Hail and Farewell and PS [brief reprieve]

The eponymous willow at Willow Rock--photographed 3/18 before removal

Photo by Pog Summers via iPhone camera app.

On Wednesday all members of the Woodlands Advisory Board, a group that includes many of Central Park's regular birdwatchers, received the following letter from Regina Alvarez, our friend and the park's Woodlands Manager:

Hello All -

I wanted to inform all of you a hazardous situation in the Ramble that we must address. The big willow at the Oven, has developed a large crack on the back side of the trunk that has been expanding. The crown of the tree, should the tree fall, will likely land right on the rock where everyone stands to birdwatch. We will be removing the tree within the next few days. The winter weather this year has taken a tremendous toll on the trees in our Park. This, in addition to the storm of last August, has added up to many lost trees. We did want to inform you about this one individual because it has been such an important tree to the birding community.

We continue to plant new trees in the woodlands and parkwide each season, trees of different sizes, ages and species, always looking to improve habitat for our wildlife as well as having trees for people to enjoy.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to call me or Neil.

Regina


On Thursday morning I went to pay the tree my last respects. [photo above]

And now the beloved old tree is gone.

PS. [two hours later] just received an e-mail from Regina:

The tree is not out just yet, will be done probably Monday. We ended up with a couple of other emergencies that had to be taken care of first.