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Aside from their beauty, trees can be dangerous, even deadly.
While adverse weather conditions such as high winds or heavy rains put varying degrees of stress on these "towers of nature," there also are uncontrollable natural factors that weaken them as they age.
It's not unlike what humans and animals experience as they grow older and eventually die. However, for trees, that process can evolve over, perhaps, hundreds of years.
Regarding trees and not unlike humans, these towering components of the environment should be accorded attention -- at least those that exist outside of a forested area where trees grow wild, nevertheless most times enhancing the beauty of the landscape.
For trees that exist outside of a forest setting, they oftentimes undergo trimming and shaping until they reach a height where such care is impossible. However, "adult" trees in populated areas, no matter in what kind of place they spend their "lives," must not be ignored, in terms of watching that they do not become a hazard.
Which brings this editorial to Blair County's Williamsburg Community School District, which is dealing with the issue of dead trees behind the elementary playground, some of which fell into the playground over the summer.
At a meeting on Sept. 15, the school board discussed the pros and cons of removing only problem trees or clearing a 30- to 40-foot area containing both dead and living trees.
A Sept. 17 Mirror article dealing with the meeting described the area in question as "starting around the basketball court along the back woods and around the kindergarten playground."
Superintendent Lisa Murgas was quoted in that article as saying "we're going to take a look at if it's more cost-effective to just have them take out the dead trees, or if it is cost-effective to just have them take out that section."
Murgas added, "I just fear that if we let those kids up there and something comes down ... I just don't want to take that chance."
Two main groups of observations/questions are apropos at this time. The first point is the fact that district leaders, past and present, who were or are now responsible for all district property, not only district buildings, allowed the tree situation to deteriorate to such a deplorable condition, despite knowing that children might be playing in what can be referred to as a danger zone.
District leaders allowed the closing of the equipment area for safety reasons after trees fell.
Next is the matter of deciding how to proceed with addressing the troubling tree situation. At the meeting, the board wasted time contemplating what would be the best way to address the situation, rather than simply authorizing advertising for bids for removal of just the dead trees or all of the trees in question.
Board members should have recognized that they probably would gain valuable information about the best way to proceed, as well as regarding costs, through the bidding process, through which bidders would no doubt provide opinions as well as observations about the overall issue.
Meanwhile, a bidding process open to everyone provides the opportunity to compare prices and professional services -- so the board can make a decision in the best interests of the school district, district taxpayers and the schoolchildren who must be the primary concern.
The board, already having waited too long to begin addressing its "towers of nature," must not make another mistake about them, going forward.