Winter Park, Orlando and a lot of other Central Florida communities are losing their mature tree canopy, little by little, each year. A few years ago, the Director of Urban Forestry for the City of Winter Park even estimated that 30 percent of the canopy would disappear over the next few years.
A number of municipalities, like Winter Park and Orlando, have instituted some stronger policies regarding tree planting and preservation in order to replace those trees lost through age, disease and natural disasters. But what about when a tree is cut down? What happens to all of that old growth wood?
Most large trees are cut into smaller segments and hauled away (we’re not really sure where they’re hauled to, but we’re hoping it’s to a local furniture maker or made into planks for public tree-houses). The remaining stumps are ground down into mulch.
Rather than chewing them up and erasing their very existence, we wish we could transform the stumps of all of the trees we were removing into public art … totem poles, giant ornate trees or wild animals.
Really anything is better than mulch.
Look at what a city in Texas did in this video:
Here are some great examples of tree stump art:
Oh this is some awesome sauce. I know we sometime lose trees through storms (like that beautiful on Mills near Briercliff) and sometimes for development (like the ones on the Artisan 420 site), but this would be such a great way to pay homage to the beautiful old trees of Orlando.
Love this idea!!!!
The foot print of Orlando’s landscape continues in the direction of a concrete jungle. Way to go City of Orlando and Orange County for your efforts in creating it.