As we explained in last week’s video post, the massive sycamore that fell in Compton last Thursday night is a very significant landmark. The Eagle Tree marked rancho borders before California became an American state, and has sheltered generations of Angelenos, birds and livestock. You can read some of her history, and our concerns about the tree's recent poor health, here.
Here’s an update, to accompany the video we shot this morning on site:
Since the tree fell, we’ve been working hard to try to preserve this awesome natural, cultural and historic artifact by bringing together the city of Compton’s Public Works department, Chevron Oil, the office of Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, the Natural History Museum and independent tree experts and historians. The massive trunk needs to be moved away from where it fell, and we hope it can be moved under the direction of the Natural History Museum’s curators with the aim of keeping it largely intact so the Eagle Tree can be exhibited and its ecological data studied. And the young clone tree that’s growing just behind the fallen trunk needs some love, too.
The Eagle Tree is dead - long live the Eagle Tree!
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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