Thursday, April 25, 2013

One Old Bur Oak No Match For Wisconsin Road-Builders

Much of southern Wisconsin used to be Oak Savanna in which the near-indestructible and slow-growing bur oak was widespread, but one Civil War-era beauty is coming down so WisDOT can widen State Highway 26 near Janesvile:

Some day this spring, people with saws will come to slash the mighty trunk. They will fell the tree to make room for the highway expansion north of Milton to Fort Atkinson.

The trunk measures 13 feet around and supports a stack of stretching limbs...with its wide-open crown and elegant symmetry of branches, is about as perfect a tree as nature ever made. This tree might have tickled the bellies of Ho-Chunk horses. This tree somehow survived the ax and dodged the farmer's plow time and time again.
But this is the Wisconsin of Walker and the road-builders, so kiss this living piece of state heritage good-bye.

We do have our priorities around here.

Here's one such tree courtesy of the Missouri Botanical Gardens website:
"Bur oak or mossycup oak is one of the most majestic of the native North American oaks."

7 comments:

Reagan's Disciple said...

You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure this project was planned and started back in 08, when none other than Jim Doyle was governor.

Per the DOT website regarding this project on the 26 expansion.

Construction will occur in eight segments between 2008 and 2015:

Keep up the misinformation and rhetoric, or perhaps look a little deeper next time to get the full story.

James Rowen said...

So Walker can unwind or cancel many Doyle initiatives, but not this one? Why cant Walker supporters utter a sentence without bringing up Doyle?

Anonymous said...

Because it's a tree.

Reagan's Disciple said...

Perhaps if we would have just killed it when it was only a seed the liberals would be fine with it.

Anonymous said...

RD here's something for you to chew on.

Perhaps if you f..ing conservatives would man up and when you force a young women to have an unwanted baby you in turn agree to provide financial support for that child from birth until age 21.

That includes healthcare, a home to live in, free public education and post high school college or other training leading to a job.

Perhaps then some of us liberals will be willing to listen your stupid killing a seed bull...t.

You don't care about a born child from the moment they take there first breath until there old enough to join the military and fights your wars.

Once they are veterans you are then ready to discard them as a used commodity.

James Rowen said...

So I suppose if someone shoots an eagle, it's just a bird?

RD said...

Perhaps if you f..ing conservatives would man up and when you force a young women to have an unwanted baby you in turn agree to provide financial support for that child from birth until age 21.


When "I" force a women to have an unwanted baby?

You are hilarious. Ever hear of the pill, condoms or abstinence?

It's called personal responsibility. If those young women don't want "unwanted babys," then tell them not to spread their legs.