AMHERST — Before this year’s Merry Maple ceremony takes place, the large tree that has lent its name to the event since the 1960s is likely to be cut down and removed from the North Common.
With the Public Shade Tree Committee on Tuesday supporting a recommendation from Tree Warden Alan Snow that the 50-inch caliper Norway maple and two smaller Norway maple trees should be cut down to make way for an overhaul of the greenspace, the original Merry Maple will likely be gone by late fall.
The final decision on whether the tree, which Snow has determined is in significant decline, should be cut down will be made by Town Manager Paul Bockelman, after written and oral objections to its removal were made by residents.
Though passionate appeals to save the tree were brought to the committee, along with frustrations shared by some residents who suggested there should have been more discussions about the Merry Maple as plans for the $1.8 million project were developed, members voted in favor of Snow’s analysis that the tree, believed to be around 80 years old, is nearing the end of its life expectancy.
Committee members Sara Lawler, Ellen Keiter and Bennett Hazlip voted in favor of the removal of the three trees, while Shoshona King voted against their removal, and Chairman Henry Lappen and member Julian Hynes abstained from the vote.
While those in the majority suggested heeding the advice of a tree expert, King urged her colleagues to save the tree in part because of its sentimental value to many who are already upset by changes in downtown Amherst.
Snow explained that the tree’s central leader, or main trunk that grows up in the center, is failing, showing a photograph of how water penetrated the tree in winter 2018 and caused a large amount of ice as it melts to ooze out from the main trunk. Part of the decay that is evident comes from large branches that have snapped off.
“The tree is struggling,” Snow said.
The tree’s central leader has lost about 40% of its live crown, a leader to the left is also in decline and other elements of the tree have been cabled back to the central leader.
The Merry Maple celebration, which has included performances by the UMass Minuteman Marching Band and the Amherst Regional High School Chorale, was first documented by the former Amherst Record newspaper in 1966, but went on hiatus in the early 1970s, in large part due to the energy crisis and soaring lighting costs to the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Merry Maple then returned by the late 1970s, remaining a constant until the next big change came in 1995, when the original tree was deemed too large to light. After about two decades of using what has been dubbed the mini Merry Maple as a replacement, the original merry Maple Three returned to its place of prominence in 2015, when the Amherst Business Improvement District paid to have lights strung on it.
Snow said he and Paul Dethier, a town engineer, examined the plans for overhaul of the North Common before deciding on which trees might need to go. The rehabilitation project includes removing the Main Street parking lot and replacing it with a plaza, with additional landscaping and renovation of the existing greenspace that will eliminate tripping hazards and end the periodic washouts that have plagued the common.
Adiran Stair of Lessey Street said there should be ways to prolong the tree’s life and it could be a rallying point for the town. “We have named it, needed it and loved it,” Stair said.
Britt Crow-Miller, a Woodside Avenue resident, also advocated for the tree. “Short of fencing it off, I do think these measures should be taken,” Crow-Miller said.
Following the meeting, Crow-Miller put a request on Twitter that the tree should be allowed to stay up through this year’s ceremony, and in the lead up to the event a public history project could occur in which people write down memories that could end up at the special collections at Jones Library.
“What better way for the community to bid farewell to this beloved tree than at one final Merry Maple gathering in December,” Crow-Miller wrote.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
