PORT TOWNSEND — Like a child, Donna Abbott loves her tree. After all, it’s got quite a claim to fame.
Rooted in front of her house on Lawrence Street in uptown Port Townsend, the largest Monterey cypress in Washington stands wounded, which has Abbott biting her fingernails hoping it can be saved.
“We bought the property as much for the tree as for the Victorian house,” said Abbott.
Strong wind gusts from the Feb. 4 storm wreaked havoc on several of the tree’s limbs, toppling them to the ground.
Some of the downed limbs were as large as a regular-sized tree.
Four men with four chain saws worked for an entire day to cut the fallen refuse into manageable pieces.
And now the cypress, the largest of its kind in the state, standing 80 feet tall, is in limbo.
The tree, with a trunk circumference of 26 feet and crown spread of 64 feet, can be seen from the ferry pulling into the Port Townsend ferry dock, and can be seen with a keen eye in the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” which was filmed in Port Townsend.
The Monterey cypress was featured in the 1996 publication of Champion Trees of Washington State written Robert Van Pelt.
In his book, Van Pelt confirmed the tree’s status as the largest Monterey cypress in the state.
Earlier this week, Abbott was told that the tree would have to be chopped down . . . sacrificed.
Not only that, but it would cost $10,000 to cut down to prevent risk to neighbors’ homes being in harm’s way if further limbs were to fall.
Abbott got a second opinion Wednesday from veteran arborist James Causton of Port Angeles.
He said although he noticed rot running through parts of the tree, he didn’t think it would have to come down immediately.
