The Tree Removal Trend

It seemed wonderfully silly that I was romping through Audubon Park in Memphis, TN at midnight. I had sandals on my feet, after it had rained all day long, and my toes were pleasantly cool. I really was not very concerned as to whether we found what we had set out to discover. My friend, Jasper, heard that several kids had gone through the trouble of hauling a table up into a Magnolia Tree on the South end of the park and I just had to see if it was true. Naturally, knowing that my friend, Jasper, likes to immerse himself in urban myth, I challenged the story.

Instantly, the three of us(Jasper, Brandon, and I) had set out to find it. Brandon had also heard about it and said that the table was so well placed that four people could easily sit comfortably upon it and enjoy the view that only a Magnolia tree could give. After about 15 minutes of wandering around the park, in what was a beautifully moonlit evening, we arrived at a clearing where Jasper was sure the Magnolia tree had been. In fact, I was sure, based upon my own memory of the park, that there used to be several other Magnolia trees in this freshly cleared area. There were a couple of old oaks and pines, but no more Magnolias. Brandon and Jasper joked that they had been cut down to discourage people from climbing and hanging out in the easily accessible branches. I discounted the story about the table in the tree as a just another urban myth. However, I had discovered that Audubon Park is also suffering from the tree removal trend that is going on in Memphis and Shelby County.

A section of Audubon Park is being dedicated to cancer survivors and research, which really seems quite noble. However, a park created from concrete hardly captures the beauty of survival and life like the shade of a several decade old Magnolia tree. It's quite clear to anyone who used to frequent Audubon Park with in the last couple of years, that several beautiful trees have been removed to make way for cement trucks and bulldozers. This seems to be just a small part of the tree removal trend that is happening all around the area.

The tree removal trend is most evident in Shelby County, where new housing complexes and strip malls are taking the place of our forests. Take the Lucius Birch Jr. Natural Area for example, located along the Wolf River, across from Shelby Farms; it is definitely not what it used to be. Shrubs, trees and parts of the trails have been destroyed to make room for the construction equipment that is being used for the new highway. Years and years of protests to stop developers from putting a highway straight through Shelby Farms Park have finally failed. The beautiful and lush forest along the Wolf River is being cut down and developed into wider roads and office buildings.

Unfortunately, I have watched some of my most sacred places in Memphis and Shelby County be sold out, torn down, and redeveloped. I can no longer escape the sound of traffic by walking into the woods because the trees are being removed. I have fewer Magnolia trees at Audubon Park to climb, and pretty soon I'll join the trend of people who are leaving the city, to move to a less populated area with more trees. This will only add to another tree removal trend, the cycle will continue, and other people will be sadly recounting days when they enjoyed romping around in their parks and forests. When is enough, enough?

I encourage all Memphians, Americans, and Human Beings to take a silly romp in a park at midnight . . . and if there are no parks or forests near by where you can escape to, ask yourself: When is enough, enough? The tree removal trend is fueled by people moving away from the city into larger, cheaper homes, and the trend only gives way to more floods, high levels of air pollutants, and more unhappy, disheartened nature lovers. It's time we all get together and figure out a way to stop the tree removal trend. We must do something before we find that our grandchildren are asking us: Where did all the trees go?