A Eulogy for Arthur, the Ancient Prince of Watten Ponds
This is Arthur, a massive oak tree in the Watten Ponds area of Shorewood. We're here to eulogize Arthur, whose days are short.
Arthur is about 88 inches around — you could wrap Shaquille O'Neal around Arthur and his head wouldn't touch his toes. Arthur has likely been around since the late 1800s, part of the Big Woods remnant south of Birch Bluff in Shorewood. Arthur is probably the second generation of the forest canopy in this area, growing for 130 to 140 years alongside a few remaining co-dominant giants and the ghosts of the original, oldest trees. His massive canopy is a huge part of the skyline in western Shorewood.
It's no exaggeration to say that Arthur is both witness to and part of our history. Arthur likely sprouted from acorn to sapling when the United States had 44 states — older than Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii, and already a giant before Shorewood incorporated in 1956.
Arthur witnessed the first airplane flight and the arrival of the automobile. He watched boys from the neighborhood board ships to fight in the trenches of France in World War I. He was already a mature tree when Hitler rose to power, and his massive canopy bowed at the horror of D-Day. He shuddered at the power of humanity at Okinawa and Nagasaki, witnessed the Korean War and the arrival of color television, mourned the assassination of John F. Kennedy, feared for our country during the turmoil of Vietnam, saw the first computers arrive in homes, cheered for the Twins in both 1987 and 1991, and weathered the Halloween Blizzard. He mourned the tragedy of September 11 and counts the events of the 21st century as just a blip in his long life.
Amazingly, Arthur is just past middle age. Left to his own, he would likely live another 100 years.
But sadly, Arthur must go — wood from the time of Grover Cleveland, headed for a chopper to become mulch.
Why, you might ask, would this massive and historical tree have to meet the saw?
Because two houses are going there.
That's it. Not a road, not a school, not thirty units of housing. Two very large, very expensive houses on ground that needs a great deal of earthmoving before anything can stand on it.
That is this developer's business. He finds difficult parcels — steep, wooded, wet, the ones that have stayed empty because they are hard — reshapes the ground, takes the trees down, and builds houses priced to justify the work. It is a legal business and he finds a way to get it done.
But it is a business that depends on getting the most permissive reading of every rule, on every project. And he will be back with the next parcel. The Planning Department knows that.
But wait, you might ask — is there anything the City can do to protect Arthur?
There is. Arthur is already a significant tree under the City's Tree Preservation Policy; he qualifies automatically on size. What the City can do on top of that is designate him a specimen tree, or designate the woods he stands in a stand of trees. Either designation gives the City the power to prohibit his destruction.
The City has chosen not to do either. In fact, the City does not appear to have asked the question at all — whether any tree or any stand on this property is important — even though its own Policy calls for that determination.
To the City, Arthur is not a massive, historical remnant. He is tree 11036, generically one of the 98 mature trees to be destroyed on these two lots alone. Arthur is no more and no less significant than tree 10960, an ash from the 1990s that will also become mulch.
And to the City, Arthur is not a historical or natural asset. He is an inconvenience, because he is in the way of a multi-million dollar house. So Arthur must go.
What nobody at the City was ever required to do was ask whether this particular trade — Arthur and ninety-seven of his neighbors, for two houses — was one worth making.
But why won't the City protect Arthur and the other ancient trees in that area, when it plainly can? We've written about that a couple of times, here and here. The short answer is that the City's Planning Department is focused on how to let development happen, not on how to protect the City's natural resources or advance what residents want.
The Big Woods that Arthur is part of is a beautiful and tranquil place. If you have the chance, we'd strongly recommend you visit — and enjoy the grandeur while you still can.
Anatomy of a Captured City
How developer bias captured Shorewood City Hall.
Public watchdog or developer lapdog? Capture and Why You Pay — The name for what happens when a regulator starts seeing things the way the people it regulates do.
The Amazing Shrinking Environmental Review — An environmental review ordered in February covered one lot by September. Nobody voted. A chronology from the City's own records.
Eleven Tools, Not One Used - a Tree Preservation Policy that Doesn't Preserve Trees — The City's tree policy gave it eleven powers over how these woods come down. There is no record it used one of them.
One and a Half Percent, a Story of a Flood Foretold — The stormwater report left only a 1.5% margin on the largest storm, uphill of homes that have already flooded, without the City's file showing that the assumptions were checked.
Letting the Clock Run Out — The City is defending its own decision on appeal. Read what its brief leaves out.
How It Happens, and What to Do About It — Why this happens to normal people, and the two small things we're asking the City Council to do.
Related posts
Read this with the related posts:
Series overview · What Capture Is, and Why You Pay · The Amazing Shrinking Environmental Review · Eleven Tools, Not One Used - a Tree Preservation Policy that Doesn't Preserve Trees · One and a Half Percent, a Story of a Flood Foretold · Letting the Clock Run Out · How It Happens, and What to Do About It · If Somebody Tells You Agency Capture Isn't a Real Thing
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