The Owl is crazy about trees. When no one is looking, she will occasionally hug a couple in Ogilvie Town Forest (the ones not forested by Land’s Sake–hard to hug firewood though I do mourn those trees, sigh, no one cares) and my favorite tree in Jericho which is a trident white pine near French’s Field. I also quite love a beech in the Twin Pond woods of Lincoln and I have indeed been caught hugging that one.

We’re in the lead-up to Arbor Day and I have much to say about trees. I’m getting some new ones from the Tree-Plenish program run by the high school (go ‘cats!) on Saturday and those will join the 15 or so trees I have planted, one after the other for Arbor Day since 2014. In a short while I will post an absolutely fantastic treatise by some state forestry folks (Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont) about the emerald ash borer and why we should all do our best to save the ashes. We’ve lost every single one in our yard, the last one is a sawed-off trunk landing spot for birds and a meal for the woodpeckers. As many of us know, the Tree By-Law failed in this town in one of the nastiest Town Meetings I have attended: a search of the Owl will remind you of that. I will never forget getting up from my seat to leave and seeing three of my least favorite developers behind me celebrating the ability to chop at will. Which they did. Southside will know who I mean.

In any case, you can’t save the past, you can only make the future better. Consider watching the following program on Sunday as part of your Arbor Day week!

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Towns and cities across the Commonwealth are working to both encourage green development of housing and energy and also to avert a climate emergency. Learn how to make development climate friendly and “green” by preserving trees’ crucial eco-services in urban areas and in wild forests.

Two scientists and three community advocates will explain how natural climate solutions can work together with the development Massachusetts needs.  

Zoom Forum:

Why Trees Matter for Green Development

Introduced by Sen. Ed Markey

Sunday, April 21

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Register here: https://tinyurl.com/Trees-Matter