Mourning loss of cathedral’s landmark tree

Arush of wind through the center of Santa Fe felled trees in a blustery burst of winter following what has been a too-warm, too-dry portent of climate crisis winters to come.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, where twin evergreens had graced the patio out front, lost its signature Norway spruce early Wednesday morning, as well as a second tree. The crash of the big spruce toppled the church sign out front and hit light posts, but miraculously, no people were injured and statues — St. Kateri and Archbishop Jean Baptiste-Lamy — remained intact.

The tree spared the cathedral, too, its length stretched across the stone patio, blocking the stairs from the sidewalk and nestling the Lamy statue in boughs. All day Wednesday, workers from Coates Tree Service were trimming branches and dismantling the decades-old tree.

The Rev. Tim Martinez immediately offered portions of the tree trunk to santeros and woodcarvers. We can’t wait to see the bultos, crosses or furniture that emerge — the products likely worthy of an exhibition some day. Other portions of the massive tree will be used as decoration or be turned into mulch.

It’s a lesson for our times: Out of the worst situations, find the good. Turn what could be tossed into something useful or beautiful. Be grateful it wasn’t worse— in this case, that the tree did not fall on the cathedral itself or injure anyone. Imagine the devastation of a 60-foot tree being wrenched from its roots and crashing down when hundreds of people milled outside the church.

To those who love the classic cathedral — the entire city, to narrow it down — the loss of the tree is painful.

We are used to walking down San Francisco Street toward the church, seeing the trees stand as guardian sentinels. On social media, person after person posted the before and after of the cathedral with only one guardian tree remaining, compared to the twin pillars of the past.

Others shared family photos — First Communions, weddings or other gatherings — with the spruce sharing the frame. No more. Only one of the two guardian trees remains now, the smaller of the two. Many of us reading this will not be alive the next time a tree stands as tall as the cathedral itself.

To see a tree tower once again, whether at a church or our home, we must plant and wait. Only our children and grandchildren will see the next tree, whatever that might be, reach full glory. Life is transitory, our time here fleeting.

Trees at the cathedral weren’t all that was damaged in what the National Weather Service had described in an early-morning bulletin as a “snow squall.”

At the Roundhouse, where the Legislature is meeting, winds toppled eight trees. Again, because of the hour of the day, no injuries were reported, except to the landscape. Other damage occurred around the city and Northern New Mexico, with power outages reported and homes damaged.

This was a jarring event, the gusts of wind shaking sleepers awake as the world shuddered.

The toppling of so many trees isn’t only because of wind, fierce as it was — the National Weather Service reported Santa Fe experienced gusts up to 70 mph. Hotter temperatures and lack of precipitation have weakened the root systems. They are more fragile, more prone to damage.

This windstorm and the subsequent destruction of so many trees in the heart of Santa Fe reminds us roots must be tended (water them), cherished and protected. Strong roots can withstand winds; shallow roots will be torn from the ground.

And even in the strongest trees, life is finite. All things must pass. For those who remain, the task is to make what comes next a worthy successor.