Campus tree removal and trimming scheduled for Jan. 5-8

A private tree care company will remove a nearly 60-foot-tall Western red cedar tree growing near the east side of the John A. Cherberg Building on Friday, Jan. 8.

The 80- to 100-year-old tree poses a safety hazard and must be removed to minimize risk to vehicles parked nearby. The tree had its central leader – the vertical stem at the top of the trunk – blown out by a wind storm about a decade ago. The original wound never healed and several branches near the top are now weak and likely to fall. In fact, one of the branches came down in a recent wind storm.

The Nisqually and Squaxin tribes will hold a brief ceremony blessing the cedar tree prior to its removal. Once the tree is down and cut into sections, the tribes will remove much of the wood on Saturday, January 9 or Sunday, January 10 for use in creating indigenous art, such as Salish fiber art, carvings and basketry.

In addition to the cedar removal, Arbor Care Tree Service will trim and prune hazardous limbs from several other campus trees during the week Jan 5-8, including two red oaks near the northwest corner of the Legislative Building, a bigleaf maple near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a cork elm near the press houses and a Norway maple near the World War II Memorial. The company will also grind tree stumps at Marathon and Heritage parks and at the Old Capitol Building in downtown Olympia.

The work will begin around 8 a.m. and end by about 5 p.m. each day.

There will be some minor impacts to parking and pedestrian traffic during this work. There will also be noise from chain saws, a stump grinder and chipper.

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