A Tree Comes Down at Bearnstow

August 11, 2014

Dave Courier and Mike O’Neil

Our policy at Bearnstow is to leave our forest as natural as possible. We do not cut trees unless they pose a danger to people or to buildings. In 2005 a nearly 300-year-old White Pine (King’s Pine) in front of The Lodge was struck by lighting. Over the ensuing years the damage to the tree became apparent. Large areas of bark had been stripped off and upper sections of the trunk were rotting. This summer it was clearly leaning and threatening both The Lodge and Main Hall. It was time for it to come down.

Bearnstow´s maintenance staff, David Courier and Carol Gregory, and tree man Mike O’Neil went to work, attaching lines and come-alongs to ensure the 140-foot pine would fall toward Parker Pond and between nearby trees without damaging them. Their plan was perfect, as you can see in the video below. The tree came down between the younger White Pines along the water’s edge, their branches bending and quickly recovering as the falling tree passed. A roughly 40-foot portion of the top of the felled tree was suspended out over the water.

Smoothing off the Stump

The Next Day — After the Cleanup

Mike O’Neil (center), Dave Courier (right), and helper Rob (left)
with a portion of the logs harvested from the White Pine ~ Photo by Carol Gregory

2015 Update Planks were milled from the logs, and from some of them David Courier built us two new tables that now grace the dining porch. One of them bears a black charred mark from the lightning strike.