There is a 100+ year old tree in our backyard (we are renters) and developers next door are going to remove it tomorrow. It is a heritage tree and healthy, meaning it is illegal to cut it down. The developers are just going to pay the fine so they can dig up the whole backyard and slap more apartments on the back of this old row house. How do we stop this? The arborist mentioned maybe it would be hard to find a tree removal service willing to do it due to backlash. Any ideas?
Edit to update 12:24pm ET: no sign of developers today. Thank you for your help! We have two reporters here and hopefully that will shed more light on the situation. City arborist has been by to check on us. Lots of lovely people on standby. We will keep you posted.
Edit to update 1:10pm ET: still monitoring but sounds like there is more going on with this developer and past dealings. We want to keep this tree around to live out its healthy life, but what is going on with District Growth?
Edit for tree tax, photos in all her glory: https://twitter.com/kaseyaderhold/status/1369836392067522560?s=21
Previous post “How to stop the illegal removal of a 100+ year old pecan tree?”
…turns out you just have to ask how on reddit and maybe it all works out? It’s been a weird 24 hours.
Just an update on the heritage tree that was going to be illegally chopped down today. We got connected with a councilmember through Twitter and the post here on reddit got a lot of traction, leading to media coverage (WUSA9, WVFL). That put a lot of attention and pressure on the developer, Mikhail Phillips of District Growth, who then lied and denied that there was ever a plan to remove the tree. Just go ahead and tell me who had the most to gain here (I remind you, we are renters).
Turns out this developer has a bit of a reputation so if anyone knows more about that, well… keep digging I guess and report back. We don’t trust the developer one bit considering he told my roommate, our landlord (on a phone call in front of us), and our neighbors who confirmed via email that he was going to take the tree down in the next 2-3 days… all while a tree removal crew in the yard in front of us strategized how to maneuver the wood pieces out via a series of ropes/cranes. He absolutely was going to cut down this protected tree despite not having a permit, told everyone, and is now denying it.
We want enforceable and effective policy for heritage trees so media campaigns like this are not needed to save them. DDOT should be empowered, the process should work, and the consequences should be significant (e.g. $ more than what they stand to gain, loss/suspension of license or work orders). We would like to work this into policy.
Thank you to all who offered support or kind words! Couldn’t have done it without you! Hope we don’t have to do it again but we will be keeping watchful eyes open.
Edit: If you know of other healthy heritage trees that have been cut down, or that may be in danger, please reach out. We are in touch with both Councilmember Nadeau, Casey Trees, and others for long term strategy.
couldn’t find an article online but story in title, glad to see this story got some traction
So I read online that pecan trees are safe for chinchillas to eat, I have a pecan tree in my front yard and was going to try and make some sticks for them to chew. I read I should just boil them for like 30 mins, is there anything special I should know about making chew sticks for them?
If you have any of this oatmeal, throw it out now!
"The oatmeal, which was sold both online and in retail stores, may contain pecans, almonds, or other tree nuts, but these are not noted on the product label."
One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me," said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence. Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me ...." He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along. "Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!" The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk." When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me." The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord...?" Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord. At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done...." They say the old man had the lead for a good half-mile before the kid on the bike passed him.
Nuts and Bolts. ⛈
Seems redundant, but maybe some people don't know exactly what a pecan is?
Previous post “Cross posting from r/washingtondc, How to stop the illegal removal of a 100+ year old pecan tree?”
…turns out you just have to ask how on reddit and maybe it all works out? It’s been a weird 24 hours.
Just an update on the heritage tree that was going to be illegally chopped down today. We got connected with a councilmember through Twitter and the post here on reddit got a lot of traction, leading to media coverage (WUSA9, WVFL). That put a lot of attention and pressure on the developer, Mikhail Phillips of District Growth, who then lied and denied that there was ever a plan to remove the tree. Just go ahead and tell me who had the most to gain here (I remind you, we are renters).
Turns out this developer has a bit of a reputation so if anyone knows more about that, well… keep digging I guess and report back. We don’t trust the developer one bit considering he told my roommate, our landlord (on a phone call in front of us), and our neighbors who confirmed via email that he was going to take the tree down in the next 2-3 days… all while a tree removal crew in the yard in front of us strategized how to maneuver the wood pieces out via a series of ropes/cranes. He absolutely was going to cut down this protected tree despite not having a permit, told everyone, and is now denying it.
We want enforceable and effective policy for heritage trees so media campaigns like this are not needed to save them. DDOT should be empowered, the process should work, and the consequences should be significant (e.g. $ more than what they stand to gain, loss/suspension of license or work orders). We would like to work this into policy.
Thank you to all who offered support or kind words! Couldn’t have done it without you! Hope we don’t have to do it again but we will be keeping watchful eyes open.
Edit: This side-note should probably be posted in r/law-law but do you think the developer will try to work the slander angle on us? We just want to be prepared for whatever tricks have been tried before.
