SO LONG, STUMPY. The Washington Monument is visible as visitors
photograph a cherry tree affectionately nicknamed "Stumpy" as cherry
trees enter peak bloom in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 2024. Many of
the cherry trees are experiencing their last peak bloom before being
removed for a renovation project that will rebuild seawalls around the
Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
From The Asian Reporter, V34, #4 (April 1, 2024), pages 7& 9.
More than 100 iconic cherry trees in Washington are
being cut down. So long, Stumpy.
By Ashraf Khalil
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The sun is setting on Stumpy, the gnarled old cherry
tree that has become a social media phenom. This year’s cherry blossom
festivities in Washington will be the last for Stumpy and more than 100
other cherry trees that will be cut down as part of a multiyear
restoration of their Tidal Basin home.
Starting in early summer, crews will begin working to replace the
crumbling seawall around the Tidal Basin, the area around the Jefferson
Memorial with the highest concentration of cherry trees. The work has
been long overdue, as the deterioration, combined with rising sea
levels, has resulted in Potomac waters regularly surging over the
barriers.
The twice-daily floods at high tide not only cover some of the
pedestrian paths, they also regularly soak some of the cherry trees’
roots. The $133 million project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall
will take about three years, said Mike Litterst, National Park Service
spokesman for the National Mall.
"It’s certainly going to benefit the visitor experience, and that’s
very important to us," Litterst said. "But most of all, it’s going to
benefit the cherry trees, who right now are every day, twice a day,
seeing their roots inundated with the brackish water of the Tidal
Basin." Litterst said entire stretches of trees to the water, as wide as
100 yards, have been lost and can’t be replaced "until we fix the
underlying cause of what killed them in the first place."
Stumpy remains alive, if in rough shape.
Plans call for 140 cherry trees — and 300 trees total — to be removed
and turned into mulch. When the project is concluded, 277 cherry trees
will be planted as replacements.
The mulch will protect the roots of surviving trees from foot traffic
and break down over time into nutrient-rich soil, "so it’s a good second
life" for the trees being cut down, Litterst said.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is widely considered to be the
start of the tourist season in the nation’s capital. Organizers expected
1.5 million people would view the pink and white blossoms this year, the
most since the coronavirus pandemic. Large numbers of cherry blossom
fans were already drawn to the area as the trees entered peak bloom on
March 17, several days earlier than expected.
Stumpy became a social media star during the pandemic fever dream of
2020. Its legacy has spawned t-shirts, a calendar, and a fanbase. News
of Stumpy’s final spring has prompted people to leave flowers and
bourbon and had one Reddit user threatening to chain themselves to the
trunk to save the tree.
The good news on Stumpy is that the National Arboretum plans to take
parts of the tree’s genetic material and create clones, some of which
will eventually be replanted at the Tidal Basin.
The regular flooding at the Tidal Basin — sea levels have risen about
a foot since the seawall was built in the early 1990s — is just one of
the ways climate change has impacted the cherry trees. Rising global
temperatures and warmer winters have caused peak bloom to creep earlier
in the calendar.
This year’s peak bloom, when 70% of the city’s 3,700 cherry trees
flower, was originally predicted to start around March 23 but ended up
being declared on March 17. By comparison, the 2013 peak bloom began on
April 9. Leslie Frattaroli, national resources program manager for the
Park Service, told The Associated Press in February that peak bloom
could regularly come in the middle of March by 2050.
"All the timing is off." he said. "It’s a huge cascading effect."
Another weather side effect: A mid-March cold snap in the D.C. area
should actually extend this year’s bloom past the predicted April 9
ending.
For visitors and cherry blossom enthusiasts, the annual tradition of
a stroll on the Tidal Basin under the flowers is a core D.C. experience.
Jorge and Sandra Perez make a point of coming every year from
Stafford, Virginia.
"Yes, we have cherry blossoms in my community, but it’s a completely
different feel when you see all of them bloom together," Sandra said.
"And you can walk through, you know, the trees under it and smell it.
And it’s just it’s a beautiful view."
They also came looking for Stumpy, having heard the legend and
knowing this would be its final spring.
"It’s actually beautiful," Jorge said. "So it’s sad to see him
leave."
Associated Press journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this
report.
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