Supporters of the Davis-Meeker Oak tree will gather on Sunday, October 27, to walk 2.7 miles of the path of Cowlitz trail, beginning at the historic Oregon White Oak (Quercus garryana) tree towards 93rd Avenue before ending at a forest.
Save the Davis-Meeker Gary Oak (SDMGO) group, which is in a legal battle with Tumwater Mayor Debbie Sullivan to keep the tree standing, is organizing the event. Attendees can expect food at the end of the walk and are encouraged to bring camping chairs.
SDMGO says that the Davis-Meeker oak was a trail marker on the Cowlitz Trail for hundreds of years. The trail was part of the Yakama-Cowlitz Trail, which connected people from the Cowlitz Valley with people from the Yakima River drainage, according to the Washington Trails Association. Tumwater also moved to add the trailhead to the Oregon Trail as it was used by the party of pioneers George Bush and Michael Simmons.
The walk ends at the Squali-absch Family Forest, owned by the family of Ronda Larson Kramer, who represents SDMGO. For those who are able, attendees may travel further downhill to a mound of cobbles which the group believes is a possible grave mound.
The group says the forest is one of the last known unpaved remnants of the Cowlitz Trail. The other known remaining unpaved part of the trail is an adjacent parcel owned by Bar Holding LLC which is proposing to develop the site. Larson Kramer wrote an opinion piece in March opposing the proposed development.
Those looking to participate may email Larson Kramer or call (360) 259-3076.
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mathisje
Walk ,swim or fly, it will make no difference on whether the tree can be preserved without undue risk to public. The walk is healthy exercise, but the tree won't care. I personally hope the tree can be saved. I also hope no one gets killed in the interim.
Friday, October 25 Report this
Treehugger1
The city of Tumwater needs to fix this situation....allow the tree to survive and fix it with supports, if needed.
Let us respect other life forms on this fragile planet, and save a magnificent, hisatoric Oak tree.
Friday, October 25 Report this
RondaLarsonKramer
@mathisje Thank you for voicing your desire that the Davis Meeker oak survive. I wanted to let you know that the tree is healthy. The risk narrative is a false one that the mayor has created, with the help of city arborist Kevin McFarland, who has quite a reputation in the arborist community for unethical actions on behalf of municipalities that are trying to get rid of trees. If you have time, please read the assessment of Tree Solutions, which is part of Kevin's risk assessment report from 2023. Tree Solutions stated that the tree has enough wood to support its weight and should be managed as a veteran tree. The owner of Tree Solutions (who is one of the fathers of modern tree risk assessment methodology) disagreed so strongly with Kevin's unsupported claim of high risk in the final report that the owner wrote to the assistant city attorney and stated Kevin's report was an embarrassment to any knowledgeable arborist. Kevin himself had written in an internal email that the tree was not high risk, and we obtained that email in a public records request. All of these documents are at tumwateroak.org.
Friday, October 25 Report this