Mike Schut, Integral Ecology
I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree. - Joyce Kilmer
On a golden September day while backpacking through Yosemite’s backcountry, I entered a grove of young aspen trees enmeshed in what is likely a common state of consciousness for all of us: I am me and the trees are not; I am here, they are there; I am human, they are less-than-human.
I left that grove at a loss for words for what happened in their midst, but I’ll try. Barriers fell away—the sense of separation disappeared. There was no hierarchy. I felt that we were dancing, actually. We acknowledged each other.
I don’t remember how long that experience lasted, but it doesn’t really matter: maybe grace is always timeless.
The Dream Project and arborists this week
Most of you reading this have walked the grounds of the Little Falls campus or the Umbria retreat and appreciated the beauty and solace of the trees. If not, you’ve likely been struck by other trees gracing your everyday lives.
As part of this congregation’s ongoing work to implement the Dream Project, arborists will be working at Umbria on November 25. They’ll then move north to Little Falls from December 2 to 5. (The Dream Project involves habitat restoration at both locations as well as the establishment of an environmental learning center in Little Falls.)
The vast majority of those trees being worked on will be pruned. Pruning allows for better airflow and light penetration which leads to healthier limbs and structural integrity and decreases the likelihood of fungal or insect diseases. Pruning can also improve safety, especially when dead or decaying branches are removed from trees close to buildings or walkways.
Tree removal
The arborists, in addition to pruning, will also remove a number of trees at both sites. And that is hard. Especially if the tree is one you have a particularly close relationship with. One you feel kinship with—that has been a channel of grace and beauty.
Members of the Dream Project team have worked diligently during this process. Four different arborists and a forester from the Department of Natural Resources provided their recommendations. Some of the trees being removed are decayed or wounded and are located close to the Umbria retreat house or Motherhouse buildings. In those cases, safety is a concern. Others need to be cut down to allow for healthy spacing, so surrounding trees have room to flourish.
At Umbria, four trees will be removed and 22 (of 127) on the Little Falls campus. Trunks and large limbs will be cut into firewood and shared with staff and our Umbria volunteer. Tree brush will be chipped for mulch to nourish trees at both sites. (The stumps will be ground next spring.)
Closing note: upcoming opportunity to gather
As is seemingly always the case, loss nurtures new life. But loss also carries grief. For those who would like to mark the loss and celebrate the beauty of the trees we walk among every day, Jamie Deering and I will plan a gathering space and time to do so. We will be back in touch about that opportunity soon.
“Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close.” - Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow
