A selfish act by a tree-stealing Scrooge

ONE can understand — for about a minute — someone from outside the Northwest landing amid our stunning scenery and thinking to themselves, Wow, tall trees, Christmas trees. What if they are free for the taking?

Then logic kicks in, followed by the realization that a 7-foot conifer standing in a tree park at the Washington Park Arboretum is probably not a reasonable thing to borrow or steal. Someone planted it for a purpose.

The Scrooge who cut down the rare Keteleeria evelyniana is either really foolish or vicious or both.

Erring on the not-too-swift side, how could a dunderhead, even one in need of a yuletide tree, think trees are available to anyone who stops by with a saw?

This random act of selfishness is painful for tree lovers who visit the arboretum and those who work there and grasp the immense value of this living treasure.

The tree was one of the park's rare specimens, an imperiled species collected from China.

Randall Hitchin, who manages living collections for the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, was heartbroken. Understandably so. He had cared for the tree since it came to the Northwest as a seedling more than 10 years ago.

Few tree-park enthusiasts would seriously consider putting fences around trees to protect them. That defeats the idea of a publicly accessible tree park. But one idea that has emerged makes sense.

Perhaps it is in jest but arboretum staffers have considered dousing trees at Christmas time with foul-smelling animal urine. The poetic justice, of course, is, you steal a tree and you stink.