PLANO, Texas — Arborist Steve Houser remembers the day fondly -- sitting in one of the branches of Plano's Quadri/Quincentennial Bur Oak high above the city's Bob Woodruff Park.
"When I'd climb out onto the ends of the smaller ends, the wind's blowing you back and forth," Houser said. "And it's kind of like this ancient old lady is kind of rocking you in her arms."
So, the loss of the estimated 400-year-old tree on Wednesday is personal for him.
"Not as much as losing a family member or your favorite pet or something," he said. "But it's right up there somewhere close."
Believed to be the largest and oldest tree in North Texas, the bur oak collapsed in Wednesday's storms surrounded by several inches of rain that flooded the park. The exposed trunk revealed extensive rot. The four large bolts drilled through the tree in years past were not enough to hold the splitting trunk together. Houser, an arborist who has worked with the City of Plano for more than 25 years to preserve the tree, sat silently on a park bench nearby on Friday as if mourning a long lost friend.
"To see it gone now, it's an emotional thing for me," Houser said. "And to see your favorite tree laying on the ground, I'm kind of in mourning, you know. I don't know how to describe it."
Mark Beaudoing, the City of Plano's urban forester, said he was disappointed by the tree's death.
"We were working really hard on doing everything we could to keep this tree alive," Beaudoing said of limited pruning, the installation of lightning protection, vertical mulching and fertilization to strengthen the tree. "We feel like we did everything we could. And you know it's always sad when you feel like you did your best and it wasn't enough.
The Texas Historic Tree Coalition estimated the Quadri/Quincentennial Bur Oak tree at about 90 feet tall, 196 inches in circumference, and a crown spread of 103 feet. In the 1980s, the Plano tree was estimated at 243 years old by several expert arborists. The tree was designated the Bicentennial Tree in 1987 and was recognized as having lived at the signing of the U.S. Constitution. In February 2002, the tree was recognized as a historic tree by the Dallas Historic Tree Coalition (now the Texas Historic Tree Coalition).
In 2006, strong winds severed a large limb from the tree, which was used to get a more accurate age estimate. The limb alone was estimated at 226 years old, leading experts to calculate the tree itself at more than 400.
The City of Plano Parks and Recreation Department is asking the public to stay away from the area due to unsafe conditions. A City of Plano spokesperson says they have not yet decided what to do with the remnants of the tree and/or its historic location.