Although the Town of Oyster Bay now has a new comprehensive tree ordinance, the news appears not to have trickled down to the troops.

Bob King reported to the East Norwich Civic Association at its June meeting that he has successfully helped to stave off the de-forestation of the Radcliff area of East Norwich, following in the footsteps of the work of Sean Rainey, who saved trees in the Norwich Greens area.

Trees did come down in Norwich Greens but by working with the town and his neighbors, Mr. Rainey was able to have twice the number of trees replaced as were taken down. Sometimes that is the best that can be done, and in East Norwich's case, he worked successfully with the town actually choosing some of the tree varieties. Hawthorne Road received beautiful Cherry trees.

The town takes the trees down as part of its highway program since the large older trees often push up sidewalks. The homeowner can protest and ask the town to build around the older trees - it can be done. Whatever the homeowner decides, they will still pay the town for the work in repairing the sidewalk.

Frank Tortoro just called to alert us that the town is at work cutting down mature trees on Cord Place and Sunny Hill Drive. He said "It is because there are cracks in the sidewalk, and they are not telling people."

As he talked to us he watched the tree come down. He said, across the street they took down trees and astoundingly they didn't fix the sidewalk for a year after cutting them down. He said, "They are completely destroying the neighborhood. It looks like Levittown, 40 years ago - which is looking very nice now."

Rita Pecora, of Save the Jewel By the Bay, said at their June meeting in a discussion of trees taken down, "Save the Jewel has seen trees come down but we are trying to raise the level of consciousness about trees to prevent further losses. That's part of our responsibility as good neighbors," she said.

We can't save all the trees, but we can try. Most important is that we replace the trees that are taken down. Speak up for your trees. Get together with your neighbors and make sure the issues are resolved remembering that Oyster Bay is a Tree City USA town and as such has a responsibility - one that they looked for - to help us save the trees. - DFK