We lived in the forest. That’s how it felt, although my house is on one of Everett’s busier residential streets.
For more than 30 years, from the time we moved there in 1984, we watched people marvel at our roadside attraction.
Whether they were strolling along with little kids or jogging at a fast clip, people would stop in their tracks on the sidewalk in front of our house. They would look up — not at the sky, but at a gorgeous cedar canopy. They’d look down to examine the base of a massive tree trunk. Almost daily, I’d see out my window these moments of reverie.
Even neighbors who walked by every day were in awe of three giant western red cedars in the parking strip in front of my house.
“You’ve been spoiled,” said a man I chatted with Sunday. I see him most mornings, but until last weekend we had never spoken. His comment was in response to me staring — still in disbelief — at the sawed-off stump of the largest of my three cedars.
On Dec. 22, a crew hired by the city cut down the most impressive one. The middle tree had split during the Nov. 17 windstorm. One of its multiple tops crashed down. A huge log and branches blocked the street and extended into my across-the-street neighbors’ yards. The tree’s removal was a must.
I’ll always be thankful no one was hurt by my tree. A neighbor said the cedar struck the back of a Postal Service vehicle, but the mail carrier was spared. I normally park out front, and my neighbors do, too. We were all at work when it happened, and all so lucky. It was a killer storm, and many were left with major property damage.
But having been spoiled by beauty, privacy, shade and a real sense of sharing our space with a natural wonder, I am far from over the loss of that tree. I don’t know how tall it was — I’m guessing hundreds of feet. I don’t know how old it was — my house was built in 1909. I know it was a landmark in my north Everett neighborhood, and one big reason we bought the house.
A Google “Street View” photo of my property, taken in 2012, doesn’t even show my house. A bit of the front porch is visible, but the picture is dominated by lush cedar branches shading the yard.
Not long before the storm, the city of Everett sent me a letter requesting that big branches over the sidewalk be trimmed up. In October, arborist Justina Kraus, co-owner of Everett-based Champion Tree Care, took a look at my trees. In her Nov. 2 letter to the city, she described them as “three mature, Western Red Cedars (Thuja plicata) located in the planting strip.”
Kraus asked that two large candelabra branches overhanging the sidewalk, with nearly 7 feet of clearance, be allowed to stay. “This is a historical neighborhood and these are exceptional trees,” she wrote.
It was the street side of the tree that split. In the end, my concerns about saving that lovely cedar canopy over the sidewalk were dashed by nature’s power. The Nov. 17 wind destroyed the whole tree.
Now I’m sensing a strange version of “phantom limb,” the condition amputees suffer after losing a body part. I walk outside and it’s far too bright. Is that a house across the street? We used to look out the front window to a wall of evergreen.
And we now see the nearby Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, a high-rise with bright lights and a helipad.
I’m not the only one missing a tree this season. Marla Carter, a spokeswoman for Everett’s public works department, said Monday that more than 120 trees fell in city right-of-way areas during the Nov. 17 storm. “That doesn’t count those that fell in people’s yards or on their houses,” she said.
My parking strip is a right of way, so the city paid for the cedar’s removal — which I could ill afford. As of this week, Carter said, tree removal costs related to the November storm totaled $141,845, and the sum will likely go higher.
The downed cedar belongs to me. I’ve been happy to give it to people willing to chop it up for firewood and haul it away. That has been happening this week. The city plans to grind the stump to just below ground level, cover it with dirt, and plant grass there.
Someday, a new tree may be planted out front. It won’t be a western red cedar. The Everett Tree Program provides free trees for planting in parking strips and other city right-of-way spots. Property owners are then responsible for maintaining the trees.
A list of suitable trees, with pictures, is available at the Tree Program webpage. Of about 20 choices, few are evergreens. And most top out at about 30 feet.
Every time I go outside, I’m now reminded that I live in a city — not a forest.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Trees in Everett
Learn about the Everett Tree Program, including types of trees now being planted in city right-of-way areas, at: https://everettwa.gov/887/Tree-Program
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