Government

Tree Warden To Plant Three Sycamores along Cherry Street

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The town official who oversees trees along New Canaan’s public roads is planning to improve the grass verge that runs along Cherry Street as it approaches Main with three sycamores. Behind what’s known as the Telephone Building—on the north side of Cherry Street before the curve at Club Sandwich—the grass strip had trees in the past but they’ve been cut down “for various reasons,” according to Tree Warden Bob Horan. “This is a good, open spot where we want to have tree-lined streets in the center of town,” said Horan, a Connecticut licensed arborist since 1981 who also is president of Pauley Tree & Lawn Care. “This is a beautiful spot to improve,” he told NewCanaanite.com. “We have sycamores across the street, so that will go with the flow—it’s a nice street tree.

Government

‘The Death of Tree One Is All But a Certainty’: Homeowner Appeals Tree Removal on Country Club Road

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A Country Club Road resident is seeking monetary damages from the town and a halt to any further tree removal or pruning on her property following what her attorneys are calling the ill-conceived and illegal removal of limbs from a tree not located in the public right-of-way, according to a civil complaint. The owner of 259 Country Club Road also is seeking statutory damages (under a state law regarding tree removal) and reimbursement of legal costs after New Canaan’s tree warden later turned down her objection to planned tree removal of two trees in a denial that “was retaliatory in nature for the plaintiff’s reaction to the [tree warden’s] mistake and errors with respect to” the first tree, according to a complaint dated Feb. 8 and received Feb. 11 by the town. On Dec.

Government

Bruce and Bheema Pauley To Step Down As Tree Warden, ‘Deputy Tree Warden’ at Month’s End

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In some ways, the position of New Canaan tree warden never became just what Bruce Pauley envisioned. He took over the role in October 2010, in the wake of a powerful March nor’easter that snapped trees and power lines alike, and spent the first part of his tenure identifying and removing dangerous trees—rather than pruning and improving healthy ones. That unnamed winter storm was followed in succession by Tropical Storm Irene and Hurricane Sandy, which set the tone for Pauley’s role as tree warden in New Canaan. “I think we have pretty much gotten there,” Pauley said Wednesday evening, hours after notifying area tree companies that he would step down as tree warden at the end of this month. “There are always trees that have died or cracked or broken or rotted, and have to be removed, but we are reaching the point where more maintenance such as pruning can be effective in keeping the old trees we have.”

Still and all, for Pauley, a third-generation New Canaanite who is selling the Millport Avenue home he and wife Elaine bought in 1973 and moving to Vermont—and who last year sold his own tree care business—the experience of working with trees in New Canaan and serving as tree warden has been a rewarding profession and life that has connected him equally with nature as it has with fellow residents.

Government

With Wide Community Support, Tree Warden Re-Posts Norway Maple at Town Hall for Removal

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Saying he’s “overwhelmed” by the community support for his original decision to remove a brittle Norway maple from the front of Town Hall and replace it with sugar maples on either side of the main walkway up to the renovated building, New Canaan Tree Warden Bruce Pauley on Tuesday afternoon re-posted the tree for removal. When news spread that a resident’s complaint had prompted Pauley to “un-post” the non-native tree—in other words, leave it be, instead of planting what he called the “quintessential New England tree” instead—locals in comment threads on New Canaanite and on Facebook voiced support for the tree warden. At first, Pauley said, he was surprised by the response, “but the more I thought about it, the less surprised I am, because I know how strongly people feel about trees in New Canaan.”

“And I am happy for that,” said the tree warden, a fourth-generation New Canaanite and 1964 NCHS graduate. “But I was overwhelmed with the amount of support that I saw. Secondly, it was very gratifying to see people who I have worked for over the years and to hear their comments.

Around Town

Fourth-Generation New Canaanite Bruce Pauley Marks Four Years as Tree Warden

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Bruce Pauley never met his great uncle Charlie, who owned a tree care business in New Canaan in the 1930s and 1940s. Still, that snippet of family history may be the best explanation for just why being outdoors and working with trees—evaluating, pruning, removing, relocating, planting—has sustained Pauley for his entire professional career, really his entire life. By the time his father built the house up on Briscoe Road where the family would settle, Pauley recalled, “I happened to take an interest in trees.”

“I was intrigued by the idea of climbing trees from when I was a kid, I guess, everybody does,” he said, standing by a newly planted maple off of the main road through Waveny, one of 15 going in toward Lapham and also in the dog park. “And I just kept doing it when other people got smarter and decided to go make money instead. And I’ve just never thought of doing anything else as being compelling.”

This month marks four years in the role of tree warden for Pauley, a stewardship that has seen major changes in the way that New Canaan cares for its public trees, and by a man who arrived at his singular and abiding vocation as much by philosophy as practical consideration.