August 1 and 2, 2013

Farewell to Our Monkeypod Tree

On August 2, 2013, a monkeypod tree was removed from our campus. This tree had graced the front of our campus since our school was built, and it provided shade for students as they studied or played during recess.

The following photos document the removal of the tree. It would have been nice to take a photo every hour from the beginning of the project to the end, but alas, that was not possible.

This is what the tree looked like from the front. Doesn’t it look healthy and stately?

This is the same tree from the side view. Notice how far it’s leaning over the fence? It was determined that the tree was unsafe and could easily fall over during a strong wind. Thus, plans were made to have the tree removed prior to starting construction on our new administration building.

Workers arrived to begin cutting down the tree and got right to work. We were meeting with teachers and by the time we went out for a short break, huge branches had already been cut down.

After branches were cut down, workers fed the branches into a machine which broke them into smaller chips.

A crane was used to secure the large branches while it was being cut, then the pieces were loaded onto the truck.

It’s amazing to me how quickly workers can cut down a huge tree!

Workers are feeding the branches into this machine which then breaks it up into small pieces. This can probably be used as groundcover somewhere.

Many of the large branches have already been removed. Notice how much has already been cut down.

Workers stopped their cutting for our Meet and Greet activity when many students and their families came on campus to meet their new teacher and bring in their school supplies.

Loading the big pieces onto the truck; I found out later that workers unloaded the tree pieces at Helemano Military Reservation. I’m not sure what they do with it, but hopefully, it’ll be put to good use.

End of day 1 – the only large branch remaining is the one that sticks out into the road. Workers will have to stop traffic temporarily while they remove that branch tomorrow.

Early morning – day 2 prior to the workers’ arrival

The next time I went out to see the progress of our tree removal, this is what I saw. Wow! All the branches were removed and all that’s left is the tree trunk.

The workers were really nice and cut 2” rings so our staff could save them as mementos of the monkeypod tree. Some of our staff asked for small logs so they could create something out of the wood.

The workers are attaching the security harness around the trunk of the tree and hooking it up to the crane prior to making the final cut.

I found it amazing that they could make the final cut so quickly. That tree was probably 75 years old, and I wish I’d measured the diameter before they turned it to mulch.

This is all that remained of our monkeypod tree. Now that it’s gone, the area in front of the school looks spacious! Previously, it did not look like the area was large enough for the administration building.

Making mulch out of the remainder of the tree

Mulch from our monkeypod tree will be used in our fourth grade Hawaiian Garden and the fifth grade Hope Garden.