The break can be seen in the center, where a hole in the trunk allowed a family of raccoons to take up residence last year.
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — King Elmer lost part of his crown this week.
Once the tallest elm in Massachusetts, the more than 250-year-old tree is now missing at least 10 foot section from his topmost branches from a combination of a weak trunk and winds from Tropical Storm Isaias that blew through the region Tuesday.
"It is 107 feet and I think that was part of the highest section," said James Neureuther, chairman of the Lanesborough Tree and Forest Committee. "It's probably a little shorter than it was now. It'd be hard to know but we may have lost 10 feet."
That, he noted, was like losing a whole tree.
A central branch with a 2-foot diameter had cracked and was hung up on the other branches at least 75 feet in the air, Neureuther said, pointing to a another limb above Summer Street, "now, they're taking this down because that was also a bit of a weak spot for a number of years."
The top break occurred at a hollowed area where raccoons had been found nesting a year ago.
The surgery was being done by Race Mountain Tree Services of Sheffield, which had inoculated the tree just a couple months ago for Dutch elm disease. Owner and arborist Ron Yaple had assessed the situation for removal on Thursday.
The pieces were dropped to Summer Street, which was closed off Friday morning during the work. Some were being chipped up others but a pile of smaller branches were being saved for children at Lanesborough Elementary School.
"When we have Arbor Day with the third-grade class I always try to give them a piece of wood so they can count tree rings," Neureuther said. "So now I'll be able to saw those all up and give them a little slice of King Elmer."
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Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation Scholarships
LUDLOW, Mass. — For the third year, Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation (BWPCC) will award scholarships to students from Lanesborough and Hancock.
The scholarship is open to seniors at Mount Greylock Regional High School and Charles H. McCann Technical School. BWPCC will select two students from the class of 2024 to receive $1,000 scholarships.
The scholarships will be awarded to qualifying seniors who are planning to attend either a two- or four-year college or trade school program. Seniors must be from either Hancock or Lanesborough to be considered for the scholarship. Special consideration will be given to students with financial need, but all students are encouraged to apply.
The BWPCC owns and operates the Berkshire Wind Power Project, a 12 turbine, 19.6-megawatt wind farm located on Brodie Mountain in Hancock and Lanesborough. The non-profit BWPCC consists of 16 municipal utilities located in Ashburnham, Boylston, Chicopee, Groton, Holden, Hull, Ipswich, Marblehead, Paxton, Peabody, Russell, Shrewsbury, Sterling, Templeton, Wakefield, and West Boylston, and their joint action agency, the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC).
To be considered, students must submit all required documents including a letter of recommendation from their school counselor and a letter detailing their educational and professional goals. Application and submission details will be shared with students via their school counselors. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 19.
MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Court in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities. MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state's consumer-owned, municipal utilities.
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