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    • Jul 5

Court of Appeals Grants Temporary Stay to Tumwater Oak Group




For Immediate Release                                                                               July 3, 2024

 

Contact:

Ronda Larson Kramer, 360 259-3076, ronda@larsonlawpllc.com

 

Resources and links: http://linktr.ee.TumwaterOak

 

 

 

 

 

Washington State Court of Appeals Grants Temporary Stay to Tumwater Oak Group

OLYMPIA—The group standing between a historic 400-year-old Garry oak and the City of Tumwater’s plans to destroy the tree filed late July 2 in the Washington State Court of Appeals to stop action by the city until the group’s appeal is reviewed by the court.

This morning the court granted a Temporary Stay of the TRO Dissolution.


On May 31, Judge Anne Egeler of Thurston County Superior Court dissolved a temporary restraining order obtained by the group on May 24 from Judge Sharonda Amamilo of the same court.


The temporary stay, granted this morning, will be in effect pending the outcome of the July 2 request for injunctive relief to the appeals court from Save the Davis Meeker Oak. A response to the SMDGO motion from the City of Tumwater is due on July 15 and reply from SDMGO is due July 18, according to court order

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The July 2 request to the appeals court aims to prevent any damage to the tree by the city, which has vowed to take it down and has resulted in a sustained public outcry and the formation last May of Save the Davis Meeker Garry Oak.


The appellate court has the authority to grant a stay when there are debatable issues and if there is a danger that the outcome of the appeal would become moot due to actions of one of the parties.


The motion asks the court to enjoin the mayor from cutting the tree pending the court’s final resolution of the appeal. No date has been set for that review.


The tree is historically, culturally and ecologically irreplaceable, according to the group. Through filed statements, SDMGO documents each of these factors.


The Tree Was and is Important to Native Americans


The declaration of Laura Young, a professional archivist from a sixth-generation Washington pioneer family whose children are enrolled members of an area Indigenous tribe, states that “This tree is known as one of the few territorial trees in the area used to hang Indigenous People as a method of forced property eviction before and during the regional Indian War of 1855-1856. After settlers arrived, vigilantes used it to hang Native Americans from one of its branches.”


Young added that there are also sensitive issues regarding Indigenous burial sites and grave desecration and theft of buried objects.


Young states “Not far from the tree was an intersection to an east-west trail called the Cowlitz to Yakama Trail, which went over the mountains to eastern Washington, and northwest to the Hood Canal area of the Twana and Skokomish Tribes, and the Quinault Nation. Shade next to a major trading route in the middle of a prairie where there was otherwise little shade would have been vitally important for travelers who needed to cool off and rest.”


This native oak is believed to be one of the very few still standing, noted Young. For it to be destroyed would be devastating to her family’s pioneer and Indigenous roots.

“It would prevent us from ever visiting our family’s living history again,” said Young.

An overlay map done by the Tacoma Historical Society of the 1854 survey and current aerial map shows the location of the tree in relation to the Cowlitz Trail. (Document titled Bush Family Farm).


A Pair of Kestrels is Nesting in the Tree


Raptor biologist Steve Layman documented the biological and environmental value of the oak in his declaration and the damage that removing the tree would cause to American kestrels protected by the international Migratory Bird Treaty Act.


“A family of kestrels will often reuse nest cavities year after year, down through the generations. Holes are in short supply. They evolved when there were all sorts of ages of trees, with holes mostly created by woodpeckers . . . ,” said Layman. “There are not very many trees with vacant holes anymore.”


Airport Expansion


Community activist Janet Witt’s declaration details the Port of Olympia’s planning documents that indicate the tree and the adjacent historic airplane hangar lie in the way of airport expansion. The expansion has been discussed for more than 20 years. However the port has not done an Environmental Impact Statement, only piecemeal assessments that do not address any impacts on the tree or hangar. The tree has been on Tumwater Register of Historic Places since the mid-1990s.


The City Relied on a Flawed Arborist’s Report


Beowulf Brower, a certified risk-assessment arborist, documented in his declaration the faulty information and process the City of Tumwater used to reach its flawed conclusion about the health of the tree and its decision to destroy the historic oak.



“It should, of all trees, have every conceivable thing done for it to avoid having to remove it,” said Brower. “The city arborist’s lack of consideration of any mitigation efforts other than full removal constitutes a breach in the expected duty of care assigned to a historic tree. By combining a scientifically-backed assessment, well-informed pruning and a simple cable system, any risk that exists can be mitigated to an acceptable level.”

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