Report on Davis-Meeker Gary oak tree in Tumwater may be available by end of month 

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According to Tumwater Sustainability Coordinator Alyssa Jones Wood, the results of the second risk assessment of the Davis-Meeker Gary oak tree may be available by month's end.

“The arborist for the second assessment have completed their field work and analysis and we hope to have their report by the end of this month,” Jones Wood told the city’s Tree Board on Monday, Jan. 13. 

The city hired  Todd Prager & Associates on Aug. 22, 2024, to conduct a second assessment of the historic tree's risks after the city’s consultant arborist Kevin McFarland of Sound Urban Forestry reported it posed a high risk.  

Mayor Debbie Sullivan used McFarland’s findings to justify her decision in May to remove the tree without input from the city council. 

Under pressure from the public, who wanted the city to reassess the tree, the mayor backtracked on her decision and allowed another arborist to take a second look. 

Jones Wood told the Tree Board that she virtually met with the team from Todd Prager to discuss the results, which had not yet been put into a final report.

Jones Wood added that the arborists seek peer reviewers to assess their techniques and methods. 

Asked by board member Tanya Nozawa about her general feelings about the findings, Jones Wood said she felt “positive” about it. 

Jones Wood added that the results will be shared with the public and she assumes that the city council may discuss it. 

An early timeline provided by the city showed that the assessment would start as early as August.

The assessment was delayed as the city had to get permission from the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation to perform the work necessary for the analysis. 

Tumwater Tree Board met on Monday, January 13, to discuss its 2025 work plan, as well as to receive updates from Sustainability Coordinator Alyssa Jones Wood (left most).
Tumwater Tree Board met on Monday, January 13, to discuss its 2025 work plan, as well as to receive updates from Sustainability Coordinator Alyssa Jones Wood (left most).
JOLT Staff photo via Zoom

A positive sign 

A group called Save the Davis-Meeker Oak, which has been advocating for the preservation of the tree, stated in a Jan. 7 press release that the second assessment is likely to be positive for them. 

“If the second risk assessment had concluded the tree was high risk, the mayor would have publicized it in a heartbeat,” said Michelle Peterson, the group’s spokesperson. 

The group has made public record requests for communications between Prager and the mayor after the contractor conducted air excavation for the roots of the tree on Dec. 13, 2024, but the group said the city has not produced anything regarding its request. 

“This delay is a good sign,” Peterson stated in the press release. “We expect the mayor is trying to do damage control to her reputation at this time, before she releases information stating that the tree is healthy, since that information would contradict everything she has been saying for the past year and a half.” 

Comments

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  • RondaLarsonKramer

    Thank you for the nice article. Save the Davis Meeker Garry Oak has been battling the mayor in court to save the tree. It so far has an unpaid debt of $17,000 in legal fees from one of its attorneys (above the additional $17,000 it has received in donations) while I have been working pro bono on the case since May 2024. The legal debt will continue to increase. Meanwhile, the mayor has cost the city over $66,000 in attorney fees because she is claiming she has unilateral authority to remove the tree. The Court of Appeals is considering the group's appeal currently and recently issued two favorable rulings to the group against the mayor. You can read more here: https://olywip.org/historic-oak-gets-another-favorable-court-ruling/.

    Wednesday, January 15 Report this

  • RondaLarsonKramer

    To help support the citizens group, Save the Davis Meeker Garry Oak in its continuing efforts on behalf of the tree, you can donate to the legal fund here (all donations are tax-deductible): https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/donate. Recently, the group donated 50 seedlings of the Davis Meeker oak (procured from Burnt Ridge Nursery) to OlyEcosystems. The trees will be planted not far from the Davis Meeker oak, on a wildlife corridor that is historic prairie land that OlyEcosystems is restoring. See https://olyecosystems.org/preserves/deschutes-river-preserve/. Before Memorial Day Weekend in 2024, in preparation for the mayor's then-plan to secretly have the tree cut down that weekend, she had ordered the Parks Department to collect acorns and plant them so that she could put a positive light on her plans to cut down the tree. See the photo of the city's seedlings here (scroll to the bottom of the page): https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/public-records-request-docs. Presumably those seedlings are still alive. It is unclear what the mayor will do with them now that the oak tree will not be cut down. She ordered seedlings growing under the tree recently pulled up a week after we informed her they were there and asked her to let them live. See https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/post/group-suing-mayor-over-oak-tree-receives-partial-win.

    Wednesday, January 15 Report this

  • TheGreatAnon

    Drop the tree, make furniture out of the lumber and plant 100 more Gary Oaks in its honor.

    Wednesday, January 15 Report this

  • longtimeresident

    Thank you for the article. Some people just don't understand the need for historical preservation. It is a type of enrichment of your life that should not be easily destroyed.

    Thursday, January 16 Report this

  • RondaLarsonKramer

    Tumwater Mayor Debbie Sullivan has told the arborist to send everything to the city attorney so that the mayor can pretend it's "attorney-client privileged" and not give it to us when we ask for it in a public records request. This is a violation of the law and is another example of the mayor (and City Administrator Lisa Parks) setting up the city for a legal bill due solely to her desire to put her own self-interest in front of the city's. The mayor took over a month to send these three documents to us, which should have been sent a few days after our request, a delay that constitutes another violation of the law. Here are the wrongfully redacted documents: https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/.../f1b9a1... (discussing potential costs for pruning the Davis Meeker oak), https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/.../f1b9a1... (telling the city the results of the 12/13/2024 air excavation), https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/.../f1b9a1... (asking the city to schedule a meeting to discuss the results of the risk assessment).

    Thursday, January 16 Report this

  • RondaLarsonKramer

    The links did not come through. Here they are:

    https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/_files/ugd/f1b9a1_a6078975131546d28af7609194048516.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawH2YxBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHW29v_fZh1W7PUvA0e9H6H5uQAUheBej3OuZmoqYPxCe7DXropHCIqfmJg_aem_Z2iFiSCX0saqSXiZPLeHZA

    https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/_files/ugd/f1b9a1_dbf5980f4be54ac0a1aec6270713b7b5.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawH2YzJleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHWBE6g6iPadch3wrgqMa_4JZTpukwZW6agzeBp44MYq00pwWWenUW-b_iA_aem_kZ3OFoEhH0cm7dLjTTy0yg

    https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/_files/ugd/f1b9a1_4065b3e013364f1bb5650dec2183c4cb.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawH2Y0VleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHafCZhaR0lPnwMkfuHi--yKKQz05agjqIhvClTdPg3zPwnRVvtkAlV0z4Q_aem_Z787VTo1VYhKHLC6ROINGg

    Thursday, January 16 Report this