Huntsville, Alabama USA

The feasibility of the project was determined by an exploratory dig, to estimate the spread and depth of the root system. Because the tree grew in the red clay loam soil common in North Alabama, it was found that few roots extended outward as far as the branch tips, or deeper than about two feet.
	Even the job of deciding whether the tree could and should be moved was complicated by the tree's graceful limbs, which extended 20 feet or more in all directions. Some even touched the ground -- an unusual occurrence for a dogwood. As soon as it was decided to attempt the rescue, the Asplundh Tree Expert crew under contract to the city pruned out all dead and weak branches that might cause problems during the move. Then Environmental Design crew members carefully raised the tips of the lowest limbs five feet and tied them in place, giving workers access to the base of the tree.
Then a Public Works crew dug a trench four feet deep, up to a perimeter line traced about eight feet out from the base of the trunk. This left the root mass in the shape of a disk about 18 feet in diameter and 4 feet tall, weighing around 132,000 pounds -- over 66 tons. The surrounding earth was moved away, leaving the tree and its root ball like an island, allowing access for the next steps. The exposed sides, tapered in slightly toward the bottom, were then covered first with burlap, then with hog wire. Next the crew installed 8 pipes under the bottom of the root ball, using a pneumatic "mole" to tunnel out spaces where pipes, each twenty feet long and 5" in diameter, were forced in, with their ends protruding far enough to grasp later.
	Working despite tornado warnings, strong winds, and clouds swirling high above, the crew installed the eight pipes to form a pallet by which the tree and its massive root ball could be lifted from below. Special rigging of chains and cables was attached to the pipes to lift the tree. On the following day, Friday, May 12, 1995, a cable was looped under the pipe ends on one side of the tree, then pulled across under the root mass, by a back hoe, to cut the tree loose from the ground. (Examination of the site after the tree was lifted revealed that no roots had grown deep enough to be severed by this cable, and only about a dozen roots as large as a pencil had extended as far as the perimeter trench.)
An 80-ton crane provided by Empire Crane lifted the tree and its huge root-ball onto a lowboy trailer provided by Don Kennedy House Movers. The tree was covered by a tarp and by a shade cloth lent by George Bennett's Garden Center, so its branches would not get caught in overhead wires.
	The dogwood procession moved slowly along a course chosen by Huntsville Utilities and the city's Transportation Division. Police units blocked traffic, utility crews raised wires, occasionally cutting and splicing guy wires to let the tree pass. An irrigation truck provided by the City's Landscape Management Division followed practically in the tree's shadow, spraying water on the leaves to minimize heat stress. At one point the dogwood procession crossed the grounds of the Alabama Space and Rocket Center, to gain wider clearance from traffic signals.
The bulbous tree bundle presented a sight reminiscent of pre-launch scenes in the early days of the space program at Cape Canaveral. The dogwood was set in place at Huntsville's Botanical Garden, at the south end of the Aquatic Pavilion, in a location that mimics its former exposure. Native soil from the tree's former home was used to backfill around the root ball, completing a berm that now fits in with natural ground contours. This raised berm allows good drainage in what had formerly been one of the Garden's seasonally wet spots. The tree is protected on its eastern side, and exposed to sunlight on the west. The root zone is well shaded by the tree's canopy, and protected from dehydration by two to three inches of mulch.
	The Botanical Garden quickly installed tensiometers, to measure soil moisture in the root zone. These meters are checked regularly by Botanical Garden workers. Garden Manager Harvey Cotten says the soil stays at field capacity with little or no irrigation. The Garden also installed a temporary barrier to discourage climbing, breaking of branches, and soil compaction in the root zone caused by curious visitors. Four months after the tree was moved, Al Privette, the Garden's Director of Horticulture, said the transplanted tree came through the summer better than most of the other dogwoods on the site. Although a drip-irrigation system was installed by Valley Systems, the soil around the tree has consistently retained enough moisture so that its only watering occurred the week after the move. Privette said that without the tensiometers he probably would have over-watered the tree, and possibly drowned it. "We got new growth of leaves and shoot tips quickly after the move," Cotten said. "The tree responded well after transplanting."

COMMUNITY SUPPORT: A key part of the effort came from the Huntsville Tree Commission, which coordinated an outreach to every possible school and volunteer organization. The city's Landscape Management Division offered young container-grown trees to each school that raised money to support the dogwood project. In all, over $12,000 was raised, largely in small change, from donations through the elementary schools. In addition, the project accepted several larger personal donations.

Layne Vaughan, manager of Huntsville's Landscape Management Division, was amazed at how city employees did not hesitate to help; in fact, "they just bent over backward to help. Not one city department said the job fell outside its assigned duties."

"I've worked all over the country," said consultant Steve Clark, who coordinated and directed transplanting operations. "The City of Huntsville is not your normal city. The team effort here was fantastic. This was the first time I have coordinated a series of agencies, and I couldn't have asked for better cooperation."

November 15, 1996
Reformatted 10-7-04

Landscape Management Division (Administration, Urban Forestry/Horticulture, and Cemeteries Sections).	Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Garden Huntsville City Schools (Administration and Elementary Schools)
Public Works Services Division (Streets & Drainage Sections)	Transportation Services Division (Signs & Signals Section)
Engineering Division	Huntsville Utilities (Electrical Engineering & Operations)
Huntsville Tree Commission	Madison County Commission and Engineering Dept
The United States Army	Police Department
Empire Crane Service	Don Kennedy House Moving Service
Asplundh Tree Expert Co., Inc.	Bennett Nurseries
Valley Services (irrigation)	State of Alabama Department of Transportation
Nature's Way Landscape Management	APAC - Ashburn & Gray Div.
The Alabama Space and Rocket Center	BellSouth
Steve Clark, Inc. (technical supervision)	Environmental Design (tree moving)

	"I went into it with fear and trembling," said consultant Steve Clark," because I didn't know the parts of a city could cooperate like that. . . ."
Dogwood in its original location. photo by Jim Call
. . . but from start of planning in March of 1995 to the actual work in early May, community businesses, city agencies, specialized tree-movers, even elementary school students and teachers, fused themselves into a team with one goal. The team's objective was to transport and reestablish a dogwood tree -- historic, beautiful, and gigantic almost beyond belief -- from sure destruction in the path of a highway project, to the care and attention it deserved in its new home at Huntsville's Botanical Garden. David Byers, a nationally-recognized nurseryman from Huntsville, who has more or less specialized in dogwoods for many years, visited the tree about 3 weeks after the move. Impressed by its condition, he said the tree had "a little wilt here and there, mostly where it was subjected to greatest dehydration stresses, but overall it looks good." A year and a half after the tree was settled in its new home, City Forester Chuck Weber still agreed. "Every time I visit that tree, I'm amazed all over again. It looks as if it had always been there in the Garden. This spring it bloomed well, and it had a full set of leaves all summer." THE TREE is a flowering dogwood, easily one of the largest in this area. It has four main trunks, the largest of which is about 15" in diameter. Assuming that this trunk grew in diameter by about 1/8" per year, the tree is probably 100 to 150 years old, though this can't be determined accurately without cutting the tree and actually counting the growth rings. It stands about 25 feet tall, but the width of its crown averages over 40 feet. Although not quite as large as Alabama's state champion, located in Elmore County, Huntsville's dogwood is certainly in the same league. In bloom, it resembles a great haystack made of dogwood blossoms. THE TEAM consisted of public agencies, businesses, nonprofit groups, and individuals from many walks of life: