Niagara’s living history
The white oak was already ancient when Joanna Buchner was laid to rest at Lyon’s Creek Cemetery on April 3, 1820.
Records indicate Buchner, who died at 55 years old, was the first to be buried in the cemetery beside the old Methodist church, followed by her husband Henry and dozens of others before the cemetery was closed to additional burials and taken over by the City of Niagara Falls in 1973.
The tree, however, has continued to flourish in the nearly two centuries since then.
Its massive trunk is at least five metres around, while its limbs reach more than 15 metres above the historic tombstones that surround it.
Trevor Pachkowski passes by that tree almost daily, commuting from his home in Cooks Mills to Pelham town hall, where he works for the town’s forestry maintenance department.
“People drive by this every day and they don’t even notice it,” he said.
But as a certified arborist, the massive white oak never fails to capture Pachkowski’s attention.
“This thing is gorgeous,” he said. “Look at the size of it. I’ve seen some massive trees and this thing is up there. This is a huge piece of history here.”
Pachkowski said the tree is estimated to be more than 260 years old, but he suspects it’s far older than that.
He said the tree’s current age is based on an estimate pegging it at about 58 when the Battle of Cook’s Mills took place in 1814 – according to a plaque erected at the site in recognition of the bicentennial of the battle.
Judging by the tree’s current size, Pachkowski believes it could be about 400 years old, if not older.
He said the Comfort Maple in Pelham, for instance, is estimated to be about 500 years old, with a trunk circumference of about 6.7 metres. “But oaks are a lot more slower growing than maples,” he added.
Despite its age, Pachkowski said the tree is still in good health. And he hopes to keep it that way for centuries to come.
He pointed out numerous dead branches in its canopy, hanging precariously above the historic tombstones below, and crevices in its gnarled trunk.
The tree, to his knowledge, has never previously benefited from the expertise of a certified arborist.
“I’ve been looking for cut marks and that in it, and I don’t see it ever being serviced in its history. It’s just naturally sheds (dead branches).”
That will change next weekend. After graduating from Humber College’s urban arboriculture program, Pachkowski began hosting annual reunions for many of the program graduates.
But this year, when about 10 fellow arborists from across Ontario join him for that reunion on Aug. 19, Pachkowski plans to put them to work.
“I thought what better way to promote our field and to get people to learn more about arborists and aboriculture and how important we are to the communities, instead of just your straight up old school lumberjack dude who just goes into a store and buys a chainsaw and starts hacking away at a tree,” Pachkowski said. “I thought why not give back to the community and make them aware of what we do.”
While working with some of the best arborists in the province that morning from about 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Pachkowski also hopes to determine precisely how old the tree is.
One of the arborists joining the team, Michael Richardson from Richardson Tree Care in Brighton, Ont., will be bringing a sonic tomograph unit and resistograph with him – a device that allows arborists to accurately determine the age of trees as well as any internal decay without requiring a core sample of the tree.
Pachkowski said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati will be joining the arborists for the event, and he plans to put him to work, too.
“He wants to climb with us. We’re going to harness him up with some gear and we’re going to get him to the top of the tree. I think he’ll be able to do it.”
Diodati said he has done a lot of unusual things since becoming Niagara Falls’ mayor.
“You know how many times I’ve done stuff I sign up for and think, ‘I hope this is going to be alright,’” he said, laughing.
But it’ll be the first time he’ll be climbing to the top of a huge tree.
“I’m willing to give it a shot,” he said. “It’ll be interesting, that’s for sure.”
As a result of the emerald ash borer infestation, Diodati said the city is “taking down tons of trees.”
“It’s horrible. It’s completely changing the character of certain parks and neighbourhoods,” he said.
As a result, he said city council implemented a policy several months ago requiring city workers to replace any trees that are cut down with two or three new trees and a variety of native tree species.
It will allow the city to have “a net gain of trees, so we’ll have more of a canopy.”
Pachkowski also teamed up with Jessica Parker on the project, who worked with the Mayholme Foundation in St. Catharines to research the history of the community that surrounded the tree in the centuries since its acorn took root.
“The research that Jessica has done is amazing,” he said.
Parker said the resources were made available at the genealogical and historical research centre on Ontario Street in St. Catharines.
“They had resources and books and old copies of maps . ... They just had everything. I can’t believe a place like that existed where you just give them a few nuggets to go on, and they can tell you the full history of it,” she said, adding that history includes soldiers marching through the area on their way to battle during the War of 1812, as well as people escaping slavery in the U.S.
“It knocked me for a loop,” she said. “When you just pause and think about the history that has gone on around this, we have quite a really rich history going on.”
Diodati was also impressed by the history the tree has lived through.
“That tree’s seen an awful lot. It’s obviously a fair bit older than Canada as a country,” he said. “If that tree could talk, I’m sure it’d have lots to say.”
Pachkowski said his fellow arborists share his enthusiasm for the project.
“The guys that are in this are taking it very seriously,” he said.
“Now that we have an opportunity to do this, the main significance is we’re going to see a view from a tree that no one’s ever seen in the world.”
When the work is completed, he said it should be good for at least another 200 years, at least.
“It’s an oak. It’s not a linden or a maple that’s going to sprout like crazy all over the place,” Pachkowski said. “We’ll be dead by the time this thing needs to be serviced again.”