A 120-year-old cottonwood saved by an activist campaign in 1991 has grown so unsafe that the City of Loveland has ordered it cut down.
City staff and certified arborists have monitored the tree at the intersection of 33rd Street and North Monroe Avenue over the past several years and determined its poor health poses a “safety threat” to neighboring residents, the city said in a press release. The tree is scheduled for removal on Wednesday and Thursday.
The stump will be ground down, the median will be cleaned up and re-mulched, and safety signs will be added to the intersection.
In June 1991, when residents say the tree was much healthier than it is today, the tree and several other nearby cottonwoods were scheduled to be taken down to clear the way for the extension of North Monroe Avenue beyond 33rd Street.
Neighbors rallied to keep the trees for both aesthetics and environmental stewardship. They gathered about 80 signatures on a petition to save the trees and presented it to the Loveland City Council, and children placed signs on the trees that read, “Don’t cut me down yet,” and “You don’t know what you have until you’ve lost it,” according to Reporter-Herald reports from that date.
The city and developers eventually reached an agreement to preserve some of the trees.
When news of the tree’s demise was posted on Loveland’s Facebook page, the reaction was strong — half of the reactions were “sad,” and about an eighth were “angry.”
People also shared memories about the tree — “It’s how I explain how to get to my house,” wrote one person. Another said “It feels like part of me will be lost.”
Some neighbors said that while they feel it is unfortunate that the tree is a hazard, it should be removed to avoid accidents.
Michael Penner, a very close neighbor to the tree, said few days ago, a large, seemingly healthy branch of a different cottonwood tree in his yard broke off.
“If that tree branch could fall out of nowhere in our backyard — and it looked healthy, it didn’t look sick — I wonder what that tree, that does look sick, has got in store for people that drive under it,” he said.
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