Am I No Longer a Tree Hugger?

A few months ago I asked myself, "Am I no longer a tree hugger?"  I felt I had to question my ethics when I decided to cut down a huge white pine tree in my front yard.  It turns out the question was not such a simple one to answer.

Let me start from the beginning.  A year or two after I moved into my house I got a lovely little postcard from the local power company.  The purpose of the postcard was to inform me a tree trimming company would be coming into my subdivision soon to trim tree branches that need to be removed.  I didn't think too much about it until I got home and saw this:

Mind you, the photo above was taken a few months ago and is a year or two worth of growth back onto the tree.  It looked worse at the time the tree was trimmed.  I promptly decided I needed to cut the tree down to prevent the evil tree trimming guys from ever coming back.  I knew I would miss the privacy such a large tree in my front yard gives so I talked my boyfriend into cutting the bottom branches off so I could plant a row of arborvitaes in between the tree and the power lines.  I left the tree alone for a year or two while the arborvitaes established themselves and then earlier this year decided it was time to cut the tree down once and for all.

Below is what my front yard used to look like:

I have to admit when the guys showed up to cut down my tree and I saw each branch fall to the ground I wanted to run out there and yell "Stop!" but I knew deep down it was for the best.  The tree had served its purpose and much like human death and re-birth I have to look at plants and animals in the same way.  The tree has been replaced with arborvitaes which will grow just as tall but yet be fuller and more slender so as not to take up valuable front yard real estate.  They will grow together to be one long giant green wall where you cannot see the front of my house from the road.  I love that!

Here's what my yard looks like now:

I had the tree guys grind the stump and even had them remove the bush in the front corner so it would no longer be home to snakes (my mortal enemies).  The rock was a bonus that was discovered when they removed the bush, so score for me!  Now I just need to get everything smoothed off, filled in, and grass seed planted so I can sit back and watch the new trees grow!