Silver Maples Disappear From St Rose Lawn

By Kendra Bobowick

Silver Maples that have for years shaded the St Rose of Lima Church front lawn came down limb-by-limb Tuesday.

Chain saws and a large wood chipper quickly disposed of branches and leaves lowered or tossed to the ground by Newtown Arbor Service, LLC, owner and bucket operator Alan N. Potter, while drivers moved slowly past his trucks and crews. Paul Habina worked the crane and set hefty sections of trunk on the lawn for the ground crew, including Chris Booth, Michael “Mouse” Clark, Bill Lillis — also a climber — and Sean Sheehan.

From his view at 60 feet above Church Hill Road, Mr Potter looked down a partially hollowed stump of an upper limb still on the trunk and pointed out areas of damage. “See the holes here? And look at the hollowed out area here,” he said. Explaining the damaged and weakened areas not visible until the saws cut chunks of wood away, he added, “Usually when people see trees coming down, they want to know why.”

The silver maples are “inherently weak,” he said, especially when they are mature. He estimated that the three trees coming down from the church’s front lawn were roughly 80 years old. The church is being “proactive, before the trees become a problem,” he said.

As traffic slowed as drivers turned their heads for a look, hunks of bark and leaves flew as large limbs hit the lawn. In a sunny spot and at a distance sat Mr Potter’s father-in-law Earle Lawrence who was “passing some time,” and watching the crews at work.

Monsignor Robert E. Weiss has been concerned about the trees ever since the high winds of a June 9 storm earlier this year took down heavy limbs. He said, “We researched and learned that crowns for these trees are too heavy for the trunk. I was worried about limbs hitting a car on Church Hill Road.”

A tree company and the insurance company both recommended taking down the trees, he said. With plans to replace the trees, he said that they were cut down for safety reasons.