Writer continues opposition to Campus Woods cutting

Continuing the August 14 issue letter, which pertained only to the proposal to remove all ash trees from the Campus Woods tract having trails, because some are infested with Emerald Ash Borer; the deadfall hazard sounds reasonable until considered critically. In order to strike someone on the trails, a tree would have to be within reach of the trail, fall toward it, make its way intact through the intervening trees, impact an area of approximately 2 square feet occupied that moment by someone who either couldn’t hear nor see the falling tree or be unable to move during the few seconds of the fall. Most tree fall occurs during strong winds of thunderstorms, when it would be extremely unlikely for someone to be on these trails. It would actually be nearly impossible for a tree there to strike someone, even if one wanted to be struck!

Ash trees are resilient, as is their wood. They’re surviving for a few years after being infested and can remain standing for several more after death. Deadfall has never been even a remote hazard there and that won’t change if ash trees remain. If any manage to fall onto trails, volunteers who’ve been clearing windfall will also clear them.

The real hazard, especially for those with ambulatory disability, are the trail’s gullies, protruding rocks and roots. To regard deadfall as hazardous, while this hazard goes unmentioned or even unrecognized, is a classic example of our notorious inability to realistically assess risk.

An appropriate proposal would be to cover the trail system with material coarse enough to resist erosion and thick enough to cover the hazards so that even visitors with compromised mobility can take advantage of having such a rare, recently unaltered native tract of public land adjacent to a municipality.

Does the proposal to remove all ash trees yet seem the only reasonable alternative? There’s another. Notify your County Board Supervisor that you want this tract designated as the type to which everyone should have such ready access but to which few have; a native tract of public land from which nothing native can be taken, which is protected from exotics and to which nothing can be added except for the express purpose of trail maintenance.

For an online Board of Supervisor directory, enter https://co.taylor.wi.us/directory/county-board/. For an online supervisory district map, enter https://co.taylor. wi.us/pdf/54sup.pdf. Zoom in if you’re in Medford.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Campus Woods, you’re urged to visit. Enter from the Taylor County-UW Extension Office parking lot at the end of Donald Street in the south east corner of Medford. Watch your step!

— Michael J Riegert, tree butcher in recovery, Medford