Slow Death

I think this is an ancient walnut. It is just off the backroads to McMinnville. You probably can't see it, because I took the shot a bit late, but the tree has been girdled. A three foot strip of bark was stripped from it, leading to a very slow death. I have no idea why someone would do that, although it is in the middle of a grass seed field.  The Overstory has made me think differently of trees.

This reminded me of this passage in Peter Wohlleben's “The Hidden Life of Trees.''

"In my first years as a forester, I had young trees girdled. In this process, a strip of bark 3 feet wide is removed all around the trunk to kill the tree."


He goes on to describe how many trees fought to survive, and ultimately saying, "I am always a bit ashamed when I see what I wrought back then."