The Stephenville Senior Tree - Post Construction Renewal Project
Draft Version 1.1
For Discussion Purposes
As of 10/3/2022
Joe Carter
contact: carter@seniorstree.org
Many thanks to the Stephenville Texas City Council for moving the planned construction of the city’s new Senior Center to an alternate site away from The Senior Tree. The tree is a 250 to 400 year old live oak located in the 200 block of North Vine Street, Stephenville, TX. It is a beautiful tree with a 90 foot wide shade canopy. Its trunk is 64 inches in diameter.
Our challenge now is to remove the fill dirt that was hauled in and placed on top of the tree’s root zone before construction work near its base was halted. We’re afraid that, if the dirt is removed improperly, we may do additional damage to the tree’s roots. We need to figure out a way to get the dirt off and restore the root zone to its natural contour without doing further damage to the tree. The challenge is illustrated in the following pictures.
The Senior Tree before construction commenced
Photo Credit: Google Maps Street View
Fill dirt piled up near the tree’s base before the dirt was spread and leveled. In total 120 truckloads were hauled in. That’s approximately 1440 cubic yards of fill dirt, all of which needs to be carefully removed.
Photo Credit: Joe Carter
Looking east from Vine Street with fill dirt in the background. The orange mesh fence approximately 32 feet from the tree. The tree’s “critical” root zone extends out at least 64 feet, well beyond the orange fence. It’s full root zone extends 2 to 3 times it’s height - about 140 to 210 feet.
Photo Credit: Roxana Martin
View showing vast expanse of dirt to be removed southeast of the tree.
Photo Credit: Roxana Martin
Southeast corner of fill dirt.
Photo Credit: Roxana Martin
Overhead shot showing full expanse of fill dirt relative to the tree.
Photo Credit: Joe Carter
View looking west from the Bosque River Trail with the tree in the background. The red line shows the original contour of the tree’s root zone. All the dirt above the red line needs to be removed. The dirt is up to 8 feet deep in places.
Photo Credit: Jerry Miller on Facebook
Where we go from here
We’re in the process of developing a plan to carefully remove the fill dirt, restore the original contour of the tree’s root zone and nurse the tree back to full health. Once we’ve developed the plan, we’ll focus on funding and executing it. If you know of resources who can help with developing, funding and executing such a plan, please get in touch with carter@seniorstree.org.
Overhead Photo
Building Pad
Distances from Tree Base
Pad Depth Approximations
Overhead Video
Overhead Video
Ground Level Video