Sometimes, it’s not easy to see the mark left by a tree cut down, but for the maple tree destroyed on November 15th, 2022, there is still a reminder… a tree scar.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
The Making of a Tree Scar
If you care about the things that make urban life softer and more livable, you like trees. Some of them you like a lot. That’s why the ugly sight I found while walking up Main Street on that autumn day sticks with me.
The century-old tree lay in pieces on the ground where it once shadowed in summer. Its maturing root system, tied into the existing mycorrhizal network, reached out to the other trees nearby.
A woman walking by with a child saw me taking pictures and asked, “Why did they cut it down?”
“Because that’s how RIOC does things.”
Maple trees typically live from 300 to 400 years, meaning this one was a juvenile. Later, RIOC claimed it was sick because it was “hollow up the middle.” Every healthy tree is hollow up the middle because it orients toward sunlight. Leaves and branches always reach out.
The state agency, caught again decimating Roosevelt Island’s trees, refused to answer questions, adding this to the pile of community resentment.
Other scenes of tree destruction without justification include…
…a pair of old- growth trees taken down from the Rivercross Lawn.
And the brutal hacking of cherry trees along the West Promenade in 2021.
RIOC workers on the scene did this because, they said, they were “pruning to save the trees’ lives.” But fruit trees should never be pruned for any reason in the fall because it makes them vulnerable in winter.
The group of ten hacked like this before we protested remained stunted in comparison to their neighboring trees, and one died from the incident.
RIOC, of course, never explained.
Which leaves us with the question…
Why did they cut down this healthy maple tree…?
You see it now as a ghost. See how the neighbor reflects the tree scar?
Remember how trees shoot their branches and leaves out to catch the sun? This remaining tree gave way to its now-destroyed neighbor in the hunt for the air-cleaning, life-giving rays, depriving its one side of branches.
That’s where the other maple caught the sun and absorbed unhealthy carbon dioxide released back into the environment when it was killed.
The reason? Those responsible will never own up to it, but this 100-year-old tree came down because it blocked the river view of some condominiums in Southtown. Obliterating it added thousands of value to a handful of owners.
So, it goes.
Rivercross and the Quiet Green Light
Rivercross privatization was enabled in 2010. This matters now because the same governance structures that allowed Rivercross to privatize without formal conflict controls are still in place. The same public authority oversees land leases, settlements, and redevelopment decisions that affect every resident on Roosevelt Island today.
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