MSU will replace trees cut down near Abbot entrance

EAST LANSING - Nearly two dozen ailing maple trees were cut down last week as part of a project to rejuvenate Michigan State University’s historic campus entrance.

Fewer than half a dozen trees near the intersection Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue survived last week’s cull that left a mostly barren stretch of land on the west side of the MSU Student Union.

A total of 21 Norway maples as well as one Norway spruce were removed because of safety concerns posed by their declining health, said Tressa Wahl, a landscape designer with MSU’s Department of Infrastructure Planning and Facilities.

“We found signs of internal decay that was causing the canopies of these trees to die back,” she said.

A phenomenon known as girdling roots was responsible for the trees losing limbs and beginning to look like telephone poles in some places, according to Paul Swartz, a campus arborist. As the Norway maple trees aged, their roots began to curve inward, eventually leading the trees to effectively choke themselves from their nutrient supply.

Girdling occurs in Norways more frequently than other varieties of maple, Swartz said, though it could have been caused by planters in the 1960s and 1970s burying the trees too deep. The non-native maples are no longer planted on MSU’s campus due to girdling concerns as well as their tendency to rob space and nutrients from native trees, Swartz said.

The tree cutting came as a surprise to Beth McWhorter , an MSU graduate who lives and works in East Lansing.

"They spoke to me," she said about the trees, which she watched transform every season beginning in the late 1960s. "I always thought it was an amazingly beautiful spot."

McWhorter said she hasn't been able to look at the spot since the trees were removed.

The newly cleared space won’t be vacant for long, as university staff plan to plant 16 swamp white oaks to replace the felled trees. Five more Sugar Tyme crabapple trees will also be planted behind a historic limestone marker, which was donated by the class of 1938.

Crews will also be making repairs to the sidewalks around the union and Campbell Hall to meet American Disabilities Act requirements. The sidewalk changes didn't require the trees to be removed, said Katie Gervasi, a communications representative for Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, though the upgrades are being done in conjunction with the tree project.

While McWhorter said she's relieved to hear MSU is adding new trees, the area won't resemble its old appearance until many years down the line, she said.

Approximately 148 swamp white oaks can currently be found on campus, among them a trio of trees which have stood at what is now the southeast corner of the Mary Mayo building for more than 200 years, Swartz said.

The new trees will be approximately 3 inches in diameter when planted, but are capable of growing to 30 inches in diameter by adulthood and stand more than 50 feet tall.

The project will keep the campus entrance closed during the day until June 10, and is reopened each night and on weekends. The project is expected to be completed by June 17, with tree planting beginning by June 8.

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.