Warren Wilson’s “Fallen”
Rae Milstead | November 17, 2022
On Nov. 3, students were unable to use the front door of the Owl’s Nest cafe at Warren Wilson College (WWC). This was due to the area being unsafe while a tree in front of the entryway was being taken down. Now, students walk past a large stump that has been painted over and students no longer have the shade of the Pyrus calleryana — also known as the Bradford Pear tree — to study under.
When deciding whether a tree needs to be taken down, there are a lot of different factors that are considered. The biggest factors are how busy the area around the tree is and how likely the tree is to fall. If a tree is very likely to fall but way out in the middle of nowhere, then it is not likely that there will be any human assistance in taking it down.
However, if a tree is likely to fall and it’s near a highly populated area or building, then it is much more likely that the tree will be taken down.
Dave Ellum, the Dean of Lands and the director of the Center for Working Lands at WWC weighed in on the reasons for why our spring-flowering Bradford tree was taken down.
“The problem with Bradford Pear trees is because it’s a horticulture species that’s been bred for perfect form and flowers,” Ellum said. “They sacrifice some of the structural stability of the tree and they fall apart and split and break really easily. This tree had a very high probability of splitting in half and falling. In fact, it had already dropped a few very large limbs. If it did fall, where people are sitting, it could have killed somebody.”
In light of WWC being a work college with a strong obligation to serve our communities and consider sustainability, Ellum revealed what happens with the tree remains once it gets taken down.
“There’s a few things we do with them,” Ellum said. “One is, if it’s a tree of a type of wood, that would be useful for fine woodworking, it would go to fine woodworking. If it’s a tree that has boards in it, it would go to the sawmill. And if it’s a tree that has neither, it would probably just go to firewood.”
In closing, this Bradford Tree lived around thirty years and was taken down for safety concerns. It is now painted over in a colorful mural style by Harley Woods, a senior at WWC, who has painted four stumps collectively around campus.