Recently, a red ribbon was stapled to the big red maple tree out front in
the city right of way. I came to find out the tree is slated for removal,
but I don't know why. There's a lot of mold on the upper trunk and branches
and one, open, very black and slimy knot hole about half way up.

I can't imagine the cash-strapped city would spend $ to take it down for no
reason, but the tree's fully leafed out so I know it's not dead. There was
one branch that had no leaves close to the base, but it's always grown that
way, with the lowest branches losing their leaves, then dying and just
dropping off, the holes healing up and new growth continuing from the top.

It's a big tree, about 75' tall. I'd hate to lose it, but it is sort of
growing at angle toward my house so that if it did fall over, it would
definitely hit the front bedroom with a good 10' of thick trunk.

I did notice a crack in the moss growing all the way around the base of the
tree. The tree had obviously leaned in a heavy wind and caused the ground
around its roots to lift about an inch. Anyone have any ideas why my tree
has been "marked for death?"

--
Bobby G.