A pile of trunks and branches is all that remains of what used to be a small grove on Meadow Road.
Here’s something that surprised me on a bike ride through the open country south of Albany: A grove of trees on the east side of Meadow Road was gone.
I’m guessing that the owner of the field flanking the grove on three sides had a reason to want to get rid of the trees. I don’t know what it is, and I’d be grateful if someone could clue me in.
As a general proposition, it seems to me that trees in the landscape are better than no trees. Grass-seed production and other forms of agriculture have pretty much done away with the tree cover on the valley floor.
But wooded pockets or islands remain here and there, providing habitat for birds and presumably other wildlife. That bit of habitat is lost when the trees come down.
On the other hand, there may be reasons why certain stands should go. Maybe the trees are in bad shape and threaten to fall across the road the next time it blows up a storm.
Maybe the land they occupy is needed for crop production in order to keep a particular farm economically afloat.
And then, of course, if owners want to clear some of their property, that’s their business. It’s their land to do with as they think best — and the government allows.
Casual passersby — like me in this case — have no stake in what happens to a piece of farmland. But that doesn’t mean we can’t regret a sudden change in the landscape of a valley that, over the decades, has become home. (hh)
On the left or west side of Meadow, a smaller grove remained on Oct. 16.
Google Maps shows both groves still intact. (Google has the KidCo Head Start Center about half a mile south of where it actually is.)
From the looks of the trunks looks like they had lived their life and were on the down hill of life, a little like us,
I live on Riverside and that area is part of my normal walk/cycling routine. I don’t know why they cleared it out either, but right before they did it, there was a dead lamb in the grove. After they cleared it, we saw a mother fox and four kits in the area (I will refrain from posting exactly where).