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The survivor at the edge of the pond makes it through another year

By adamg on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 2:31pm
Grizzled old tree at Jamaica Pond still hanging on, if barely

Black void at the bottom is really a hollowed out trunk. See it larger.

The old leaning tree on the Pond Street side of Jamaica Pond didn't seem like it would make it this year - the crack in its trunk widened into a mini-cavern with enough space to support several families of squirrels and it tipped even more down toward the water, enough so that you could no longer use its outer branches to gauge just full the pond was.

And yet, the year after a fan wrapped some notebooks and pencils around it for people to remember it by, it persisted. It put out new leaves this past spring and they lasted until the fall.

But how much longer before it just finally gives way and falls into the pond?

Neighborhoods: 
Jamaica Plain
Free tagging: 
Trees
Jamaica Pond


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Comments

By Zhu Hengpeng on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 2:38pm.

Saving trees in the Emerald Necklace is not part of the Office of Climate Resilience job. This area is managed by DCR.

By adamg on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 2:44pm.

This is a Boston city park. For that matter, all of the Emerald Necklace is city owned and maintained (the actual parks that is, as opposed to the parkways, which, yes, are DCR property).

There were a ton of Boston Parks and Rec workers out there just a couple of weeks ago doing all sorts of pruning and stuff, but this tree has been slowly dying for a couple years now, and at this point there's probably not much anybody can do for it.

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By Zhu Hengpeng on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 3:14pm.

I stand corrected then. But I'm not talking about a particular single tree. There has been a noticeable die off of trees in these parks.

By KellyJMF on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 5:13pm.

Trees die all the time. They have different natural life spans. And if several trees of the same species were planted at the same time, it is no surprise they reach the end of their life at the same time.

By Ah-Clem on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 4:05pm.

I have a number of photos this tree from the many times I have 'walked the pond'. the photos usually feature birds perched out the lone branch over the water.

By anon on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 5:05pm.

Chomp that tree and make a casket for Peanut the Squirrel.