Beloved oak at McCauley Park loses limb, exposes rot. What can be done to save it?

In a city of tens of thousands of trees, Ardsley Park neighbors are concerned about one tree in particular.

On Monday morning, neighbors awoke to find a colossal live oak in McCauley Park lost one of its main limbs and revealed illness within the trunk.

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An outpouring of online support flowed in from neighbors recounting their memories with the tree and speculating what can be done to save it or memorialize it.

Cynthia Spencer is one of the many Savannah natives who grew up under the shade of the McCauley Park oak.

A legacy of love at McCauley's oak

"I can remember as a child ... going and sitting there, doing picnics and playing with my brother when I was little," Spencer said. "To see something like that gone, it's like taking away a piece or a chunk of your life, your memories."

When she got older and went through a rough patch in her life, the McCauley Park live oak was a place to sit and reflect. When she had a child, she took him to play in the park after his days at Charles Ellis Elementary.

Spencer said she and her husband dated for only about a year before getting married – "when you know, you know" – and throughout the entire time when he would take lunch breaks from his job they would meet under McCauley's oak.

"We stole kisses under that tree, and we would have lunch and picnics under that tree," Spencer said. "It wasn't even a matter of where we would get married. We knew."

In 2018, Spencer and her husband got married under the long branches of the McCauley Park live oak.

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And she is not alone in her deep love of the tree. Others have recounted their childhoods climbing the tree's limbs, walking dogs under the shade, and Savannah city Alderman Nick Palumbo even had his wedding photos taken under the tree.

Palumbo affectionately calls the live oak "Betty White," something in the community "that's there before you that you always hope will be there after you." He likened it to the community losing a grandmother.

Can McCauley's oak tree be saved?

When it comes to preserving the health of a tree in Savannah's urban forest, Savannah Tree Foundation program director Jake Henry said there are options.

Henry said that while limb propping, using supports on the ground to hold up limbs of the tree, is culturally uncommon in the U.S., that doesn't mean it isn't an option to reduce the stress and weight of the tree. The famous Angel Oak in Charleston has wooden supports, and the local tree ordinances in Savannah don't explicitly ban them.

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"There are lots of arborist techniques to help reduce strain or likelihood of failure on trees, and I know the city practices a lot of them," Henry said. "They really do try to retain trees rather than having to remove them."

This tree is an example of a variety of stressors a very old tree can experience in an urban forest, Henry said. Live oaks have extremely wide root systems, as wide as their canopy, and in a small growing place can struggle. Compaction from vehicles driving over the area and reflective heat from the asphalt, among other causes, can contribute to stress that shortens a tree's lifespan.

"I always try to remind people, especially with live oaks, they're living organisms," Henry said. They are subject to pests, disease and yes, death, just like anything else.

Out of the ER, but in ICU

Palumbo likens the tree's status to a hospital patient: McCauley's beloved live oak is out of the emergency room, but it's still in the ICU.

On a sunny morning days after the limb fell, he pointed to the hole where the limb had fallen from, saying that it exposed rot and damage. While he can speculate about the condition of the rot, it's up to the city arborist to make a qualified analysis of the tree's health.

"We're considering all contingencies," he said.

While the tree is immensely valued by the community, he said the city is considering the risk of any other limbs falling and the health of the tree. He said the Park and Tree department preventatively pruned some smaller limbs out of an abundance of caution.

The live oak in question is not the only one in the park: Palumbo walked over to the tree's "sister," and gestured to where the bark on low-lying branches was worn smooth from kids playing on it.

While the loss of Betty White is large, Palumbo knows families will continue returning to this park regardless of the damaged tree's fate.

If this tree can't be saved, Palumbo said the community and city government is dreaming up ways to honor the tree, such as using its wood for benches to be placed in the park or to make tables out of its "cookies," horizontal slices of the trunk, to auction off and raise money for the Park & Tree department.

The Park and Tree Department released a statement saying it is currently assessing the tree. As of now, the tree is not in imminent danger. However, while the tree is being assessed, the city reminds residents to not cross the caution tape surrounding the tree.

Marisa Mecke is an environmental journalist. She can be reached at mmecke@gannett.com or by phone at (912) 328-4411. 

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Oak tree at McCauley Park: Ardsley Park neighbors grieve damage