One of Fairfield’s few silver maple trees coming down

FAIRFIELD – One of Fairfield’s biggest trees will have to come down this week because of some problems it’s causing for its property owner.

Lou Bolster lives at 506 South 4th St. in Fairfield, and he’s decided that the time has come to cut down the giant tree that occupies most of the ground between his house and the sidewalk to the south. The tree stands out for its massive circumference of 14 feet, about 4.5 feet in diameter.

It’s one of Fairfield’s few remaining silver maples, but now the tree is leaning so badly that it’s causing problems to the foundation of his home. Not only that, but as the tree leans more and more to the south, there is greater danger it will fall on the road or even onto the house across the street if it fell in just the right way.

“Not too long ago, there were quite a few [silver maple trees], but they keep coming down for one reason or another,” Bolster said. “Silver maples are particularly flexible, and they withstand storms really well. They don’t break up as easily as hard maples or as oak do.”

Bolster’s home was built around 1900, and though he’s not certain, he thinks the tree must have been planted around the same time. The tree’s branches become noticeably narrower about 50 feet up, and Bolster guessed that maybe 75 years ago the homeowner “topped” the tree by cutting off the branches at that height.

“They call it the ‘Wisconsin lop’ where they just whack a tree off,” Bolster said. “It’s really hard on a tree, and it’s not recommended. A good arborist would never do that to a tree, but it takes a lot of weight out of the top of a tree if it survives.”

Bolster said the century-old tree has always had a slight lean to the south ever since he’s lived there, but he’s noticed the lean become very pronounced in the last year, and that is what prompted him to decide to cut it down.

“It is doing some damage to the house … not major damage but still damage,” he said. “I’ve had to do some leveling a couple different times on the sidewalk because the roots lifted it up. Tree roots will seek moisture, and when we’ve had the kind of dry seasons we’ve had in the last number of years, the root systems go wonky. If there is rain, the smaller roots will start growing toward the surface rather than growing down to the deep water because there is no deep water. That could be contributing to how much the tree has moved in the last year.”

Bolster said he’s hired a timber service to take the tree down within the next week, so motorists traveling near the intersection of South Fourth Street and West Monroe Avenue should be mindful that a portion of West Monroe Avenue will be closed during the tree removal.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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