Evelyn and I bought our manufactured home/mobile home/trailer in 2006. At the time, our street was unpaved; our “lawn” was nothing but dusty, rocky dirt; and ours was the only home on the curve. When we first moved in we were informed of several “ground rules.” We could not have a fence. We had to maintain our property ourselves. No overnight parking on the street. Only above-ground (raised) gardens. That kind of thing.
We were free to plant trees at the time, however, so we planted two apple trees. They’re rather small, so there was no issue with the trees blocking anybody’s view. Then, a few years ago, a directive came down from on high (no, not heaven – the Fox Pointe main office) that we were no longer permitted to plant trees. Shrubs were OK. Decorative grasses and the like were OK. But no trees. So, even if we had entertained the idea of planting more trees on our property, we could toss that idea out the window.
Last week Fox Pointe residents woke up to a shocking view: the small trees that welcomed us into the neighborhood – the eight or so that lived in the medial strip at the entrance – were gone, cut down at ground level, and the roots uprooted. As if that weren’t enough of a surprise, the trees that “bookended” the manager’s office were taken out soon afterward. To top it all off, all the shrubbery and grasses that grew on the four corners of the main entrance intersection were pulled up and the ground leveled.
It was one thing when they told us we couldn’t put any additional trees on our property. It’s quite another when they yank the trees out of the ground that were already here and send them who-knows-where. I believe our neighborhood is being run by people who hate trees. By “anti-arborists,” if you will.
The other day I saw the crew working again where they had removed the main entrance trees. I pulled up to one of them, rolled down my window, and said, “Just out of curiosity, are they planning to put something else where the trees used to be?”
“No,” he said. They would simply lay concrete along the center of the medial strip, covering the soil where the trees used to grow. (Who wants to join me in a chorus of, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot?”)
So, I asked him if he knew why they decided to get rid of the trees. He had no idea. He and the rest of the crew were just hired to do the deed; they weren’t told why.
It’s scary. Dr. Seuss warned us about this in “The Lorax.” I recently read about how the Charmin toilet paper company is cutting down ancient forests in Canada to make their product (but, of course – Charmin is the only brand of t. p. that really works for us, and now we find out that we’re supporting deforestation in Canada! Just our luck)!
From where I’m sitting it appears that the world has suddenly waged a war on trees. At least they have here in Fox Pointe. But they’re trying to remove as much of the South American rain forest as possible also. Who really knows where the deforestation forces are working or how fast they’re wiping out our forests? Weyerhauser aside (according to their ads, they replace as many trees as they cut down for their paper products), it seems that we’re dooming ourselves to a slow suicide by suffocation. Once there are no trees, there will be no oxygen, a rather important element in human and animal survival, if you recall.
But, hey, what’s the continuation of human and animal life on earth compared to the attraction of making money, right? We’ll all die, but the paper producers will die rich.
And the anti-arborist crews in Fox Pointe will have the pleasure of knowing that they contributed to it all.