Leaving us but not Gone! The Tree Lady

An open letter to Meg Niederhofer, Gainesville City Arborist
on the occasion of her retirement on August 31, 2010

Dear Meg:

Every single day, somebody in Gainesville looks at a tree, and appreciates its beauty or utility. But nobody fully realizes the amount of effort that one person – Gainesville's first City Arborist – has put into making our urban forest so strong, diverse, and beautiful.

Meg – you have been responsible for the planting of tens of thousands of trees in Gainesville, and for saving just as many through regulations, which many other communities have copied. You have educated thousands, through speaking to individual tree sponsors or large groups, and in your frequent news stories and editorial columns. You have mentored many entry level professionals who have gone on to other tree-related careers. You have collaborated on research projects that have changed urban forestry practices in Florida.

Many people don't know that for fifteen years, you wore a pager 24/7/365, and responded to falling trees at all hours in all kinds of weather. How many times were you called out from a movie, or a party, or bed, to go out in a thunderstorm? During the "Storm of the Century", you spent days on the clean-up, coming home only briefly. The same for two decades of hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornados. But, by overseeing the methodical removal of weak trees, and re-planting stronger species, and focusing on proper pruning for a healthier structure, the frequency and cost of these emergency call-outs has dropped dramatically. You are leaving the City with a much stronger forest.

How many know that you recommended our comprehensive plan be amended to require the planting of 1000 trees each year in parks and along streets, but that the City only fully funded the first year of expenses to buy trees? And that for more than a decade, you have met this goal by soliciting donations of trees from nurseries, by obtaining trees through mitigation and enforcement actions, and by growing trees in two City nurseries? And how many folks really appreciate how closely you worked with the City Beautification Board, Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, the Matheson Historical Museum, Alachua Conservation Trust, the Florida Native Plant Society, the garden Clubs, and many other organizations in collaborative efforts for a greater urban forest.

Meg – you have gone toe-to-toe with many developers and builders over the decades, and have worked well with those who appreciate trees, and been the nemesis of those who don't. But the way that you have fairly dealt with the regulated community, and their landscape architects and engineers, has brought them along to the point that there are very few arguments about trees today, as compared to twenty years ago. The Tree Advisory Board and the Tree Appeals Board are no nonsense committees that you have staffed effectively for two decades – and soon, you may be serving on them.

I have listened as you described in great detail the ailments of specific trees – it's been said that you have a personal and individual relationship with ten thousand street and park trees. You have fought for trees, apologized to trees, and wept in their presence when they could not be saved. You presided over the first urban infestation of southern pine beetles, and saved homeowners millions of dollars by applying scientific principles to attacking the epidemic. And then you did it again a few years later.

You have authored numerous grants to pay for all kinds of tree projects – from science, to beautification, to removals. In many years, you have brought in more revenue to the City than your salary. You have all the certifications and accolades that your colleagues can bestow.

You have managed employees with leadership, generosity, and compassion, and manage resources as carefully as if they were your own. Sick days were seldom taken – you received perfect attendance recognitions for the majority of your years. While you were working hard, you lovingly supported two parents in their final years, including your mother who stayed with us for three years with advancing Alzheimer's. You have struggled quietly with your own health issues, your broken jaw requiring two bone transplants, and more recently with cancer.

As my wife, I have witnessed all these ups and downs, and lived through the victories, defeats, hilarity, stupidity, delight, and disappointment. Rush Limbaugh insulted you by name on the radio – a real badge of honor. You had to endure four years of being a politician's spouse, and participated in lots of other political campaigns. You've also had to be a musician's wife, a sailor's wife, and an eccentric's wife, all of which you've done with equanimity and grace.

Now, you are re-inventing yourself. For the first time in memory, you will not be the City Tree Lady, as you are most often called. I know you are challenged with what your new identity will be, and that you are leaving Gainesville for extended travels the day after your August 31st retirement to meditate on the future. You've insisted that a fuss not be made about your departure, and your friends have respected that.

By distributing this open letter and suggesting others pass it on, we are all in agreement that the best retirement gift we can give is our heartfelt appreciation for the legacy forest that you have saved, re-built, and strengthened, and that we will pledge to defend and enjoy.

On behalf of all of your tree-hugging friends and family,

Love and best wishes,

Hutch

Something Kathy would have liked

Kathy was always moving us in so many ways. Telling about this meeting, this movement. Could we attend? Letting us know what she was up to but never making us feel bad about not doing it... just offering us the opportunity to do it.

The fact that she is gone from our lives has amplified the sound of her in my head. I feel more strongly compelled to examine the problems and disasters of our environment. I feel more connected and a little more frantic about what is going on. The Gulf oil spill, the floods in Pakistan- it is so overwhelming. If I can keep Kathy's voice I am hoping to find a way move forward with hope and not despair.

I stumbled across this poem on the internet today. It reflects some of what Kathy was all about. I think she would have really liked it.

A Prayer to Awaken

By Terry Tempest Williams in the August 2010 issue of The Progressive.

How much suffering around the world will have to take place, how many wars must we start, before we begin to see this chain of addictive behavior for what it is—madness?

How many people killed, how many communities destroyed, how many ecosystems ravaged, how many species lost, before we will begin to see this dark open wound gushing from the depths of the sea as our own?

How well do we remember past petroleum accidents from the Persian Gulf to the Exxon Valdez, from Shell’s fouling the Nigerian Delta (which led to the hanging of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa) to the Ecuadoran spill in 2009 that decimated forty-seven indigenous communities?

At this moment, can we find an action worthy of the suffering felt by the communities along the Gulf Coast, both human and wild?. . .

I keep coming back to the simple act of bearing witness.

To bear witness is not a passive act but an act of conscience and consequence.

We can face this economic and ecological crisis straight ahead and not avert our gaze.

We can begin to face this crisis of our collective addiction to oil by agreeing to look the suffering we are creating in the eye.

We can become a witnessing community of purposeful expression and agree to be present, to listen, to engage first-hand. In these moments of direct experience, our consciousness shifts. We can choose to live differently.

We are most often transformed not by the facts of the situation, but by the emotion of the situation, what we see and feel when truth is revealed.

We hear of sea turtles being burned alive as surface oil is set on fire in BP’s cleanup efforts.

And we learn that a sea captain, who recently enrolled in BP’s “vessel of opportunity” program and offered his boat to aid in oil recovery activities, grew increasingly despondent over the spill and died of a gunshot to his head. Shall we call it suicide or murder?

The spell that has kept us complacent and numb shatters. We wake up to the horror of our own oiled hands.

We are brought to our knees as we face our own spiritual imperative to change.

We can mark this moment not with our despair but with our creativity, not by our sense of helplessness, but by our engagement.

May we stand in the center of our humanity and power as a species and say as the poet Kenneth Patchen has:

I hear the beating of a heart.
It drowns out every other sound.

And in so doing, may we prevent the next oil spill from happening.

Kathy Cantwell Celebration Sept 10th

Please let your friends and colleagues know about this upcoming event.

Kathy Cantwell was an avid environmentalist. She worked for and supported dozens of green groups. In her honor we would like to invite all the eco/green groups in Gainesville to come together in celebration of her work with our community. Nothing would make her happier than to see all the diverse and specialized groups joined together, sharing and celebrating.

Please join us on Friday, September 10 from 5-9 to celebrate Kathy, ourselves and our work.

Prairie Creek Lodge (see directions below)
5-6 pm Field trip to the Green Burial land
6-7 pm Pizza and Beer provided by Alachua Conservation Trust
7-9 Kathy Cantwell Trail dedication, slide show, music and mingling.



WE DON'T WANT TO RUN SHORT ON PIZZA OR BEER SO PLEASE RSVP 373 1078 OR EMAIL info@alachuaconservationtrust.org OR
confirm that you are attending on the ACT Facebook page.

Donation requested

Hope to see you there,
Shirley

Directions to Prairie Creek Lodge (pdf also available http://alachuaconservationtrust.org/images/gallery/general/Directions-Prairie-Creek-Ranch.pdf)
From the intersection of University Avenue and Main Street in Gainesville:
drive east on University Avenue (SR 26) a distance of 1.1 miles; then,
Veer right onto Hawthorne Road (SR 20) and drive 5.2 miles; then,
Turn right onto CR 2082 and drive 1.3 miles; then,
Turn right onto CR 234, cross the Gainesville-Hawthorne Rail Trail, and
drive 0.9 miles south; then,
Turn right at the mailbox labeled 7204, and stay straight on the dirt driveway approximately 0.5 miles
through the gate and to the Lodge.

Sandy Reimer's celebration of Kathy

There was a beautiful celebration of Kathy's life at the United Church of Gainesville. The service was recorded (audio only) and UCG kindly gave us a copy. Over the next couple of days, I will try and put some of the segments on line so that you can actually listen to the service.

Sandy Reimer, one of the ministers, spoke eloquently and lovingly about Kathy. This clip is about 15 minutes long. Click here to listen.

Paying it forward

From an email that I received today... This has been an experience of life changing kindness from friends and sometimes total strangers.

I attended Kathy's memorial service and taped it with

a high quality field recorder at my seat. I know that UCG

also recorded the service but I don't know how it turned out.

My recording was made from sitting in the audience and my guess

is that it recorded more of the audience participation than the UCG

recording.

I know that you were a close friend of Kathy and I made

a copy of the memorial service on CD for you and an

extra copy for you to give to Julie.

I met Kathy many times through the years and know

that she was good friends with my closest friend Sue Wright.

Sue died from the same type of brain tumor a few years back.

I remember that Kathy was at her memorial service.

Just let me know if it sounded ok on your equipment.

Regards,

Philip

TREE PLANTING (Flowering Dogwood) In Memory of Kathy Cantwell

Julie asked me to post this invitation from Susan of SAC. Please feel free to attend. Julie will be out of town.


Dear Julie:
I'm writing today on behalf of Sustainable Alachua County. We have been planning to plant a tree in memory of Kathy and in honor of her service to our organization and the community. SAC will participate in a later celebration of Kathy's environmental legacy, but we wanted to do something now that would be a tangible memorial to Kathy in the community. We will be planting a flowering dogwood tree near the southern end of Northeast Park (near the home you shared with Kathy) this coming Tuesday at 10am.

It has been an honor to participate in Kathy's life and her end-of-life wishes.

Peace, Susan Marynowski

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TREE PLANTING (Flowering Dogwood) In Memory of Kathy Cantwell 10am Tuesday August 10, 2010 Northeast Park near NE 13th Ave by Sustainable Alachua County

Kathy's bed in the sun room

Kathy spent the final weeks of her life here in the sun room. It was also Kathy's final resting place at home when she was laid out and readied for her burial. It was here that we did the ceremonial preparations and wrapped her body in her shroud before transporting her to Prairie Creek Preserve.

From Miranda

Miranda wrote this after Kathy's memorial service at the church and sent it to me since I wasn't there. Thought some of you might like to read it too.

sometimes when a friend or loved one dies there's a painfully bleak,
gray space in the world where they once were
the space left by kathy this week is vibrant, full to overflowing with
inspirations galore, splashes of loss, a myriad colors including every
shade of gray, and small explosions of joy
her memorial tonight was a testament to her tremendous presence and
commitment to life
 
for those whose spaces are full to overflowing Mary Frye says it best
Do not stand at my grave and weep..
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star-shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry..
I am not there. I did not die.

xxx
--

Miranda Castro