On Jan. 16, the Botanic Garden of Smith College announced that five trees on campus will be removed early this year, including the long-standing sugar maple tree on Paradise Lawn. The Smith College Grounds Department will relocate the swing, popular among Smithies and non-Smithies alike, to another tree on the college’s campus. In the coming months, two trees will begin growing in its place — potentially hosting a new swing in the years to come.
According to the Botanic Garden, the sugar maple’s health has been cautiously monitored for several years. The decision for any tree’s removal on Smith campus is a long and thoughtful process. Using methodology from the International Society of Arboriculture, the Botanic Garden created the Botanic Garden of Smith College Tree Risk Management Plan — the protocol and response for assessing a tree on campus — to standardize its risk management practices.
“What we’re really worried about, more than anything else, is a tree or tree part causing harm,” said John Berryhill, current Interim Director of the Botanic Garden and prior Landscape Curator and Chief Arborist of the college. “Harm to trees, harm to property and, most importantly, harm to people.”
Without an outlined plan for monitoring trees on campus over time, Smith’s arboriculture team was unable to determine whether a tree could shift from low risk to high risk. Upon the plan’s development in the last four or five years, however, Berryhill has seen a remarkable increase in its use, even beyond Smith. “[Our plan] is being used as the blueprint for the risk management plan at New York Central Park, at the Smithsonian Institution, at the National Gallery of Art, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Naples Botanical Garden, [Walnut] Point Arboretum,” he explained. “World class institutions, municipalities and cultural institutions are using the Smith plan as the gold standard.”
Smith’s reputation as a botanic garden and campus arboretum began in Clark Seelye’s presidency. In 1895, the college became the first to create an “integrated model” of an arboretum by planting trees throughout the entirety of its landscape. Smith’s diverse collection has thrived for well over a century and continues to do so at the hands of the Botanic Garden, who make clear their continuing environmental awareness. “You’re living in a botanic garden. Not many people get to say that,” said Berryhill.
When asked about the swing tree above Paradise Pond, Berryhill had much to say about its journey on Smith campus. “We knew that the decay in the tree was extensive enough — and this started decades ago, probably before I was born,” he said. Last fall, risk calculations for the sugar maple increased to a point where it was time to reconsider its classification as a “low risk” tree in a 12 month time frame.
The sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is native to the New England region; so it is unclear whether it was intentionally planted or grew on its own. “Let’s say it’s 80 years old and was planted in 1940-ish or late 1940s…that idea of having a beautiful fall foliage shade tree on a spot where people want to sit and look down, the sun reflecting on the water…it was a good choice. Whether it was nature or somebody’s decision,” said Berryhill.
The Botanic Garden’s announcement of the tree’s removal has been met with bittersweet reactions from Smithies, for many of whom their memories with the tree have held formative campus experiences. An influx of community members have reached out with questions and concerns related to the tree.
Berryhill had many interactions, but one in particular stood out to him. “I had a former intern reach out from Houston saying, ‘When is it coming down? A couple of us might want to come up and see it,’” he said. “It’s just an amazing testament to how much trees can affect your sense of what a place is. And that’s certainly something I’ve felt deeper and deeper every year here.”
Berryhill also reflected on his appreciation for trees. “That a beautiful tree that defined this space for decades disappears and nobody notices, is sort of a heartbreaking idea for me.” The sugar maple’s impact on the Smith community is undeniable; its removal, clearly, will not uproot the memories it holds.
“We’re trying to think 100 years down the road in terms of what we replant there,” said Berryhill on the Botanic Garden’s plans for the lawn’s future. “We’re not just thinking a decade ahead, but really trying to plant something that, at its best, I won’t be alive to see.”
