I'm a photographer and Angel Oak fan too, and I came across your website/blog posting about the Angel Oak (AO). I thought you would like to know she is currently threatened by a multi-acre 600-housing unit development and could use your help.
The developers claim they won't cut down the Angel Oak itself, they want to clear cut thousands of trees and hundreds of acres of the surrounding buffer forest and fill in a wetlands that sustains area wildlife. They do not even mention this in their plans, but instead say only that “they won’t kill the Angel Oak.”
They either don’t understand or won’t admit that the surrounding forest has for centuries protected the magnificent Angel Oak from weather (wind, storms, etc.) and too much human attention (climbing, graffiti, fire risk, et. al.) The AO is not just a solitary living organism, but an integral part of an ecosystem now facing this dramatic decrease in buffer forest and increase in human traffic.
The massive development will, in the opinion of anyone who is not in a position to gain financially from the project inevitably lead to the eventual death of the Angel Oak tree in a few years or perhaps decades. Certified arborists have recently testified to this, but the developers have their own experts who are paid to give testimony in support of the project. Who would you believe?…
A website with more information about this disaster in the works has been set up by locals: http://www.savetheangeloak.org
Visit it, sign up for email updates, sign the petition, and spread the word! Help preserve the one-of-a-kind living treasure, The Angel Oak Tree—and the surrounding forest it is a part of—for many more human generations.
Sincerely,
Jack Gescheidt Founder, The TreeSpirit Project jack@treespiritproject.com http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
Dear Austin,
ReplyDeleteI'm a photographer and Angel Oak fan too, and I came across your website/blog posting about the Angel Oak (AO). I thought you would like to know she is currently threatened by a multi-acre 600-housing unit development and could use your help.
The developers claim they won't cut down the Angel Oak itself, they want to clear cut thousands of trees and hundreds of acres of the surrounding buffer forest and fill in a wetlands that sustains area wildlife. They do not even mention this in their plans, but instead say only that “they won’t kill the Angel Oak.”
They either don’t understand or won’t admit that the surrounding forest has for centuries protected the magnificent Angel Oak from weather (wind, storms, etc.) and too much human attention (climbing, graffiti, fire risk, et. al.) The AO is not just a solitary living organism, but an integral part of an ecosystem now facing this dramatic decrease in buffer forest and increase in human traffic.
The massive development will, in the opinion of anyone who is not in a position to gain financially from the project inevitably lead to the eventual death of the Angel Oak tree in a few years or perhaps decades. Certified arborists have recently testified to this, but the developers have their own experts who are paid to give testimony in support of the project. Who would you believe?…
A website with more information about this disaster in the works has been set up by locals: http://www.savetheangeloak.org
Visit it, sign up for email updates, sign the petition, and spread the word! Help preserve the one-of-a-kind living treasure, The Angel Oak Tree—and the surrounding forest it is a part of—for many more human generations.
Sincerely,
Jack Gescheidt
Founder, The TreeSpirit Project
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com