City takes steps to save giant Cottonwood

If you love trees, and especially giant-size trees, you will be encouraged to know that the City of Rolla Public Works Department recently took steps to ensure the protection and preservation of what may be the city’s largest Cottonwood.

Standing at over 80-feet-tall, 5 ½ feet in diameter and 16 feet, 1 ½  in circumference, the giant Cottonwood, between 90 and 100 years-old, is living a healthy, undisturbed life on 11th Street between Spring and Poole Avenues, across from the Lutheran School. The Cottonwood is one of the oldest native trees in Missouri, and grows in large numbers in various areas throughout the state – especially in low-lying ones where water is plentiful.

The large roots of the Cottonwood were discovered encroaching on a city sidewalk over five years ago while the City’s Right-of-Way Inspector, Bill Doyle was conducting an inspection of the City’s 80 miles of sidewalks. As part of the City’s annual sidewalk inspection program, Bill came across the Cottonwood and took steps to save it by ramping the sidewalk over the roots, and maintaining a healthy growing space. If the sidewalk had been constructed on a level plain with the rest of the street’s sidewalk, it would have been necessary to cut into the roots, which would have eventually killed the tree. Fortunately the tree, which grows about ¾ inch annually, is thriving, but continues to encroach on the sidewalk. Bill’s persistent vigilance while maintaining the sidewalk inspection program has ensured the tree’s longevity. Last week Bill, together with the help of the City’s Concrete Crew members, Jeff Grisham and Chris Palmer, who recently saw-cut the sidewalk next to the tree, took steps to ensure the roots of the tree would not be damaged by the sidewalk, nor the sidewalk damaged by the roots of the tree. This fine balance between nature and man, is a delicate one, but a very important part of the City’s sidewalk protection program that is intended to identify safety/trip hazards that will impede pedestrian traffic, and possibly jeopardize safety for disabled or handicapped individuals. By saw-cutting the sidewalk, individuals can still safely travel on the sidewalk next to the giant Cottonwood. Fortunately, Bill says the City has another eight inches of room left before the roots begin to threaten the 3-foot sidewalk requirement (established by the ADA). Since the tree grows about ½ to ¾ of an inch per year, it could be another 10 years or so before the roots of the tree seriously jeopardize pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk. When and if this occurs, the City, with the permission of the land-owner, could reroute the sidewalk safely around the tree’s roots.

While the giant Cottonwood is certainly a treasure the City is glad to have saved, and will continue to keep a close eye on, you can be assured that all of the City’s sidewalks are being inspected annually by Bill Doyle for trip and safety hazards such as over-grown brush, roots and tree limbs that are being addressed and rectified. Like the City’s 100 miles of streets, our sidewalks also need to be inspected and maintained on a regular basis.

I would like to extend my thanks to Bill Doyle and the members of the Concrete Crew for their diligence and efforts to ensure that Rolla has not lost one of its natural treasures. I would also like to extend my thanks to Mike Fleischhauer, a Resource Forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation, who generously inspected the giant Cottonwood and provided the City with an overview of its estimated health, size and age.
Rolla’s tree canopy, and the surrounding 1.3-million-acre Mark Twain National Forest, are part of the unique setting that makes the quality of life so outstanding in the Rolla area.