The town of Hammond, Connecticut declared towering pines a wilderness preserve in 1968. At one time, towering pines was a beautiful two hundred acre wilderness preserve. It was home too many 250 year old White Pine trees, dating back too the 18th century. The trees stood up too 150 ft. tall with walking trails laid out for tourists and residential people. The trees also stood as a scientist resource for Botanists and science students. When Towering Pines Charter was written in 1968, it stated:
WHEREAS the residents of Hammond, Connecticut, have enjoyed the beauty and quiet of the area commonly called “Towering Pines” since the town’s establishment in 1814: WHEREAS: Towering Pines” has serves these same residents of Hammond as an important educational resource; WHEREAS “Towering Pines” has been Recognized as ecologically significant by respected authorities: WHEREAS on this day we celebrate not only our freedom as Americans but also those recourses hat renew us and thereby support our freedom; We, the residents of Hammond, Connecticut, Hereby decree “Towering Pines” a wilderness preserve to be maintained by ourselves, and not to be changed or altered by human hands, excepting the work necessary to the maintenance of its health and continued value.( 1968 Charter)
After reading all of this it failed to mention on thing. It did not mention what should happen if the forest is destroyed because of a natural disaster. Before I finished reading all the interviews and content on “Towering Pines” I was leaning toward not touching the forest, but after reading what people thought, I changed my mind. Towering Pines would help the community as a park, because it is no longer a tourist attraction, it would help the economy by giving local jobs, and would be safer then leaving the dead and dried up trees there when they could start a fire.
Towering Pines was a monumental part of the community. Overflowing amounts of Hammond residents revisit towering pines; Tourists came from all over to shop for antiques and surprisingly would get the opportunity to visit Hammond’s old beautiful forest. After the tornado, Towering Pines no longer is a “sight to see.” One of Hammond’s volunteers visited Towering Pines the day after the tornado touched down and he thought that about seventy percent of the trees were severally damaged or had fallen by the storm (Darton 1). Imagine what a use to be beautiful forest would look like with all the trees knocked down. Another local volunteer, Estelle Longman, described the aftermath of Towering Pines as, “looking like one of the photos from the west, showing what happens when Timber Companies clear-cut an entire valley” (Darton 1). That would be devasting to see after knowing what Towering Pines use to look like before the disaster. Seth Sherwood, a member of the community, who lives right next to Towering Pines writes, “Towering Pines is now an eyesore. We look out our kitchen window not to see a glorious forest but a field of stumps and fallen trees” (18). After knowing how beautiful the forest once was no one would want to have to see what has happened to it everyday and how unappealing it has become. Tourist will not come to Hammond to view a large area of fallen down trees and dead stumps everywhere. After seeing some of the statements from residents of Hammond, anyone can see that Towering Pines is no longer the beautiful tourist attraction it once was.
Towering Pine’s now fallen pine trees has become a serious risk to the residents of Hammond. The trees that have fallen from the aftermath of the tornado have started to dry out and could potentially becoming a wildfire. Hammond’s 10 firefighters and volunteer Search and Rescue Team wrote a letter to the Courier, Hammond’s town newspaper, about the effects of leaving the forest this way after the tornado hit. After collecting evidence the local firefighters and Search and Rescue Team came up with their own opinion, “ If the fallen trees of the preserve catch fire, the town will experience a disaster far worse and more devastating than the tornado of June, 2011 (“The Interested”). Residents of Hammond, living close to what use to be Towering Pines should seriously consider what the Search and Rescue team are saying as well as the firefighters. Other residents may think that there would not be a fire so no action should be taken place. So in the case that a fire doesn’t occur, the coming winter would still level the remaining pine trees still standing. One preserve volunteer, Michael Kelly, estimated that most of the trees left standing would topple over with one good ice store. The ice would get in the cracks of the trees and just keep expanding (qtd: in , Darton 1). The weight of the snow and ice alone will be strong enough to send the last few standing pine trees crashing to the ground, leaving no trees either way.
The question that people should ask themselves is, what would benefit the town of Hammond and its residents. Making Towering Pines into a public park would benefit Hammond in great ways. The Regional Planners had stated that the population of the Hammond area would grow over the next several decades (Hustings 4). When larger cities start to become over populated, people will start to migrate toward smaller, quitter towns such as Hammond. Hammond is a great place for parents to start a family as well as raise their small children. Using the space that once use to be beautiful pine trees as a playground, track to run on, swimming area, or other outside activities would benefit the Hammond children, teens and some adults to be more proactive and outside. Sally Hustings thinks that by cleaning up the site and building a park would also help the local economy by providing new jobs (4). In today’s world jobs can be very hard to get so this is a great motivation for changing some of the peoples minds to turning towering pines in to a recreational park. The author also stated that, “we could use the local architects and builders to plan and construct the new park and use the wood from the trees as fire wood during the winter (Hustings 4).
After reading all of the thoughts and opinions of Hammond residents and trained professionals anyone should be convinced that Towering Pines should be turned into a recreational park. After turning Towering Pines in to a park Hammond residents should rest well knowing their will be no scares of wildfires, as well as looking forward to new job opportunities and boosting the towns economy.