Monday, July 11, 2011

Tree Chomper

It's alarmingly common to see trees butchered in the interest of maintaining power lines. I understand why, of course, but it's still painful to see trees with huge Vs down their middles, or worse. It seems like there should be some way around this destruction of the plants and our aesthetic environment. Buried cables, I suppose, but they're expensive and destructive themselves, at least in the short term.

This week I saw a pine tree that had all of its branches on one side cut out at the midpoint.

Large pine tree along a highway with a huge square cut out of one side, so it looks like the tree has its mouth open wide
This gives the appearance of a giant mouth, about to swallow the car speeding by. That one branch that sticks out just above the gap is almost like a nose! Or is this like seeing faces in the clouds?

One thing I know for sure: The big gap in the branches has now grown up past the power lines, and the lines are completely surrounded by the lower branches. Time for the electric company guys to make the mouth even bigger, I guess.
Posted at

3 comments:

  1. Linda MyersJuly 11, 2011 at 8:07 PM

    Not pretty, but I think necessary to avoid fire danger. I'd rather see all the overhead lines put under the ground.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unemployed DragonJuly 11, 2011 at 8:20 PM

    i wonder why they don't just hire some arborists to trim the trees better, and more frequently? That chop job in your picture is pretty awful and can't be good for the tree.

    ReplyDelete
  3. pepperyJuly 14, 2011 at 1:07 PM

    Whenever I see trees (and pictures) like this, I think of it as nature just poised to strike back! (In a the Happening sense, except with tree-chomping.) And of course, your pic will be one that scientists will use in presentations following the Rise of the Killer Trees, as an ominous portent that no one recognized.

    In all seriousness, I too am saddened and disappointed when I see trees like that. I mean, really - that's the best we can do? It's not only sad and ugly and destructive, but it's so lazy.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated, so don't be surprised when yours doesn't appear immediately. Please only submit once.