“Secretly climbing in the branches, a first kiss under the canopy and an inspiration for poems, paintings and drawings.” Neighborhood resident Wieke Eefting tries to put into words how a beech tree in Utrecht has been much more than just a tree.
The 170-year-old red beech on Emmalaan doesn’t have much time left. He will soon be brought down, much to the sorrow of many local residents, who held a meeting this afternoon to reflect on the approaching end of the beech. “When I came to live in Oost in 1978, the beech was always close,” says Eefting at RTV Utrecht.
About five years ago a fungal infection was discovered near the tree and it has been going downhill ever since. Everything has been tried to get the tree back on top, but it became clear last fall that this is no longer possible.
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