103 feet could save the Hanauer Oak Tree

It is times like these when I am reminded of how actions can speak louder than words. But it is words that I must find to convey the deep meaning and learning that comes from knowing a tree. Not just any old tree. Let me introduce you to The Hanauer Oak Tree of McMinnville.

300 Years of Survival for a native Oregon White Oak

A lone 300 year old native Oregon White Oak stands on the Wright Street side of a small divided-off portion of a corner lot where Fleischauer meets Wright in McMinnville. This tree pre-dates white settlement, circling 17 feet in circumference at the base, 18 1/2 feet in circumference at the breast (4.5 feet above ground level) and has a canopy spread of 67 feet in diameter. It survived the Columbus Day storm intact when many walnut trees in McMinnville were shattered.

To me, this tree vividly embodies at the microcosm everything that is going on at the microcosm of our world today.  I name these things each as I see them: Soul-nurturing beauty existant, an attempt at profit at the expense of Life, and a cultural authenticity that derives itself from a Sacred Marriage with The Land.

This tree, a miracle, stands as witness to over 300 years of Life.  To me, as it embodies Life, so it has entered my consciousness with its majestic presence.  It must not be surrendered unto Destruction without a fight. None of us can make a tree, much less one just like this one.

They say that the roots of a tree almost always extend out as far as the tree limbs above ground. That is 67 feet in diameter and counting. In McMinnville there is a City Ordinance 3380 Section 17.58.030 "Critical Root Zone" which the city has on the books. According to that formula, 103 radial feet around the tree are required to be fenced off and left unmolested in order to protect it. 103 feet could save The Hanauer Oak Tree.

So far, the city has refused to enforce this ordinance in this instance.

We named the oak tree The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree for Ruby Hanauer, a local jeweler, who stewarded the tree, and owned the house adjacent to it before she died. Several of us neighbors who want to save the tree have formed The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree Neighborhood and Homes Association.  

Now the lot is owned by Mr. Ray Kulback of RB & R Contractors in McMinnville. He has expressed a wish to build duplexes on top of the root zone of the tree and run two driveways on either side of the trunk of the tree.

We hope he doesn't.

Shenanigans and the Run-Around

The lot itself is only a little over 133 feet deep. What this amounts to, if you consider the critical root zone of the tree, is that the lot is unbuildable. This will entirely kill the tree.

We tried to meet with Mr. Kulback to present seven different proposals that would have saved the tree and *also* restored Mr. Kulback to the financial position he was in before he bought the lot and invested money in permits, drawings and so forth. He would have lost *no* money and in fact, might have made some money he had not thought of before.

But he broke his promise and rather than meet with us and hear all of our proposals, he chose to spitefully drive his Jeep all over the root zone of The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree, in front of those of us who had come to meet with him. We have tried to reach him by letter and fax to schedule another meeting but have not as of today heard back yet. As of today, (August 25, 2005) he has installed a chemical Porta-Potty on the lot and has installed orange fencing right around the base of the tree, but not 103 radial feet out from the tree.  He has already severely wounded the tree by taking two 14" and one 17" diameter branches off of the tree and cutting into the branch collars.

Mr. Kulback has an arborist's report claiming that there is "tip die-back, hollowing, that the limbs need cabling, and that its overall condition is marginal; it could go either way- live or die. I am an OSU trained Master Gardener. I and another neighbor who has years of experience in horticulture have examined the tree. There is no tip die-back, hollowing or weak branches.  But still, the tree indeed could go either way, depending on how it is treated from now on.

Mr. Kulback is insistent. He claims that he is doing everything possible to save the tree, but he is refusing to protect an area of 103 feet out from the trunk of the tree. The city has not yet taken any action to enforce its own City Ordinance 3380 Section 17.58.030, Critical Root Zone.

Philosophically Speaking

None of us can make a tree, much less one just like this one. And what we cannot make, we do not have the right to destroy. And as we are all connected to each other and to all of our other siblings-of-equal-standing-in-Creation, what Mr. Kulback does, *we do also*!  I will not be dragged into doing a wrong thing, without a fight. I do not know if we can win. Even so, fighting to save the tree and our neighborhood is the *right* thing to do. Fighting agains being complicit in doing the wrong thing, is the right thing to do. It is a good culture and moral value to do the right thing for its own sake - not only when you think you can win.It is a defiant act of resistance and I choose to Resist. It is a hopeful act of Art and I choose Hope. It is an affirmation of that which is Good, and True, and Beautiful in the world, even as it passes from us, and I choose to Witness. Even as the Shadow falls across us all, we still, for the sake of our own Souls, need to Stand Up for the right thing and do the right thing wherever we find it to do, whatever that the right thing is where we find it. We should do it- just because. That is the only reason anyone needs to do anything, anyway. In this way, we refuse to sell our Souls and refuse to have them taken from us. And here is in this time and this place, I have found this right thing to do for its own sake.

Other News and What You Can Do

Please write or fax Mr. Ray Kulback at RB&R Contractors, 745 Adams Street McMinnville, OR 97128

Fax 503-434-5462, and urge him to embrace creativity, heart, Soul, generosity of Spirit, courage, and civic-mindedness to understand the deep concern and love we all have for The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree, and to internalize it for himself. In that      
loving spirit please invite him to work toward a solution with The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree Neighborhood and Homes Association that will *truly* save the tree. Please write to the McMinnville News Register, Letters to the Editor, 611 N.E. Third Street, P.O. Box 727, McMinnville, OR 97128. The Phone number there is (503) 472-5114 / (800) 472-1198; Fax (503) 472-9151 and urge the same; share with them what is in your heart to share. 

There have been two articles about the tree published in the
McMinnville News Register linked here:

http://www.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=196982

and at

http://www.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=197312

The trunk of The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree

Kathleen O'Brien Blair

The Hanauer Heritage Oak Tree Neighborhood and Homes Association

503-434-9780