Heritage Tree is pruned, mourned

It hung over an alley in Fremont, a 70-foot tree deemed by some as the best of its kind in the city.

But now, the weeping poplar has been severely cut back and, say arborists, it may not survive.

The severe pruning has pitted Fremont neighbors against a developer, who pruned the tree that he deemed dangerous.

"It's tragic, that's what it is," said Patricia Halsell, who lives on the alley behind Evanston Avenue North where the tree sits. Her house is owned by her parents, and she says 60 percent of the tree is on her property.

"It's not my tree — it's the neighborhood's tree, and it's just so senseless."

But developer Dan Cawdrey, who cut back the tree, said he owns most of the tree and feared it could not survive another winter.

"I'm sorry they're in a grieving process, but this tree is over 80 years old and became a liability," he said, adding that branches had broken off and fallen on cars.

Just a week before the pruning, the tree was designated a Seattle Heritage Tree, meaning it's the best of its kind in the city, said Seattle arborist Linden Mead. But that didn't afford it any special protection, and because the tree is on private property, the pruning required no permits.

Nolan Rundquist, the city's arborist, said the tree likely won't survive. "It's certainly been malpruned," he said.

Seattle, which touts its environmental sensitivity and bills itself as the "Emerald City" largely because of its plentiful foliage and stately evergreens, may seem to have a split personality when dealing with trees.

Homeowners cut them to improve their views; developers remove them to create space for houses and condos. Disease and neglect also take their toll.

Two years ago, city officials noted that since 1972, the city had lost nearly 1.7 million trees — more than half the trees that had been standing. Mayor Greg Nickels then announced a campaign to plant more than 600,000 trees over the next three decades.

Being designated a Heritage Tree put the weeping poplar in Fremont in exclusive company with only about 60 other trees in the city, Rundquist said.

"It's the largest one of its kind in the city and a pretty unique tree," he said, noting that it's the only weeping poplar on the Heritage Tree list.

He examined the limbs cut Saturday and said it didn't look as though the tree had been dying.

"They don't recommend dying trees on their last legs to be Heritage Trees," he said.

The Heritage Tree program, begun in 1996 in cooperation with PlantAmnesty, a Seattle tree advocacy group, honors an exceptional tree that is a neighborhood landmark.

But to be named a Heritage Tree it must have the owner's approval, and Cawdrey said he was never notified of the nomination by Halsell.

Halsell said Cawdrey has been trying to cut the tree down for years, so she nominated it for Heritage status, hoping that would protect it. It was named a Heritage Tree Aug. 1.

She felt the tree was safe until last Saturday, when she awoke to the noise of a chainsaw outside her window. Frantic, she called 911, but was told it was a civil matter.

Throughout the day Monday, neighbors would drop by and hug Halsell. She said there's even talk of creating a memorial at the base of the tree.

"It's like a death in the family," said Halsell, whose parents bought the property in 1984.

Cawdrey said he decided to prune the tree because his insurance company worried it was a liability.

"The tree had to get trimmed back or someone was going to get hurt," he said.

Although Cawdrey said he wasn't notified of the Heritage nomination, members of the Heritage Tree committee said he was there when members evaluated the tree.

Cawdrey acknowledged he was there, but said he didn't know what they were doing.

If he had, Cawdrey said he never would have agreed to it. And he wonders, as part-owner of the tree, how it could even have been nominated without his consent.

Tina Cohen, a Heritage Tree committee member and arborist, had been asked by Halsell to examine the tree last year. "It was in good health," she said. "It was a large, healthy, unusual specimen to find in an urban residential area."

Cawdrey asserts the tree had outlived its life and said that's what he was told by noted arborist and author Arthur Lee Jacobson. But Jacobson said that's not what he told the developer.

"He wants it gone. He charmed me, how he's a tree lover, but his actions speak louder than his words," Jacobson said.

He said he told Cawdrey that poplars like the one in Fremont typically live as long as humans.

"This tree was a senior citizen, but that's not to say it was dying," he said.

While there are many weeping poplars in Seattle parks, Jacobson said it's virtually the only one of its kind on private property.

"This one is special," he said.

Cawdrey said he is a tree lover and offered to plant two mature trees to replace the weeping poplar.

"This has been going on for a year," he said of the tree controversy. "It's not like we woke up one morning and said, 'Let's cut it down.' We were never told, or was it implied, that the tree had Heritage status."

Information from The Seattle Times archives was included in this report.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or

sgilmore@seattletimes.com