Not Just Anyday

I have had the opportunity to manage a few transplanted pine trees in the past but never a tree this size. Today the Town of Vail completed a feat that can be difficult to pull off and kudos to all that were involved. The town's public works department needed to transplant a healthy 50 foot spruce tree and the golf course was the right place. Today it has a real nice home on the 4th hole. This beautiful specimen will not only enhance the beauty of the hole, but help protect Vail Valley Drive from from golf balls. Too many times we have had close calls with pedestrians, cars, bikers and home owners.

We seemed to have every public employee in town helping out with the move. The tree came from the corner of the south frontage road near the Lionshead parking structure. A tree this size can not be "spaded" like we see so many times. Spruce trees do not normally have deep roots, so the moving company was able to excavate two feet deep around the drip line of the tree. Next they dug a hole about 15 feet next to the tree to provide space for metal pipes that are slid underneath the tree. I use the word "slid" loosely as it was no small task.

The pipe installation severs all connections with the earth and the root ball is wrapped in burlap and wire mesh. Then the tree can then be picked up by a crane and ready for transport.

That's where we picked up today for the fun stuff. After some tedious work to remove the tree from the ground, the tree was placed on a "low boy" flat bed truck. Slowly, the truck maneuvered through some of the hilly streets in town to get it to the golf course. The crane had to set up again near the new location and prepare to transplant the tree.

Prior to planting, a 16 foot diameter hole was dug to accept the tree. Careful unloading and placement was taken by the moving company and the planting began. By 7pm tonight, the guy wires were in place and the tree was mostly back filled. The metal pipes remain in the ground, due to the proximity to the street, other trees and utilities there was no room to dig an extra hole to remove them. There are no ill effects leaving them in the ground.

Tomorrow will complete the move which includes more dirt, a tree skirt of straw and a mulch covering. Finally we will set up irrigation and begin the recovery stage. The tree should take about 220 gallons of water per week and an organic nutrient product to help the tree gain root mass.

I would like to thank all of those who helped made this an easy and safe process. Most of them are Town of Vail employees and some of our own staff at the golf course and VRD. It is comforting to work with great professionals that achieve success. Now it is up to us to make sure this baby survives!