Advocacy | INMAN PARK TREE WATCH

Delivered on September 22, 2017, at Trees Atlanta’s Canopy Conference.

We have an excellent question to consider: “Can passion alone save trees?” As Neil mentioned, I’d like to make a short, preliminary comment now, and closer to the end of the session, offer a concrete suggestion.

Let me start by appealing to my other passion, namely, literature. “The Second Tree from the Corner” is the title of a wonderful short story by E. B. White, better known today as the author of the children’s classic book, Charlotte’s Web. At the conclusion of this particular story, a man has just left his psychiatrist’s office. At long last, he’s had an insight into the nature of his unhappiness, when he catches sight of a tree. Here’s how E. B. White describes it:

A small tree, rising between him and the light, stood there saturated with the evening, each gilt-edged leaf perfectly drunk with excellence and delicacy. [His] spine registered an ever so slight tremor as it picked up this natural disturbance in the lovely scene. “I want the second tree from the corner, just as it stands,” he said … And he felt a slow pride in realizing that what he wanted none could bestow, and that what he had none could take away.

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In 2005, an arborist delivered some bad news to the developers of Marble Lofts on Dekalb Avenue. He reported that in his professional judgment, a large southern red oak (Quercus falcata) on the site would probably not survive the impending construction. The city’s arborist agreed and put up a notice of his intent to issue a permit for the tree’s removal.

Thanks to Atlanta’s progressive tree ordinance, however, an adjacent homeowner was given adequate time to appeal the city arborist’s decision. That man reached out to Tree Watch, which saw merit in his appeal and decided to work with him to make his case.

In the end, the neighbor won his case before the Tree Conservation Commission. Fortunately for the tree, the developers opted not to appeal the commission’s decision to superior court. Instead, with some slight adjustments in the site design, their construction had a smaller impact on the tree than they had feared.

All’s well that ends well! Here’s a picture of that tree, more than a decade after an Inman Park resident made an effort to rescue it.