Historic Monterey cypress removed in Port Townsend’s Uptown

PORT TOWNSEND — A steady stream of neighbors passed by 1310 Clay St., in the uptown district Wednesday to pay their final respects to a stately tree that has been part of the community for generations.

The heritage Monterey cypress, one of the largest of its species in Washington state, is being removed after it suffered a failure on Oct. 5 and part of the tree fell into the street and onto cars parked nearby. No people or animals were injured.

Property owner John Eissinger had two arborists examine the tree.

Both determined it had a high risk of failing.

He said the tree was planted in the yard at the same time his Blue Gull Inn was built, and his records show that to be 150 years ago.

“We don’t want the tree to come down, but it’s our liability,” Eissinger said. “I will tell you I won’t sleep well if the tree is still standing and we have a wind storm.

“The last thing I want is for that big branch to fall on Kevin’s house,” referring to neighbor Kevin Mason whose home sits beneath part of the tree.

Certified arborist Conor Haggerty, owner of Sitkum Tree Service of Port Angeles, said that the tree “has been a landmark of Morgan Hill and this uptown area.

“Since I’ve been working in Port Townsend, I’ve been admiring the tree’s form,” he said as his employees were working to remove smaller limbs and chip them.

“It is more or less a geriatric tree, beyond a youthful form. It has a beautiful coastal wild form like you would see in California,” Haggerty said.

”Unfortunately, these three stems and the way they attach to the lower stem itself, are failure prone. The branch attachment is at an acute angle.

“The branches met, but there was no connective woody tissue. Those lever arms grew with a massive canopy and the tree that was formed is short and broad. As that material gets heavier, the load on that attachment point is greater and greater,” he said.

Sometimes it takes the right conditions for a failure to happen. The failure happened on an evening with no wind or rain.

Haggerty speculated on the cause.

“Other than the bad attachment issue, we had a really dry summer,” he said. “And then we had a lot of hydration in the middle of September.

“It’s called sudden limb drop, Haggerty said. “The tree overloads itself with water because it is starved for resources. It uptakes all that water and overloads those members. The resulting weight is too much and causes the failure.”

The cypress measured 33 feet in circumference, more than 10 feet in diameter and was about 65 feet tall, Haggerty said. It was broader than it was tall.

The tree will be taken down to about 15 feet and preserved as a natural habitat snag per Eissenger’s request.

“At the junction of the two main stems, we’ll take the stem out two to three feet to make it look like it naturally tore off the tree,” Haggerty said. “There will be a jagged look to it. It will look as though the the tree naturally failed.”

The unusable material, including the limbs, were chipped, and the rest of the tree will be removed by crane during the two-day operation that will continue today.

According to Haggerty, this type of wood is typically used for architectural pieces. It’s milled it into slabs and used for table tops and other furniture.

Eissinger said that a specialty log buyer plans to purchase sections of tree and mill them. He’s hoping to get some big pieces so there will be some nice slabs for furniture. The wood has a story and furniture designers might incorporate that history into their pieces.

According to the 1996 publication of Champion Trees of Washington State written by Robert Van Pelt, the Clay Street tree at the time was the second largest Monterey cypress in the state. A Monterey cypress tree at 430 Lawrence St., was heralded as the largest.

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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.