trees

October 3, 2007

During the rains and flooding on Tuesday evening, a live oak tree fell across Waterbury Lane in Habersham Harbor around 9:00pm. The tree appears to have been waterlogged from the top, and lost its grip in the water-soaked soil beneath. It came up by the roots, taking landscape shrubs with it, and leaving a hole about two feet deep in the yard. A second live oak in the same yard had also begun to uproot, and was leaning precariously at about a 10-degree angle. A portion of Swimming Pen Creek behind the house may have swelled to contribute to the saturation. Public Works personnel on the scene estimated the fallen tree to be at least one hundred years old.

The owners of the tree were out of town when it fell across the street and into the driveway of John and Carolyn Ward, missing their truck by several feet. Carolyn Ward heard the noise but didn’t realize what happened. “I heard a crackling boom,” she said. “I thought my husband fell down the stairs or something. Thirty minutes later a guy’s at my door asking if I knew a tree fell in my yard.”

My husband and I have been residents of Clay County for almost 5 years. We are transplants from South Florida (relocating after an office closing), I am a native Floridian and hubby might as well be, moving to South Florida from Michigan in the late 1940s. We decided to make Clay our home because of its rural, country environment. Our home is on a wetland preserve and we get deer, turkey, and all kinds of other critters in the back yard. Most are after the feed from the bird feeders, I usually buy a large (50 lb ) bag at a time and it has cracked corn as well as seed. We catch the deer in broad daylight feeding on the seed the squirrels have scattered, or scattering it themselves by tipping the feeders and making the seed spill. There is nothing better then to sit in my recliner by the window and watching all the birds and critters filling their bellys. We had nothing like this in South Florida. It was all concrete and asphalt, as most of the natural areas have long been destroyed by development. I sure hope that those in charge of rezoning and development up here think long and hard before they allow all the natural beauty up here to be destroyed. We need the trees to help absorb water, and to convert carbon monoxide. We need clean water for ourselves as well as the environment. I hope I do not have to move again, because what space I thought I had suddenly disappears because someone sold their property to another developer.