Summer Changes Include Tree Loss and Excess Fencing
By Samuel Wheeler '08
News Reporter
Multiple projects-including the cutting of many hemlocks on the central campus and the installation of fending barriers along Christian Street unfolded this summer while Choaties and their mentors vacationed miles from Wallingford.
The new fences that line the streets of N. Elm and Christian Street are an idea proposed by Headmaster Edward Shanahan.
According to Mr. Shanahan, there are two main goals behind this $150,000 project. The first is to define clearly the beginning of campus. He feels that “it dresses out the campus and sort of helps present a more well groomed campus.” On the other hand, Mr. Shanahan understands that Choate has a relationship with the town of Wallingford and does not want to detach from that idea. “We are an open campus,” he says. The second object of the fencing which the head and other senior administrators stressed, is the safety of the students who cross the street. Choate CFO Richard Saltz says that the fences “let drivers know that there is a school here.” Every year, there is at least one frightening incident of a student brushed or bumped by a passing car, and these fences are in place to reduce that risk. Mr. Shanahan hopes that the new fences “go further along the line of encouraging the students to use the crosswalks.” Both Mr. Shanahan and Mr. Saltz believe the fences have been effective in their purposes thus far in preventing accidents.
The students, however, have a rather different opinion on the costly project. Student Council President Jin Ha ’08 observed, “I can understand where the administration is coming from, but I don’t think that the cost was worth the partial elimination of jay-walking.” Some students feel that the school should spend money on something of more importance. Alex Hillbrand ’08 commented, “Instead of the money spent on the fences the administration should cut the exorbitant prices at the school store.”
Saltz and Shanahan, however, would argue that nothing is of greater importance than the safety of the student body. Other students feel Choate is falling further into the bubble of prep school convention. Brian McDermott ’08 said, “The fences make me feel like a sheep and I feel like Mr. Ford is the grand shepherd of the flock.”
Trees
Another extensive project over the summer was the removal of approximately 70 diseased hemlock trees affected by the Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, these infectious insects originated in Asia and have been in the eastern United States since 1951. By 2005, the bug had been reported in sixteen states from Maine to Georgia. These aphid-like insects feed on the host’s starch reserves, which are crucial to each tree’s growth and survival.
The decision to remove the hemlock trees originated with the Choate Facilities office and was approved by Mr. Saltz. The cost of the removal was part of a reported $3 million dollar-per-year maintenance budget. All of the trees that were removed were either infested or damaged.
To compensate for the loss of the hemlocks, most of which had been part of the campus for over 60 years, Facilities is beginning a project to replant a mixed variety tress throughout campus. Mr. Ian Morris was in favor of the removal but said, “We must, however, ensure that they are all replaced with good quality native hardwoods such as maple, oak and ash.” Shanahan also noted, “We are one hundred percent behind the replanting program, but we also don’t want to turn this place into a forest.”
