As I walked past my upstairs window on the way to bed one recent evening, I was taken aback by the glaring light coming from the volunteer firehouse. It used to be there was only one unshielded light I could see…one which casts a monstrous amount of light pollution. Now there were four. And they didn’t add lights—they removed trees—again. Now, when I look out this window, I can see straight into the firehouse and parking lot, all the traffic on North Bridge, and have a prime view of the houses on the other side of the street. And my house is at least 500 feet away from North Bridge!
Ten years ago I couldn’t see a light, nor the firehouse, nor anything beyond…just trees. Big, green, beautiful trees. But, we are told—Bridgewater cares about trees! Bridgewater has a strict tree removal ordinance! Bridgewater is a proud member of the Arbor Day “Tree City” Program! We’ve got a Shade Tree Board! And a Tree 4 All Program! We’ve got a Tree JAMBOREEEEEE!
This, my friends, is all pure, unadulterated B.U.L.L.S.H.I T.
I have yet to hear any explanation as to how or why the firehouse was permitted to remove the entire landscape buffer and trees on the east of their property (and which violates our town’s landscape easement ordinance in the most egregious way). Over the last two years, I watched in absolute despair as those trees were cut up and burnt as bonfires in their parking lot. I guess when there aren’t many fires to put out, you end up getting bored and starting your own.
Last summer, two healthy and immense sycamore trees at the edge of their parking lot were inexplicably dropped and chopped. The American Goldfinches that depended on their seeds will just have to go find food somewhere else, I guess.
The trees that backed the firehouse were everything that blocked the utterly obscene amount of light pollution the firehouse emits. They also acted as a windbreak, effectively blocking and protecting the copse of trees to their east (which will inevitably suffer blow-over/wind-throw & damage come the first strong wind events—mark my words), and muffled the ever-increasing traffic noise from North Bridge Street. And now they’re all gone.
So, when a tree falls in a landscape easement on North Bridge St., does it make a sound?
It sure does, because I’ve heard it—it’s just that no-one who runs our town gives two shits about it.
I’m sure if I went to investigate if permits were ever pulled or approved for those trees, I wouldn’t find a single one. Nor would I find ones for the trees that disappeared at the property across the street…or 10 at the neighbor's down the street, or the windbreak of 13 Blue Spruce trees next door that was mowed down in a single day. Last summer I stood in my backyard, looking deep into a horizon that was previously blocked by a dense stand of old, majestic trees in the distance…those, too, are gone. At one point, I even counted to see how many days in a row I could hear a chainsaw running….34 days. If, by my estimation, I’ve personally seen 50-75 trees removed within 500’ of my residence in the last 5 years (and heard countless more being murdered in the distance), how many do you think are being removed not just here, but EVERYWHERE? I’m sure the answer would break my heart.
a view to the corner of Foothill (blue line)/North Bridge St (green line) from 1971, 1995 and 2006; note the how the area marked in green has changed drastically from 1995-2006.
Our town leaderships’ apathy and lack of enforcement---combined with addiction to endless, unsustainable growth---is how we’ve gone from being surrounded by swathes of profoundly beautiful and beneficial forest with thriving biodiversity to suddenly wondering where all the trees, birds, and animals went. And we’re left to deal with (and often literally pay for) the inevitable adverse consequences: erosion, flooding, wind damage, and increased noise & light pollution.
And as is usual, wildlife is what will suffer the most as it’s left with nowhere to go. Birds returning from their long journeys from Central & South America will arrive to find their previously successful nesting areas have vanished. Sorry birds! Native mammals will be frantically looking for that tree hollow they lived in, as well as for the thousands of pounds of acorns and nuts they relied on to survive. Too bad, squirrels, foxes, and raccoons! You’ll just need to wait 50-75 years for another oak or hickory to start producing nuts!
So how does this happen? Why are people now so intent on destroying trees?
Aside from the obvious and endless developer land-grabs at play, there are two issues I believe contribute to this. One is that over the past 10-20 years, we seen a hefty influx of people purchasing in Bridgewater to do house-flips—people who weren’t a part of our community and never would be—they didn’t care about our town, our environment, or really anything other than making money. They came in, remodeled a house, tore out mature trees and ripped the existing landscaping, buffers, and hedges to shreds, and then skipped out as soon as they got their cash. Greed has lain waste to so much of our town.
Then we have the second problem—a more insidious one. As older folks who lived here for much of their lives passed away or left, we’ve seen younger people moving in from more urbanized areas/suburbs. As newcomers, they’ve built no commitments to our town, nor do they have any sense of the history or baseline of what we had here; they only see what IS, not what WAS.
To many of them, they think “this is more trees than I had previously, so this is good”--so whatever amount is here now is fine. But it’s NOT fine. They don’t know what we’ve already lost…and you don’t care about what you don’t know about.
People don’t stay at their properties as long as they used to…they develop no emotion, connection, or pride in where they live. They treat their property less like homeowners do and more like long-term renters. They view houses as investments and not as, you know... homes. Bridgewater was once what's known as a “bedroom” community…I’d dare say now it’s pretty much a “hotel-room” community. They don’t put down roots.
This means that over time we keep moving the goalposts of what is acceptable to lose, where each new person moving in believes that losing just a little bit more is ok.
No. Absolutely NO!---just a little bit more is NOT ok! Those of us who’ve been here a long time can tell you---this how you lose forests, and wildlife, and the quality of life. Little by little. Tree by tree.
Many of my previous neighbors lived in their homes for 50-65 years, and I can’t recall any of them cutting down a tree in the last 30 years. Yet, when a new homeowner moves in, trees immediately come down. Every. Single. Time.
Even if you only cut down one tree at a time, eventually you will come to a day when there are none left. Meanwhile, our town leadership talks about utter nonsense like electronic billboards and whether to entertain mega-warehouses—two things I’m certain no resident has ever once considered to be things that will improve our quality of life. Know what does improve it? Trees. And thriving wildlife and biodiversity. And reducing noise. And light pollution. And flooding.
We need to preserve every tree we have and should be planting thousands more!
And yet, they just let the chainsaws keep on screaming; they’ll leave the money for permits & violations on the table and then have the nerve to tell us they need to raise our taxes. We’ll pay more and yet still lose more… and we all get to look out our windows and watch what made Bridgewater truly special get stuffed into a wood chipper.
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