A tale of a fallen sycamore and the turtles that love it in Yardley's Lake Afton

When she heard a loud thump during a thunderstorm last week, Michelle Sharer realized a tree might have fallen on her property. She was glad it didn't hit the house, but worried that it might have fallen into Lake Afton which borders her Yardley home.

Sure enough, early the next morning, a friend called with the news. A large sycamore tree had broken from its base and the huge trunk had landed in the lake.

Sharer, who is president of the Friends of Lake Afton, said the picturesque lake in Yardley is a public attraction that draws ice skaters when its frozen in winter, as well as a menagerie of wildlife but is privately owned by the bordering property owners.

So she and her husband, Barry, need to have the tree removed since it fell from their property onto their portion of the lake. It's a deja vu experience for them.

In 2020, another huge sycamore that was 250 years old and dated to before the Revolutionary War, fell into the lake during Hurricane Isaias. The Sharers were told by an arborist that it was the largest sycamore in Bucks and had a circumference of 22 feet.

So the Sharers knew whom to turn to after last week's storm.

"The sycamore tree that fell into Lake Afton during the storm on Monday night will be removed by Anthony Primola of Alpine Tree Specialists and his crew.  Anthony told me that he needs different equipment for this tree because it's a heavy sycamore tree that will be heavier after getting wet, it's in a really tough place to reach, and it's stuck in 3 feet of muck that's at the bottom of Lake Afton. He will need to use a 250-ton crane to do the job. Once they remove the tree they will remove the wood/debris and chip it up," Sharer said in an email.

The job is scheduled for July 13 and will cost the Sharers $16,500, a minimal amount for the work involved, she said. But in the meantime, the lake's turtles are loving their new hangout on the tree's limbs that stick out of the water.

It's their place in the sun. They're making the most of it while it lasts.

On Friday, a group of turtles rested on a tree branch while another lone turtle took to the protruding remainder of the earlier tree that fell into the lake, a favorite spot for a Blue Heron that also likes to visit Lake Afton.

Friends of Lake Afton pay for algae removal

Sharer said the Friends of Lake Afton helps to maintain the lake for public use and it's now costing the group about $20,000 a year for algae removal services since the lake started to acquire an algae bloom in 2014.

Sharer hopes that after the tree is removed next week, a group of Boy Scouts or other inventive volunteers could make some sort of fixture for the lake so that the turtles would have a permanent "island" to come to when they want to relax and take in some rays.

Passersby on the path that runs alongside the lake near the St. Andrew Episcopal Church and the Old Library at Lake Afton stopped to sit on a bench and watch the turtles and the ducks who also seemed interested in investigating the new addition to the lake.

"It's cool. The tree creates such a nice place for the turtles to sit in the sun," said John Cridland, 18, of Lower Makefield as he walked the towpath to the Starbucks store that also borders the lake.

Sharer said the sycamores are nesting trees for the ducks and she is concerned about another tree on her property that an arborist is watching closely. "They are important to the wildlife at Lake Afton.  Every spring we get common merganser ducks and wood ducks that make nests in the sycamore trees.  It saddens us when we lose one of the sycamore trees," she said.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Sycamore falls into Lake Afton in Yardley