had broken off in an October storm. As a shade tree, it was probably about half what it had been.
Very recently, Fairhaven Tree Warden Don Collasius was conducting a survey of trees with an Eversource official when they looked at the tree.
Mr. Collasius said he was surprised to see a wide crack that went around half the truck at about four feet up. He realized the tree needed to come down as soon as possible. It was a clear hazard.
He also noted that he lives just a block away and walks by the tree often, proving that it is difficult to tell if a tree is healthy just by looking at it casually.
On Friday, Michael Lewis and Eugene Tracz from the Tree Department took the tree down.
This side of the trunk looks just fine on this maple tree on the corner of Walnut and Center Streets in Fairhaven on 2/24/23, just before it was taken down, but there is a huge crack on the other side of this tree, making it a hazard and causing it to literally sway in the wind. Photo by Beth David.
It was a pretty windy day, and very cold. Not the kind of day that the town workers would normally be out cutting down a non-hazardous tree. But this was clearly hazardous, said Mr. Collasius, and Mr. Lewis went up in the bucket truck to take it down, limb from limb.
The tree could be seen swaying in the wind, which regularly reached the 20+ MPH range while they were working.
“It’s ready to go,” said Mr. Lewis, who also owns his own tree service.
When the final piece came down, it exploded into a pile of dust.
Mr. Tracz and Mr. Lewis both showed how the insides were pretty much just sawdust.
Mr. Collasius also had a photo of another maple on Chestnut Street that had also just been taken down. It had a hollowed out trunk. The department will replace both trees.
He said he is trying to get an assessment of all the trees in town so he can figure out which ones need to be taken down and which ones can be saved.
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- A huge crack along the trunk of this maple tree on the corner of Walnut and Center Streets in Fairhaven is the reason it was swaying in the wind and needed to be taken down on 2/24/23. Photo by Beth David.
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- Fairhaven Tree Department worker Mike Lewis cuts a notch in the trunk of a maple tree on the corner of Walnut and Center Streets on 2/24/23 after a large crack was discovered in the trunk, making it a hazardous tree that had to be cut down. Photo by Beth David.
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- Fairhaven Tree Department worker Mike Lewis watches as a maple tree on the corner of Walnut and Center Streets in Fairhaven explodes in a pile of dust when it hits the ground on 2/24/23, after a large crack was discovered in the trunk, making it a hazardous tree that had to be cut down. Photo by Beth David.
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- Fairhaven Tree Department worker Eugene Tracz shows how soft the maple tree on the corner of Walnut and Center was on 2/24/23, after it was taken down due to a large crack that was discovered in the trunk, making it a hazard. Photo by Beth David.
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