“I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.” – Joyce Kilmer
At a glance, this photo may not seem to show much of anything except a sizable expanse of empty ground- but in fact you are looking at nothing less than a tragedy – because this is a plot of empty land where once beautiful tall trees stood.
This photo was taken in Petrifying Springs, a beautiful park nestled just south of the border between Kenosha and Racine counties. My father-in-law takes long walks there almost every single day (as the seasons and the weather permits) and has always admired its serene beauty. Kathy and I have spent plenty of time there- and for a couple of years early in our marriage we lived right across the street from it (although oddly enough we did not visit it all that often when t was right under our noses.)
Earlier this year, Petrifying Springs was closed to to the public for the unhappiest of reasons: county officials were going to have to cut down quite a number of trees that had fallen victim to that vicious invader known as the Emerald Ash Borer. Despite the best efforts of various officials and agencies to deflect or delay its invasion, the borer finally arrived here in southeastern Wisconsin and did horrendous damage. My understanding is that one of the worst things about this particular threat is that there is no way to know that it is attacking a tree until it’s too late; the tell-tale signs of damage appear only when it’s too late for the tree to be saved. It’s the most maddening thing, especially in an age when we can chart the genome, treat cataracts, and detect galaxies millions of lights years away. Why can’t we take care of one species of beetle? But as is the case with some foes, this one is proving to be all but impossible to even suppress, let alone eradicate. And Petrifying Springs is just one of its more recent sites to be caught in its voracious path.
I had not driven through Petrifying Springs since last fall, so my father-in-law encouraged me to swing through and see the damage for myself. I knew it was bad- that hundreds of trees had been removed – but still I was not prepared for how much the look of the place had been irreparably altered. I remembered a freak summer wind storm some years ago that swept through Kenosha which uprooted many trees- including more than a hundred on the Carthage campus alone. It was tragic- but it was also amazing to me how the campus could lose one hundred trees and not be more disfigured by the loss, which is a good indication of just how many trees were there to begin with. I hoped the same thing would be true for Petrifying Springs- but sadly, it was not. From the moment I drove on to the property, I could see the difference; it was impossible not to.
And that’s before I first noticed all of the stumps. They were everywhere, and they looked for all the world like headstones in a cemetery – which, in a way, they were. Each stump was a small, forlorn memorial to the beautiful, tall tree that had once stood there. So sad.
In Petrifying Springs alone, 720 ash trees had to be cut down because of the Emerald Ash Borer – and across Kenosha County, a total of just over 2,600 Ash trees were felled in various parks.
I made a point of paying a visit to my favorite spot in Petrifying Springs – a particular bridge from which I’ve taken numerous photographs of the view of the trees on the two shorelines and their reflection in the water below. On a sunny spring or summer day, it’s an almost impossibly beautiful sight. I went to that same spot yesterday, and I couldn’t get over how much more empty it looked and felt. It was not just that the branches of the trees were pretty much bare. It was also that there were fewer trees to begin with.
As sad and frustrating as this is, I suppose we should be grateful for anything that gets us looking at the trees around us and appreciating them. If you’re as old as I am, you remember the devastation caused by Dutch Elm Disease several decades ago – and of course our trees can fall prey to storms and fire and other disasters. It’s part of the natural order of things. But there is something infuriating when something that is not native – an invasive species like the Emerald Ash Borer, that absolutely does not belong here – is the cause of such destruction.
So what do we learn from something as sad as this? We learn that we cannot afford to take our trees – and their well-being – for granted. We learn the wisdom of diversity when it comes to trees; the ash that were removed from Petrifying Springs will be replaced with 18 different species, so there is unlikely to be any single disease or pest that will cause similar devastation in the future. We learn how much beauty they add to the world around us. And we learn patience …. because when we lose a big tall majestic tree, there is no way for that tree to be quickly or easily replaced. I find it really sobering to think that I might not live long enough to see Petrifying Springs return to its former grandeur – but we can hope that our children and our children’s children will.
In the meantime, I find myself looking up into the trees around me with renewed gratitude.
(Below are some other photos I’ve taken at Petrifying Springs. These happen to be fall photos, but it’s a beautiful place any time of the year.)
“Let me stop and say a blessing for these woods: for crows barking and squirrels scampering-
for trees and fungus and multi-colored leaves- for the way sunlight laces with shadows
thru each branch and leaf of tree –
for these paths that take me in- and for the paths that take me out.” Michael S. Glaser
(Found on a website called Spirit of Trees.)
