It's an interesting phenomenon.
At the moment however I would like to draw everyone's attention to one particular feature of the trail that I am personally very fond of and may still be threatened by the current state of planning. In the stretch between Low St and Washington St, there is a pair of oak trees joined by branches that have grafted themselves together, forming a shared branch. Tree afficianados will recognize this as a variety of 'kissing tree', which in this case I refer to as 'holding hands trees'.
Neither I nor anyone else I have ever shown this pair to has every seen or heard of anything like it.
Since the routing of the trail and therefore the fate of this pair remains unclear, I urge all interested people to take a look for themselves. If you agree that this is a feature worth protecting, please join in the effort to minimizing the damage done by the paving work that is imminent (I have submitted my suggestion for a modest relocation of the trail bed that will maximize the protection for this pair while minimizing the problems for abutters).
If you start a Low St, walk toward Washington until you come to three large tractor trailers toward the near end of the Enpro Site (on the right side). The pair of trees is directly opposite (on the left) - two 14" red oak trees joined by one 8" branch. Please weigh in with the planning department and your city councilor.
Tourist attraction, anyone? Perhaps this can represent the joining of hands by Newbie and Native, Starbucks and Dunkin, Me and X, Khaki and ... well, what do natives wear?
Or this could be the first letter in a giant N-E-W-B-U-R-Y-P-O-R-T sign.
In any case, I think it's worth saving.
I did Google "kissing tree." Came up with a lot of sentimental sop, but no other info. I'm sure it's out there.
7 comments:
I'm all for saving any tree, and these 2 seem worthy. What is the Tree Committee's stance on all this?
Definitely worth saving. In a related story, firewood is scarce this season. Lets keep the axes away!!!
cool. does anyone know why they are clearing out the trees along the access road between the graf and high street? i thought the bike path was following the rail trail, but they've clear cut a huge swath that isn't part of the railroad bed....
Yes, the clearing between the rink and High St. is for handicapped access to the trail from High St. There is going to be a bunch more grading before it is all done.
Jim
thats stupid, its not a trail if it built like a highway...
It's going to be a paved bike path, similar to the Cape Cod Rail Trail (albeit a lot shorter). Thus the grading.
thus the 3.2 million dollar price tag...
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