FLOYD COUNTY — Three decades have passed since my final year attending Green Valley Elementary School. I am sure there are still some facts rolling around my head that I learned back then, but as a dreamy student in Miss Adams’ sixth grade class, I do not remember too many specific items I learned that year. One thing I do recall is having to memorize and recite the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. If I tried real hard I could probably still deliver it as good as I did back then with only a little practice.

The 12-line poem that was first published in 1913 gives human attributes to something that many humans take for granted. While Kilmer’s tree has the ability to look ”to God all day and lifts its leafy arms to pray,” trees here in New Albany have had a little harder time of it.  

It seems this week a few of those trees have gotten in the way of building a park to help celebrate our city’s bicentennial. When some people noticed trees were being cut down in the lot purchased by the city to create the new park, they took to social media to question the necessity to cut down the trees. The city’s Economic Development Director addressed the need to cut down the trees at the New Albany Board of Works and Safety meeting Tuesday after the process had already begun.

The city later released a press release announcing the trees had been inspected by three specialists and “deemed to be unhealthy.” The reasoning behind the unhealthy diagnosis was “internal rot and improper maintenance which has caused irrevocable damage.” The improper maintenance has been rumored to have come from overzealous trimming by contract workers doing maintenance for a local utility company.

The first question I asked when I heard about the diagnosis of unhealthy trees was if the health of the trees was associated with them being in an urban setting and if given a more hospitable place to grow, would they have been able to thrive? Before the trees were cut down they were just the boundary of a parking lot on the corner of a busy downtown street. If those trees were in a park-like setting and given the chance, with the proper care and maintenance, would these trees have been able to flourish? In a few months the asphalt will give way to top soil and new sod, but those trees are gone forever.

Many trees in this region have been challenged over the last few years with all of the weather events this area has seen. Many trees were lost or weakened by the windstorm a few years ago that was the remnants of  Hurricane Ike. Those that survived were treated to one of the worst ice storms we had seen in a while a few months later. Many trees in my neighborhood are losing leaves prematurely this year, and many will most assuredly not return next spring following this summer’s drought. For those that have survived the weather over the last few years I believe we owe it to them to give them the benefit of the doubt.

One of my friends stated that “only in New Albany do you cut down trees in order to build a park.” The sentiment may ring true but it is not entirely accurate. In 2010 the city of Jeffersonville cleared 15 acres of mature trees in order to build a park. With both the city of New Albany and Jeffersonville’s decisions to cut down trees in order to build parks, the question of transparency has been raised. New Albany has a tree board that should have been consulted, but from the reports I have heard this was not the case.

Who made the decision to cut down the trees?  Why was there no announcement of the intention and public input on the subject? This goes to the root of the problem in local governments and people’s distrust of the overall process.

I understand that some of these trees probably were in bad shape and maybe needed to go.  I don’t believe that they were all in ultimate peril and had no chance to survive. Replacing the nine mature trees that were destroyed and with new trees is a start, but it will be a generation before those trees offer the urban canopy that the fallen trees provided.

Next year the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer will celebrate its centennial anniversary. Around the world trees will be planted and people will pay homage to Mr. Kilmer by reciting the poem in his honor. Here in New Albany we will celebrate our bicentennial at our new park where this week nine trees were never given a chance.



Matthew Nash can be reached at dmatthewnash@gmail.com.