The loblolly pines in the Bat House Woods conservation area are surrounded by smaller trees, shrubs, critters and a growing army of support.
UF originally planned to cut down nine of the mature pines to allow more light to filter onto the UF golf course’s seventh green, which borders the trees’ home in the conservation area. UF announced on June 11 it put the tree-removal process on hold, saying the almost-century-old trees would first be evaluated for disease.
After Kim Tanzer and her husband, Rod McGalliard, heard the news, they called three local tree experts to determine the condition of the trees. The experts unanimously said the trees are healthy, according to written statements from arborists Meg Niederhofer and Erick Smith, and City of Gainesville Tree Advisory Board member Joe Durando.
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes wrote in an email that there is no update on the status of the trees as of press time, and she does not have a timeline for when the university will evaluate them.
Smith, UF’s arborist until 2007, examined the trees and found no bacterial or fungal infection nor signs of beetle infestation. Most fungal infections are only present in very young pine trees, he said. Trees that huddle together, like the pines in the conservation area, fare better than those that stand alone, Smith said. In a group, the trees can shield and protect one another from wind. He said that while loblolly pines are common, trees of this maturity are not.
Durando said that “even if the trees were sick or dead or dying, they should remain standing,” because they are essential to the area’s ecology.
“It’s not about one tree,” he said. “It’s about how it all fits together.”
Tanzer said she and McGalliard care about the trees because they care about UF and conservation, not just because of their proximity to the pines. The couple live in Golfview, the community that neighbors the golf course and the UF bat houses. If they step outside their house and hop over the fence, they can see the trees, which tower over the rest of the woods.
Their dedication to keeping the trees is advertised on the “Friends of Bat House Woods at UF” Facebook page, which Tanzer said has likes from people all over the state and nation.
“For UF to continue to do anything other than let (the trees) live would be extremely foolish,” Tanzer said.
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 6/29/15]
