Giant Sequoia To Come Down This Week Across From Old High School In Hillsboro

Update:  Check out Today’s Video of the Tree being limbed-

Update #2 – See the Video from Tuesday NIght that documents the 10 hours of cutting massive limbs – Please share-

Big thank to Hillsboro arborist and tree removal service, Monkey Tree Service, who came in at a very reasonable bid, committed their entire 8-man crew, and are doing work as we expect them to the Hillsboro Way!  Hard work at a fair price and with great care.  They made this event bearable for the owners and have show great care and respect.  10 out of 10 so far for these guys!

Original Story-

Hillsboro is home to many things—big things like stadiums, computer fabs, data centers, City Halls, and subdivisions.  But there are other big things here, too.  Things that came way before all of that. Things that spanned centuries and witnessed the humanity and growth of our town.  Wise things.  Noble things.  Things like the magnificent giant Sequoia at the corner of NE 7th Avenue and NE Lincoln Street. 

Augustus, as some locals call him, is dying. In fact, he is all but dead. Also known as “the Smoking Tree” by the kids at Hillsboro Union High School from the late 1920s to 1970, the mighty giant is being taken down tomorrow and Wednesday. And for anyone who has loved this tree, now is your last chance to visit.

This tree is a John Porter Sequoia and dates back to the 1800s.  Porter brought the Sequoia tree to Oregon after the gold rush in California and propagated and sold them to people all over the NW, but especially here in Washington County, where he was from.  We did a feature story on Mr Porter a couple of years back, and you can read the story right here- https://hillsboroherald.com/historic-courthouse-sequoias-a-monument-to-john-r-porter/. The most famous examples are the Sequoias at the Washington County Courthouse, this tree, and some others in Forest Grove and outside Cornelius.

The tree is on the lot of Michael Fox and Debbie Garman and the NE Lincoln Street right-of-way.  The couple has loved and cared for the tree for a long time.  A few years back (2017-2018), the City staff spent a week right at the tree repairing some sewer lines under the roots and within the canopy line.  Michael and Debbie expressed concerns that fell on deaf ears.   The tree showed signs of stress and dead patches as the next few years passed.  Many of us have seen what was happening to the mighty tower.  Multiple arborists have consulted this concerned couple, and the conclusions seem very clear.  The tree suffered root ball damage as a result of the work that was done- a fungus developed and spread through the tree, and it died.  Period.

Michael and Debbie met with City Manager Hammond and went before the City Council to make their case for financial help to remove the tree—the first estimate was $60,000 or so (it has come way down into the mid-teens, thankfully).  While it is true that citizens must take care of all trees within the right of way that they are adjacent to, this is an extreme case, and it seemed to them and many others that someone had to help in this case.  Their testimony to the City is at the bottom of the post.  At this point, the tree is coming down, and parts of him they hope will be taken to Jackson Bottom Wetlands and be used for habitat.

Here are some thoughts from Debbie about the emotions they are going through.

It’s been a long, slow roll of grief and guilt for us to see our failure to guard our poor, beautiful tree against the risks of its urban location. Many neighbors have joined in our sadness. I’d like to make a pitch to push for Hillsboro to adopt a tree protection policy to mitigate similar future disasters.

The city has been helpful so far in connecting with Laura at Jackson Bottom so that the park can receive the wood for environmental conservation use

When I asked her about Climate change, something many believe is killing trees of all shapes and sizes, she had this to share.

Yes, I do believe climate change is playing a role. That adds stress to trees throughout the state and all over the world. There’s a whole body of science looking at how trees are working to adapt, and ranges are changing for native trees and plants. But the steep decline of our guy happened because of root ball damage, and Tree protection plans allow expert arborists to guide contractors to better protect trees.

There is a FACEBOOK PAGE for the Tree – Leave Your Memories Here

I remember it from many times during my life, none more than when I attended Mid High School across the street. Previously, Hillsboro Union High School, then Mid High School, and later J.B Thomas Jr. High, thousands of kids went through its doors.  While I did not smoke, many of my classmates did- and the tree was directly across the street from the entrance to the school and gymnasium.  The tree was there for many decades before the school was built, but I think it loved the kids the most.  When the school was torn down in 2009, I think it broke the heart of the tree,  And he waited for those kids, to hear them laugh and watch them play, to steal a first kiss or to smoke a forbidden leaf.  His job was to watch over and care for them- and when that job ended, he began to age faster and tire away.  We are all going that way when we are done living and loving the things in our lives.  All things must come to an end, and all seasons must turn.  For this Giant, Augustus, the “smoking tree”, the time has come.

Won’t you come see him off?

Here are some photos to commemorate the Mighty Giant-

A Giants Farewell

The arched entry fell, a concrete sigh,

My schoolyard friends all said goodbye.

But I, the giant, held my ground, 

Rooted deep, with memories unwound.

Beneath my bark, confessions spilled,

First loves confessed, teenage dreams thrilled.

Cigarette smoke, a fragrant haze,

Whispered secrets in summer days.

Years bled slowly, the silence grew,

A hollow ache where laughter flew.

I missed the scuff of youthful feet,

The whispered names, so bittersweet.

One day, the sun, a distant friend,

Saw only crows that came to descend.

My sap no longer, lifeblood thin,

I yielded to the world within.

The whispering wind, a mournful sigh,

Carries a tale, a silent cry.

A fallen giant, memories I keep,

Where life once bloomed, forever I sleep.

By Dirk Knudsen 

Read the Testimony Provided to the City Council by Michael Fox and Debbie Garman in an appeal for help from the City of Hillsboro

Michael Fox:

To Mayor Callaway and Hillsboro City Council Members:

My name is Michael Fox. My wife and I have lived in downtown Hillsboro at 175 NE 7th Ave since 2005. We have enjoyed supporting the downtown area businesses, and my wife has been active as a civic volunteer, including a term on the Hillsboro Arts and Culture Council from 2012 to 2015, with a year as Chair. We have been proud to be community members and have felt that we could trust the Hillsboro government to respectfully provide for residents.

One of the reasons I was able to convince Debby to move from our 9 acre rural property was the huge historic Sequoia on the lot that is now part of the Cultural Resources archives of Hillsboro. We named the tree “Augustus” because of its majestic grandeur. “Gus” has been our family nickname for our cherished and most senior historic family member.

We have been dedicated stewards of both the historic house and the tree. However, in 2017-2018 Hillsboro contractors spent a week outside our house making sewer pipe replacements that we have come to believe damaged the enormous tree’s delicate root ball area. Our assessment (based on multiple consultations with arborists) is that the explosive shattering of the old ceramic pipe shredded the surrounding dense mass of large and small roots, and these injuries allowed the introduction of fungal pathogens into the tree circulation system. A huge and resilient tree takes some time to present outside signs that something is amiss, and as we noticed some signs of stress, we first consulted with the arborist who maintains the Courthouse sequoias. As signs of distress advanced, we consistently heard from arborist consultants that the developing symptoms clearly were due to root ball damage as the key precipitating factor in tree decline. On arborist advice, we ordered soil testing, and phytophthora fungus was identified. This fungus is naturally occurring in the soil, but trees in the Sequoia family are naturally very resistant to this and other diseases. Without damage, Sequoias have been documented to have lived for thousands of years.  The root damage done by City hired contractors clearly penetrated the tree’s natural defenses by both compacting and shredding the critical primary root ball, allowing entry for destructive pathogens.

Debby, followed with her comments:

Thank you for your time, Mayor Callaway, Chair Martin, and council members,

With regard to our big tree, we have approached the City Manager’s office, but Manager Hammond has declined support for our issue. We’ve spent thousands of dollars on pruning to protect public safety and unsuccessful treatments to revitalize the tree, and we feel that the City should step up now to help shoulder the work to resolve outcomes caused by your contractor’s work.  It’s going to be a big and expensive project to remove the tree to protect public safety, and we feel it would be both responsible and honorable for the City to step in with the operational resources that you have. We will be very grateful for the City Council to take another look at this issue and our concerns about the City’s role.

Hillsboro seems proud to claim status as a “Tree City USA.” As a resident, it makes sense that Hillsboro would therefore have policies to support historic trees and their owners. Taking responsible action to partner with us now would be an excellent example of such support. Additionally, we’ve learned from arborists that cities who care about their trees have enacted “Tree Protection Plans,” which are operational guidelines to educate and require hired contractors to better preserve trees with safe protective practices when working near precious and irreplaceable urban tree resources. Given our unhappy experience, Hillsboro would be well advised to move in that direction. I sent an email with a link to Portland’s Tree Protection Plan to you all last week.

And given that you are saluting Arbor Day this month, I think a perfect positive action would be to enact Tree Protection Policies in Hillsboro.

One more issue for us is that many of our neighbors have asked to celebrate and memorialize this historic sequoia as it reaches end of life. Are there ways that Hillsboro or Hillsboro Parks and Rec could envision making use of tree material for art in recognition of City history or even perhaps playground structures?

We hope to reach out to Council members individually to ask for your ideas and to answer any questions that you may have.

Thanks for your kind consideration and – we hope – support of us in our sadness over the loss of the historic tree treasure that was planted at the same time as the Courthouse Sequoias and is known as Hillsboro High’s “smoking tree” for generations of students.

Debby Garman

debbygarman@gmail.com

503.318.5227