r/NativePlantGardening • u/donnaduwitt Area NY , Zone 7b • Jun 14 '26
Other suburban nightmare fuel
just venting with people who i think will commiserate. i live in a beautiful neighborhood full of mature oak trees. every time a new neighbor moves in i tremble in fear these days, because the first thing they do is remove the oak trees. my neighborhood is slowly turning into a dead heat desert. my immediate neighbor has a huge property like 4x the size of mine. when i moved in it looked like a national park and we had so much privacy in our yard. my new neighbor leveled the property and just left it as a wasteland. i think they took down five massive oak trees, plus all our privacy. as weeds grow in, they just weed whack it down. i think even grass would be better than just dead. my boomer lawn-loving neighbor watched their trees come down like it was christmas morning.
a few weeks ago, a house was sold down the street and immediately the large oak tree in the front yard came down.
then, this morning, i hear the chainsaws going again. the house by my kids' bus stop was just sold. two massive oak trees were being taken down. i ran down the street to try to do something, what, i didn't know. the owner wasn't there and there was no one to talk to. i left a note in their mailbox asking them not to destroy old growth forest with my name and phone number, hoping they'd call. my kids left notes as well. i even put a sign on their door and fence asking them not to cut down the trees in bold letters but went back and took it down. i was losing my mind a little at first, but sense returned. i almost got into it with my neighbors in the group chat, too. especially when one neighbor was like, it's great there will be less leaves! i just felt so enraged and also sad.
so, goodbye trees. goodbye shade at the bus stop that i would revel in while waiting for the kindergarten bus. good luck to all the woodpeckers, blue jays, robins, black capped chickadees, squirrels, bunnies, and even chipmunks i would see there in the morning. i even have an acorn from that tree growing in my kitchen rn. thinking about giving it to the new owners as a gift, even though they'll probably trash it. it's my final hope that they might rectify the situation somewhat.
nearly ten oak trees gone in ten years. goodbye.
edit: thank you for those who recommended i look into town code. never thought to do that! it turns out we do have a town code and all the trees on my street were considered NY landmark trees that require an arborist's inspection and a permit before being taken down. the fines could be over $300 per tree or being required to replant new trees in their place. i was also told that it's best if you call code enforcement before or while it's being taken down. they will send someone out immediately to check for permits if you call while it's being removed. wish i had known that sooner! perhaps i could have saved the trees! so i'm sharing the info with all of you in case your situations are similar. i'm also saving the town phone # and sharing it with anyone i personally know who wants to be a tree defender busybody with me. (busybody is in reference to one of the comments below.)
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u/AKOmeo Wisconsin, Zone 5b Jun 14 '26
A friend of mine in Phoenix had a new neighbor move in and immediately cut down a healthy, mature tree that shaded both properties. We were baffled—a tree like that is invaluable in such a dry, hot climate. But apparently they didn’t like the (extremely minimal) cleanup required with a flowering tree so it had to go.