Logs of a mature pin oak tree are hoisted by crane onto Maine Street in a tree removal Tuesday, Aug. 13. Kristian Moravec / The Times Record

Tuesday afternoon, the sounds of chainsaws echoed through downtown Brunswick as rush-hour traffic inched down Maine Street.

A large crane in front of Bank of America hoisted logs into the air as workers in safety vests stood by. Witnesses at Gulf of Maine Books, just a few doors down from the bank, said that workers began taking down the tree around 3 p.m. At about 3:55 p.m., the crew had taken down a second and were starting on a third in front of Cool as a Moose. Inside the bookshop, customers gawked. One customer said “they ruined Brunswick” as he was checking out at the counter.

“We’re hoping there’s a chance for the other side of the street,” said Beth Leonard, one of the bookshop’s owners. Machinery roared as leafy branches were fed into a chipper.

The “other side” Leonard referred to is the untouched east side of Maine Street, which is slated for a sidewalk rebuild in 2025. Beginning in May 2024, Brunswick launched its Streetscape Project on the west side of the road. The initiative aims to overhaul 5,000 square yards of aging pathways lining Maine Street and add in features like benches, new tree pits and more.

The project sparked an uproar as residents realized more of the original trees were coming down than anticipated. Many residents and town councilors raised the issue during public meetings, and a public forum on the project was held on Aug. 5. Still, some residents are left wondering what else there is to do to protect what many see is a valuable asset to the town.

Workers remove a tree in front of Cool as a Moose on the west side of Maine Street, where Brunswick is overhauling its sidewalk, on Aug. 13. The project has sparked outrage as more trees than anticipated are removed during demolition. Kristian Moravec / The Times Record

‘Our worst case scenario’

The Streetscape Project was almost five years in the making. The sidewalks became a priority after pathways began buckling and people began tripping, resulting in some injuries.

Brunswick resident and former District 2 Councilor Steve Walker, who has been on the council for 11 years, said he was present when the project started brewing. Throughout the conversation of renovating Maine Street pathways, Walker said the focus was largely on materials for the design, though trees occasionally came up.

“Tree preservation was important but, it never — in my memory — raised as much of a challenge as we’re currently faced with,” Walker said. He added that it seemed at the time an “engineered approach” could happen, meaning designs could be adjusted to accommodate the trees and that removal would be rare.

Later in the process, the council was presented with data showing which trees in the project were unhealthy and which would not make it through the project. While he did not support the construction approach at the time for various reasons, he said the council understood that the remaining trees would be preserved.

“I think the councilors at the time were under the impression that the work had been done, there were investigations done, and we were presented with that color-coded spreadsheet of which trees were going to be lost and we were lead merrily down that path, unfortunately,” Walker said. “I think we did not receive the full picture.”

Town Arborist Dennis Wilson, who has been with the town for five years and has 30 years of experience as an arborist, said that the goal was always to preserve as many trees as possible and that each specimen was assessed on a tree-by-tree basis.

A three-person arborist team examined the trees last fall to determine which ones were not going to make it through the project, such as trees already in severe decline or with prior damage. Eight trees remained after this assessment, with the plan to inspect them as sidewalk demolition started.

Criteria for tree viability often meant trees needed to have minimal damage to feeder roots (smaller roots that grow from the tree’s woody roots) and have roots 18 inches down that posed little threat to nearby buildings, cars and pedestrians.

If lateral roots — the ones that branch out from the primary root of the tree — are heavily damaged, the tree may not be able to stand on its own and poses a risk to structures and people around it, especially in high winds or icy weather. Wilson said that with climate change–related weather, such as increased high-wind storms the Midcoast has seen in recent years, officials have to weigh the increased risk.

“What we found is our worst-case scenario — the lateral roots are very shallow,” Wilson said. “The excavation of the new sidewalk would damage them to the point where [they] would be high risk of falling over. The trees would probably be more likely to die as well.”

The recently felled pin oak in front of Bank of America was healthy, Wilson said, but last week’s assessment showed that lateral roots were only 5 inches deep, well short of the 18 inches hoped for. The lush, heavy canopy combined with the weak roots made it a high risk for toppling over in a storm, Wilson said.

Wilson added that it is impossible to fully understand the root systems of a tree until the slabs are pulled up. At this point in the construction process, he said it is possible that all trees on the west side may be lost. But with the 2025 half of the project on the horizon, Wilson said more tree assessments are upcoming for the west side of the street.

“I’m going to do everything I can to save as many existing trees as I possibly can, [and] at the same time planting new trees for the future,” he said.

‘180 degrees in the wrong direction’

Former town arborist Peter Baecher, who served Brunswick for 16 years and has an arborist background spanning 25 years, has seen a lot of trees die in his line of work. In this particular project, he has been present at several town meetings to advocate for “landmark” trees lining the road.

“Anytime you do a complete sidewalk replacement, that’s normally going to be the end of most trees,” he said. “But really my take was I was trying to save one particular tree [the tree by the bank], which I thought would kind of be the landmark tree and grandfather tree on Maine Street.”

Baecher said that a different method of construction was needed to protect the tree, but he was unable to convince anyone to take a hybrid approach, so the tree was taken down.

Now, residents are concerned that not enough priority was placed on saving historic trees, as there is no flexibility in the design to engineer around them. Some said they don’t believe the younger, replacement trees that the project aims to plant along the road will make up for the loss.

“You know, I’m going to be dead by the time those trees are offering any substantial shade,” Brunswick resident Emily Swan, 65, said referring to the new trees.

Swan has been living in Brunswick for 37 years and said that previous tree removal and planting on the street has always been staggered. Like many residents, she did not expect large, mature trees to be affected by the sidewalk project.

Swan said a “forceful” vote from the council is needed to protect the mature specimens in the project. With a changing climate, she said, the town should try harder to preserve what’s left.

“Taking down the most carbon-sequestering trees in our downtown — and the most shade-providing ones — in this era of increasingly hot summers is going 180 degrees in the wrong direction,” Swan said.

‘They shouldn’t be taken lightly’

A photo included in the April 18, 2023, memorandum to the Town Council shows a truck carrying large logs on its bed. The photo caption states that the truck is carrying logs from a 200-year-old tree that was previously located in Brunswick Landing. Courtesy of Brunswick Town Council

With tree removal happening in a short span of time, some have questioned if there are any tree resource protections are in place.

Walker said that there was a provision in the town ordinance to have development plans map and protect trees over a certain diameter for years — one, because of the history and scenic value, but also for the shading, reduction of erosion and more.

“Unfortunately, even though we’ve had that provision in the ordinance, the Planning Board has waived it time and time and time again,” he said.

During his council days, he attempted to increase protections. A 2023 proposal — available in last year’s April 18 Town Council agenda packet — points out that town law for natural vegetation protection does not specify standards of how or which tree resources should be protected unless the tree is found in a “scenic area” or near an open field.

The 2023 proposal outlined protections for what it referred to as “significant trees” — a mature, native species that was not deemed a hazard — including requirements like tree mapping on development plans and submitting of tree protection strategies for construction.

This proposal never made it to the Planning Board, despite the council voting for it unanimously. Walker is hopeful that District 5 Councilor Jennifer Hicks will bring it back to the table this fall.

“Trees really define our community,” Walker said. “Whether its a forest stand that provides real ecological benefit or just mature trees downtown that just help define our community, provide shade relief and heat relief, but also provide stopovers for migrating song birds that pass through our community each fall and spring. There’s a whole litany of function they provide, and they shouldn’t be taken lightly.”