Word on the street (in this case, Montague Terrace) is that one of the four Dawn Redwood trees in Brooklyn Heights was “removed” from the backyard of 2 Montague Terrace. BHB tipster Andrew Porter tell us it was cut down at the order of the co-op board, but we’re still investigating this claim. BHA Executive Director Judy Stanton has received inquiries from concerned Heights residents, and has “no idea” what led to the tree’s eradication. She’s on the case as well, but assured us that the Metasequoia Glyptostroboides, as Dawn Redwoods are officially known, in the front garden of 151 Willow Street is here to stay. Two others purportedly hold court on Pierrepont Street: one in the Monroe Place garden of the First Unitarian Church, the other in the Columbia Heights garden at 1 Pierrepont Street.
Is it possible, as this 2004 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article hints, that the tree came down because it obscured otherwise stellar views of the Manhattan skyline? What happened to the spirit of conservation, particularly in Brooklyn Heights, where that feeling was once so infectious it brought Robert Moses to his knees? I can see the Willow Street Dawn Redwood from the window of my apartment, and its towering, lush presence is a quiet sign that maybe the country isn’t so far away after all. That, and the chickens that crow each morning, are subtle reminders that nature and city life need not be mutually exclusive.
What do you think about the downed tree? Should the public have had a say before the Dawn Redwood was chopped? Is this a sign of things to come?
