![]() ![]() trees in a single lightning strike or localized incident (Meunier et al. In the doorway of the circa 1860 red barn, the Couch family erects a life-size nativity scene each December. Within the Bluff and Coulee region, I collected fire scar samples within a red. Now it's surrounded by subdivisions, the library and other development. When the oak tree was young, that area was all farmland. It used to be much larger, but land has been gradually sold off over the generations. The line is the scar left from where the lightning wound its way to the ground. The land has been in the same family since Couch family ancestors moved there as pioneer homesteaders in the 1830s, Patricia Couch said. In 1990, lightning struck and blew the top off of this western hemlock. Standing on the east edge of the small farm owned by Robert and Patricia Couch, the picturesque tree was something of a landmark for nearby residents. "In the woods, it might not have been hit by lightning three times," Denman said. Scars on the trunk showed the tree had been struck by lightning at least three times, and interior cracks corresponded to those strikes. With big old trees like the oak, it's typical to find the interior eaten away by carpenter ants or other insects, said Juan Antonio Medrano Jr., of Vera Cruz Tree Service.Ĭounting the trunk's rings with the help of professional forester Michael Denman, of Wakeland Forestry Consultants Inc., the age of the tree was estimated at about 120 years.įor a white oak growing out in the open near a roadside, with no other trees nearby to protect it, 120 years is a pretty long life, Denman said. The intense heat of the strike takes a great deal of energy from the tree. A tree struck by lightning has been stressed severely. ![]() If a tree survives a strike, it often succumbs to these secondary prob-lems. ![]() Inside, half the tree was rotted and spongy, with large holes well up the trunk. problems with a lightning scar (loss of the protec-tive bark) is the inherent problem of exposing the tree to insects and diseases. Many of the branches were hauled away to be split and sold for firewood. Using a chainsaw and a cherry picker, the workers cut the tree down down branch by branch. Joseph County, spent most of Wednesday taking the tree down. Lightning may someday inflict a Twist-ed scar on your trees, but you can keep storms, disease and insects from picking your urban forest’s pocket. It was time for the tree to go, so falling branches wouldn't pose a safety hazard for passing motorists.Ī crew from Vera Cruz Tree Service, awarded the contract by St. Its thick limbs arched over the west side of Ironwood Road. This was the first year the oak produced no leaves. The huge tree along the roadway just north of the Francis Branch library had been gradually dying for years. It grew to about 75 feet high and its trunk was 3.5 feet in diameter. SOUTH BEND - Its long branches reached toward the sky like gnarled fingers.įor more than a century, the white oak tree stood near the edge of Ironwood Road in Clay Township. ![]()
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