Trees' scars hide a multitude of sins

You can see the scars along the edge of the meadow: trees with odd bulges on the trunks at barbed-wire height, bark bulging around electric-fence fasteners or support cables. The giant tulip poplar my husband cut down last week carried a constant reminder of the long presence of people in this area: a light fixture attached to the trunk about 20 feet up, its electric cables dangling, detached from any power source. Years ago he cut down another tree and found an impressive length of chain-link fence embedded within the hollow trunk. Apparently, previous residents of our property had no problem using trees as fenceposts and lightpoles, leaving behind enough embedded hardware to seriously mangle a chainsaw.

And harm the trees, too. Trees grow scars in response to damage, but that doesn't always lead to a full recovery. It has been 21 years since a local flood washed out the footbridge that used to cross the creek at the edge of our property, but the cables and spikes still firmly embedded in the sycamore bear witness to its absence. The resident lumberjack tried to remove as much of the hardware as he could as the cables are clearly strangling the tree, but whoever built that bridge intended it to last as long as the tree. Sadly, the cables may hasten the tree's death.

It can be hazardous to cut down even a small tree if it has barbed wire or metal spikes hidden inside, which is one reason commercial logging operations aren't interested in property like ours, where you never know what might be hiding inside a tree. The resident lumberjack was very careful to avoid the light fixture and electrical cords when he cut down the giant tulip poplar, but he couldn't know whether he might run his chainsaw right into something else equally dangerous. You never know what you might find when you chop down a tree. 

I keep waiting for the Lorax to pop out, but we really needed him 20 or 40 or 60 years ago to tell the previous residents to for heaven's sake stop pounding things into trees. Instead, we see the scars and hope for recovery--until it's too late.

You can see the light fixture on the far right.

And there it is again.