Starting Thursday morning, a Department of Enterprise Services contractor will be in Sylvester Park to remove a cracked limb on the historic American elm inside the park that is at risk of falling.

Sylvester Park is one of four parks that Enterprise Services manages as part of its duties to maintain the 486-acre Capitol Campus in Olympia. Enterprise Services has established a safety zone around the elm made up of barricades and caution tape.

Between 8 and 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, June 16, arborists from Ron’s Stump Removal & Tree Service of Olympia will use a 65-foot bucket truck to reach and remove the broken limb – as well as potentially remove a dead hanging branch on a nearby cypress tree.

If the contractor can reach the tree with the bucket truck, the work should take approximately two hours. However, if the limb can’t be accessed by the contractor’s truck, arborists will have to climb the tree to remove the hanging branch – an action that could take up to five hours to complete.

Enterprise Services will also temporarily close three parking spots located north of the tree on the west side of Washington Avenue so the bucket truck can be positioned as near as possible to the elm. These parking spots will be barricaded off first thing in the morning.

In addition, the department will place plywood on the lawn to protect the turf from the truck tires.

Sign up to receive Capitol Campus Updates via email or text message.

Follow Enterprise Services on Twitter.

Learn more about Visitor Services on Facebook.

Like Enterprise Services on Facebook.