TREE WARS

Yep, those pesky tree huggers are still at it.
They just keep hanging on.
Seattle has tree haters.

Found in the most unusual place.
The Seattle School District, Excellence For All and educators for the future they proclaim.

But, one must question what they are teaching:

Community awareness it is not,
Neighborhood cooperation it is not,
Conservation of natural resources it is not,
Protecting the Environment for future generations it is not,
Creative thinking to protect and nourish the environment it is not,

And the proof is at Ingraham High School,
as the Northwest Grove is being attacked once more.

Who will protect these trees?
The Tree Advocates, the tree huggers.

And where do they arise from.
From our History;

Martin Luther: “For the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.”

Abraham Lincoln: “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

And finally a well loved author of the ages:
Dr. Seuss: “I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.”

So it seems as if,
the good battle for trees,
costs the gold and silver as Martin Luther says they are worth,
the depth of Character and
the voice of a tree advocate to protect them.

If you are like Martin Luther,
Abraham Lincoln and
the Lorax
then you also are ready to be a Tree Advocate,
you also will sacrifice to Save The Trees.

Thank You.


Please use the Pay Pal button to donate or
Send donations ,
Made out to Save the Trees-Seattle

To: Save the Trees-Seattle
C/O Steve Zemke
2131 N 132nd Street
Seattle WA 98133

Tree School

The Seattle School District is still in Tree School.

In May the City Hearing Examiner gave a lesson concerning Trees and Habitat.

Trees and Habitat are a pair. And for the Ingraham Trees, the habitat is the life blood for the trees, and the trees are the life blood for the habitat.

Yep, the Chicken and the Egg thing, which came first?

I think for an area to be called a Habitat, it needs to have food and shelter. Which the Ingraham Trees do all alone, but they do it better with an understory.
But, can Habitat exist without trees? Of course, but it too will be specific for certain critters and will lack the overstory.

In other words, Habitat is composed of more than one element, the more elements the more value to the habitat, the more likely rare species are present. Pretty simple formula.

The Ingraham Trees consist of a rare, uncommon plant association. Trees are plants, as are salal, Oregon grape, evergreen huckleberry, red huckleberry, bitter cherry, rhododendron, fungi, Willows, flowers, and others.

Ingraham has an uncommon plant association for the City of Seattle, which attracts species of Wildlife that are also dwindling in Seattle and happen to be on the State of Washington Priority Species list.

So, back to the beginning Habitat or Trees? Or Habitat and Trees? Or in truth; Habitat includes Trees.

The Habitat including the trees is what saved the Ingraham Trees.

Yet, the School District may still try to remove parts of the rare and uncommon plant association in the Northwest Grove at Ingraham High School.

What grade would you give them for Tree School if they do?

Trees---a small step today

FINALLY

A small significant step.
Some would say a form of movement.

A City Council, willing to STEP,
not a huge step, not a leap by any means, BUT A STEP
toward a TREE ORDINANCE IN SEATTLE.

Today, the City Council passed an Interime Emergency Tree ordinace. READ IT:

http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CBOR&s1=116404.cbn.&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/cbor2.htm&r=1&f=G

Now to some, from far away places, who see the travel brochures, the TV spots or hear from visitors about the abundance of trees in the City of Seattle a tree ordinance in Seattle seems Bizarre, unnecessary even.

Under the surface of the City Showy Exterior lies the sleeping giant of Chainsaw destruction. In less than 30 years the beauty, the green attraction of the City has declined from 40% to 18% in 2006.

Now it is 2009 and the Chainsaws have been studily at work. Money has driven the Developer, the Lobbyist, the Politician. And the Trees have disappeared in Groves, one after another...

But today a SMALL STEP, A SIGNIFICANT STEP was taken. In essence a STEP of MORATORIUM--for awhile, A FEW MORE TREES IN SEATTLE WILL BE SAVED.

But yet we wait, is there to be more? When? It has taken 10 months to get an Interim Tree Ordinance how many months, years or (please NO) decades will it take for the real ordiance?

Snow in the Air

December is Here,

Snow is finally in the Air.

And the Ingraham trees await a decision.

Will it be stay, will it be slaughter?

Will some survive and others die?

Is it to be a time to rejoice or a time to cry?

Is there a Shaman for the Trees?

Mans decision is but a fleeting moment in time,

For in eternity the trees survive.

Ingraham still has trees!

WOW,
What a meeting, the Students rallied for the new addition, as though they were led by pro's.

The process was undeniably a position of passion for themselves verses passion for the future.

Parents were heated and angry that their children were suffering at the hands of Tree Huggers, and that their tax dollars were being wasted because authority had been questioned.

And the Tree Huggers, hung in there. quietly watching, listening and wondering what the maintenance procedures of the school had to do with the life of the trees?

Trees that are 75 years old, trees that tower to the height of 120 foot and beyond, trees that are magnificent and hold ones attention and cause one to actually tilt their head back to see the top. Trees that if you stand under, you may not see the top, only the branches...

What will happen to these magnificent wonders of nature? If the School District has its say, they will become lumber. Replaced with 5-6 foot saplings, chances of survival is equivalent to 0 in a High School atmosphere of the ME philosophy.

There is a time and a place for everything...is there a time and a place for these wonders of the Century? These trees that reach beyond our imagination? Is this the time for their life to continually flow or be drained into the ground?

Endangered Species

Trees in Seattle have become an endangered Species.

As each day passes, more trees are killed.
Some because they are hazards,
Some due to aesthetics,
Some are in the way,
Some are trees,
all are gone.

Today a tree stands tall and majestic. A home is shaded, a family enjoys beauty.
Tomorrow the home is sold. The Developer rolls, and the Tree is gone.
Eternity's loss.

Such is the Destiny for Seattle's Trees.
Evergreen will be Evergone.

It is in the hands of the Mayor and the City Council to pass an Interim Emergency Tree Ordinance, that protects trees inside and outside development, before there is no reason to have a Tree Ordinance.

Will it happen?

Tree Tops

Walking down the sidewalk, I can't help but to look up.
Up into the heights of a majestic grove.
So tall, so unmistakably strong, and beautiful
my eyes can barely drink in this amazing wonder.

On a glistening trail,
golden grass surrounding me,
I walk into this small haven of forest
in the midst of a concrete world.

Sun waves breaking through the branches,
air thick with the glaze,
branches surrounding trunks
circling skyward into the blue

Breathe taking are the tree tops,
towering above, as I stand
In a land of giants, being comforted
in their strength.